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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 5, 1994                   TAG: 9410050103
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HARTFORD, CONN.                                LENGTH: Short

HARTFORD SCHOOLS GO PRIVATE

Desperate for a remedy for high dropout rates, low test scores and deteriorating buildings, Hartford has become the nation's first city to put a private company fully in charge of its public school system.

After contentious debate, the Board of Education voted 6-3 Monday to make Education Alternatives Inc. responsible for the education of 25,000 children in 32 schools.

``This marks a milestone in pursuit of academic excellence for our children,'' said board member Ted Carroll. ``Change is never easy.''

But there were many dissenters among the 120 yelling, stomping, screaming and cheering parents and teachers at the board meeting.

``What we're going to have left is nothing for the children. You treat them like so much livestock,'' parent Steven Fournier hollered at the board. ``This is an invitation to corruption.''

Education Alternatives has promised to raise Hartford's test scores without spending more money by using a system it calls the Tesseract Way. The name is from Madeleine L'Engle's children's book ``A Wrinkle in Time,'' which describes a corridor for traveling to new worlds.

The system relies on computers and parent participation. Students help set their own goals and work in groups at their own pace.

Education Alternatives manages nine public schools in Baltimore and one in Miami Beach.

by CNB