DATE: Sunday, November 16, 1997             TAG: 9711160043

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   77 lines

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS ARE POSSIBLE, BUT PERSUADING PARENTS IS THE KEY

Year-round schools, schools that run separate morning and afternoon shifts, or schools that offer half-day kindergarten can work for students, education experts say - it's the parents who have the most problems.

Curriculum must be adjusted to the new schedules, the community must jump in with off-hours tutoring and day-care centers, and parents must support the changes - accepting the disruptions in their families' routines, adjusting vacation schedules and arranging for child care.

The tough part would be getting such innovations past parents and others, the experts say. That's something for Suffolk Public Schools officials to think about if they try to implement these or other proposed ``emergency'' alternatives to relieve crowding in the schools.

``On paper, it sounds good,'' said Glen Earthman, a Virginia Tech education professor and director of the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities. ``The public just doesn't like it. That's the main thing.''

A School Board committee produced a list of alternatives this year to be considered in case new classrooms aren't built fast enough to accommodate the fast-growing enrollment, 11,000 strong and growing an average 5 percent each of the past three years.

So far, the school system has adapted by using mobile classrooms. Committee members say they know other alternatives aren't the best for learning. Experts mostly agree.

Year-round schools or split sessions can be a pain when students are on different schedules. Participation in athletic and other extracurricular activities becomes a logistical horror. Classes must be disrupted for regular maintenance and repairs that normally would be done when school is out during the summer.

And costs will still increase. More students in the schools for a longer time wear things out faster.

``Kids are terribly tough on buildings, and you just have that much more use on them,'' Earthman said.

Prince William County tried a year-round schedule for a few years in the 1970s, but gave it up, Earthman said. Too unpopular.

Half-day kindergarten doesn't hurt children's learning, but poor or insufficient pre- or after-school care could hinder their development, said Julie Meltzer, a teacher-education professor at Ferrum College.

Split school sessions usually result in lost instruction time for non-core-academic subjects like fine arts and physical education, which research shows are important to academic learning. Eliminating these classes is another option proposed by the Suffolk committee - and not a good one, since not everyone is intelligent in the same ways, said Patricia B. Shoemaker, assistant dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Radford University.

Including more special-needs students in regular classrooms - another proposal - would work if enough trained aides were available, but space still would be needed to pull out students for individual work, educators said.

Earthman warned against shortsightedness, such as eliminating in-school programs for pre-schoolers.

``If they're down in the straits, they should do away with the seniors and put the money down into kindergarten and 4-year-olds, because you get more bang out of your buck with kindergartners and 4-year-olds,'' Earthman said.

Half-sessions for elementary students has led to lower achievement-test scores, added Earthman, who witnessed it as principal of a Denver school using such a schedule.

And large lecture classes usually don't provide needed writing practice or face-to-face interaction, Meltzer said.

Suffolk, if it comes to it, should use its enrollment crisis as an opportunity to explore creative ways of educating, Meltzer suggested. The schools, for instance, could enlist businesses and community organizations to help older students finish their schooling with internships and apprenticeships, freeing up classroom space. ``Bridge classes'' with community colleges - another proposal - would do the same.

Suffolk educators say they're open to ideas. But they hope they won't have to use most of them.

``All of them are short-term solutions to a long-term problem,'' Earthman said. ``You can implement them, but eventually you're going to have to have places to put these children.

``The solution is to build sufficient buildings.'' KEYWORDS: SCHOOLS BUILDINGS

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