Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 24, 1992 TAG: 9202240111
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
IS ALTERNATIVE ED STILL AT RISK? PREVENTATIVE PROGRAM SEEKS FUNDS
Melena Sykes is a bright 16-year-old who just couldn't deal with 1,600 students at Patrick Henry High School."I didn't get along with a big group of students," she said.
So, she got in fights. Or cut classes. Or skipped school.
She ended up in a program many have heard about but few really understand: Alternative Education.
There, Sykes joined about 200 other students who couldn't deal with regular classrooms. Some were discipline problems. Some criminals. Some truants and potential dropouts.
Mostly, they're students who would be failing or on the streets if it weren't for the small, creative classes in Alternative Education.
"There's smaller classes here, so the teachers can spend more time with you," Sykes said. "And if you're in a bad mood, you can walk in and scream and everybody'll say, `Well, Melena's in a bad mood today.' "
Sykes feels at home. And it shows in her grades and attitude, she and her teachers say.
For all the good it does, though, Alternative Education struggles for its life year after year. Full funding for the program is not automatically included in the Roanoke School Board's annual budget. In fact, 46 percent of the program's funds come from grants; and School Board funding often depends on availability.
That's the case this year. Again.
A request has been made to the School Board for nearly $100,000 to help more students. But Alternative Education, which is run out of a building behind Addison Aerospace Magnet Middle School, is competing with other programs and teacher raises for a limited amount of extra money this year.
"The funding is tenuous," said director Peter Lewis.
The program's 19 employees fear a repeat of what happened last year.
Last April, all staffers - except director Lewis - got pink slips telling them there wasn't enough money for their jobs.
Extra money was freed up later in the year and teachers were hired back. But Alternative Education teachers say they don't like their year-to-year status.
"We feel we're doing such an outstanding job of meeting these kids' needs. We feel like we shouldn't be put in that position," Lewis said.
And, teacher John Crawford said, "We don't think it's fair. . . . There's no other program that has to hustle funds like this one."
School Board members have said Alternative Education is a priority this year. And the Long Range Planning Committee, which makes policy recommendations to the board, placed it fourth on its list of six funding priorities.
"It would be one of my top funding priorities," said board member Marilyn Curtis. "I'd rather give them alternative choices than to expel them.
"I think it's one of the most important programs in the schools. I think it's very important that we try to save these kids."
But Alternative Education's budget request is among $8.8 million in requests vying for $3.3 million in expected new money.
The public gets its chance to voice its priorities Tuesday at a hearing on the budget, which will be adopted next month.
Lewis said that in the long run, Roanoke needs to make a stronger commitment to the program. In fact, Lewis said, "I really think we could [fill] a whole school."
He hopes that some day Alternative Education teachers can get regular contracts instead of "provisional contracts."
Crawford hopes the program someday reaches the point where it doesn't rely on volunteer parents to teach art and music "because we don't have any money for an art class."
And teacher George Franklin hopes the administration and the School Board someday will give these troubled kids as much attention as the rest of the school population. Because right now, Franklin said, the attitude is: "These are the kids we can do without, we can trash."
Franklin said they need to realize: "If Alternative Education wasn't here, 90 percent of these kids would be dropouts or putouts."
Meanwhile, teachers like Susan Swirsky will keep telling students the type of thing she told them during a recent English class.
"How many of you have heard, `You aren't gonna amount to anything'? Well I'm here to tell you, you don't have to listen to that. . . . You can change and you can be. You can do."