Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 13, 1994 TAG: 9401130384
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: W-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Kinsey Shane and Associates, a Salem architectural and engineering firm, has been hired by the School Board to make a list of the benefits and drawbacks of each option, School Superintendent Wayne Tripp said.
During a progress report Tuesday night, representatives of the firm told the board they would hold meetings with the school's Parent-Teacher Association, staff and students to find out more about the 54-year-old school's needs.
They'll be studying issues such as handicapped access, the impact of student-teacher ratios on classroom size and where the concentration of students will be coming from in future years.
"We're looking for advice," Tripp told to a roomful of parents at the board meeting. "We're not looking for these gentlemen and their associates to make the decision."
Tripp suggested that board members also think about scheduling a public hearing after the firm makes its final report, which is due by March 1.
The superintendent was looking for a little advice from board members, also, Tuesday.
Salem schools have cancelled two days already this year because of snow, Tripp said. That exhausts the school calendar's built-in snow days, long before the wintry month of February, when the area often gets hit hardest by bad weather.
School policy states that a week-long spring break won't be used to make up for snow days except in cases of "extreme circumstances," Tripp told the board.
If the city has to cancel school again for snow, he asked, would that be extreme?
It might be, some board members said. But not enough to disturb spring break.
Vice Chairman Walter Franke rejected the spring break option as well as adding days on to the end of the year or using "bank time," a system that forgives cancelled school days after five make-up days if a locality's regular school day runs longer than the state requires.
He and other board members agreed they'd rather send children to school on Saturday, even though a decision to do so last year angered some parents and teachers.
"It doesn't make any difference how we make up the days," Franke said. "We're going to catch grief."
The board did not vote on the issue, but Tripp said he had "a good sense" of what members wanted. Scheduling make-up days in the case of bad weather is the superintendent's responsibility.
by CNB