DATE: Thursday, October 23, 1997            TAG: 9710230502

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   58 lines

SUPERINTENDENT WANTS SCHOOLS TO FORM LINK WITH SUFFOLK BUSINESS

We're all in this education business together, Schools Superintendent Joyce H. Trump told the people who hire the products of her schools - help us do a better job.

To that end, Trump announced Wednesday during the first ``State of the Schools'' speech that she wants to form a business advisory council of local employers.

Such a council would meet with her about three times a year and discuss what members think about the job the city's public schools are doing in preparing graduates for the work force.

Trump also said she plans this year to survey businesses and other workplaces to assess the quality of Suffolk high school graduates.

``We need to know how we're doing,'' Trump said.

Good idea, those attending the Chamber of Commerce-sponsored breakfast at the Holiday Inn said in applause and words.

``Obviously, she's very in touch with what the community needs are. Her vision is very outstanding,'' said Eddie Sturgeon, Suffolk sales manager for Barton Ford Lincoln-Mercury.

Other than to describe the state of Suffolk's public schools as ``good and flourishing,'' Trump left it to handouts and a video to extol progress and achievements of her 11,000-student, 16-school system.

She concentrated on the theme of cooperation and linkage between the schools and the rest of the city, a relationship that benefits both, she said. ``To not believe that is to believe each operates in a vacuum, and that is not possible,'' Trump told the more than 170 business people, educators and city officials.

Well-educated and trained students will help attract much-desired, high-technology businesses to Suffolk, Trump said. Already, new classes for computer technicians and emergency medical workers have been added to the newly renamed Pruden Center for Industry and Technology based on suggestions from, and the needs of, the community.

Another precedent for cooperation between schools and the larger community is ``Partners-in-Education,'' the program where businesses or other groups volunteer in neighborhood schools, Trump said. She began the program in 1985 with three partners, and now 71 organizations provide more than 2,500 volunteer hours a year in schools, she said.

Trump only alluded at times to perhaps the major issue affecting Suffolk's schools: its facility needs caused by growth and age. The City Council has declined to fully fund what school officials say is needed, saying it's too expensive.

During a brief question-and-answer session, she was asked which of the gubernatorial candidates' education ideas she preferred - Democrat Donald S. Beyer Jr.'s raising of teachers' pay to attract and retain better people, or Republican James S. Gilmore III's adding teachers to reduce class sizes.

``I would say to both candidates . . . we do want to reduce class size,'' Trump said. ``But to do that, we need more space.'' ILLUSTRATION: Schools Superintendent Joyce H. Trump delivers the

first ``State of the Schools'' speech. KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK SCHOOLS

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