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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993                   TAG: 9307170112
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING TO BE BOARD'S BASE AGAIN

The Pulaski County School Board will not be hopping around from school to school for its regular meetings during the coming school year.

Last year, the board began meeting every other month at a different school as a way of seeing the facilities and hearing from parents in the area.

But its members decided Thursday night that, except for an occasional meeting at a school they did not visit yet, they would hold their monthly meetings at the county administration building, which has because of better handicapped access than the School Board office.

School Board member Lewis Pratt said the meetings at schools served their purpose.

"We're doing it for the right reason, but we're causing a lot of confusion," he said, because people are sometimes unsure where a particular meeting will be.

Chairman Ron Chaffin said it remains important for the board to visit the schools, on separate trips if not for meetings. "I'd like to see us continue doing that in some manner."

The board heard from Harry DeHaven, the school system's operations director, on construction progress at Critzer and Northwood elementary schools this summer.

The most noticeable changes will be at Critzer, which opened in 1974 using the then-popular open spaces teaching concept. It originally housed only grades four and five, and is now being converted for kindergarten through fifth grade.

Some of the pupils from Jefferson Elementary, which closed in June, will go to Critzer next year with the others going to Claremont and Northwood. Critzer will need more classrooms, so walls are going up in the former open spaces.

Superintendent William Asbury said the board will get updates at its Aug. 12 meeting on school policies it must approve because of state law changes. "You have the courts telling you, you have the General Assembly telling you. It's incredible, the number of people who have an interest in what we do," he said. "I guess it's a sign of the times."

by CNB