ATTENDANCE ZONE ANNOUNCEMENT TONIGHT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 18, 1993                   TAG: 9302180177
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium
ATTENDANCE ZONE ANNOUNCEMENT TONIGHT
Families of children going to elementary schools in the Pulaski area will learn tonight which schools their youngsters will attend next year.
The Pulaski County School Board will explain maps outlining new attendance zones for Critzer, Claremont and Northwood elementary schools at a public meeting in the Pulaski Middle School auditorium starting 7 p.m.
The redrawn attendance areas became necessary because of the scheduled closing of Jefferson Elementary School at the end of this school year and the redistribution of its 230 pupils among the other three schools.
Built in the 1920s, Jefferson is the county's oldest school and would have required millions of dollars to renovate. The continuing decline of enrollment at county schools also has made its closing necessary.
Questions will not be taken at tonight's public meeting, but there will be additional meetings at each of the four schools next week to hear from parents, answer their questions and talk individually with them.
The follow-up meetings, from 4 to 7 p.m., will be Monday at Jefferson, Tuesday at Claremont, Wednesday at Critzer and next Thursday at Northwood.
The rezoning largely has fallen to Shirley Cook, director of curriculum and instruction; Harry DeHaven, director of operations; and Associate Superintendent Phyllis Bishop.
They have spent months working over maps, driving through the areas involved, and actually had pins on a huge wall map showing the location of every pupil at the four schools.
The job has been complicated by sparse pupil populations in some parts of the attendance areas, forcing them to be extended over wide but largely empty areas such as national forest land.
Another complication happens when families move in or out of an attendance area, or from one to another, and the data lags behind.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB