ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Roanoke students will have to scale back their plans for spring break in April. They won't get a week off from school.
The city School Board voted Tuesday night to use three days of the break to make up part of the time that has been missed because of bad weather this winter.
Students will get off April 8 and 9 - the Monday and Tuesday after Easter - but they will have to go to school on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of that week. Schools will be closed the first two days because they are paid holidays for school employees.
Superintendent Wayne Harris also wanted to extend the school year to make up some of the missed days, but the board, on a 4-2 vote, rejected that recommendation.
Instead, it decided to use "banked time" to make up three days and keep June 12 as the last day for students.
Banked time is instructional time beyond the state minimum requirement of 51/2 hours a day, or 990 hours a year. Because Roanoke's school day is longer than the state requires, it accumulates 4.7 days of banked time each school year. Schools are allowed to use banked time to make up part of the missed days.
Roanoke schools have missed 12 days this winter because of bad weather. Six makeup days were approved earlier by the board.
To make up the remaining days, Harris recommended using three days of the April break, extending the school year by two days to June 14, and using one day of banked time.
Harris said he believes schools should try to make up as many days as possible before it uses banked time, because he values instructional time. Under his plan, schools would have been in session 179 days this year, only one short of the normal 180 days.
Board members Marsha Ellison and Finn Pincus supported Harris' recommendation.
"I think this would send a message that instruction is our highest priority after the safety of our children," Ellison said.
If the city uses three days of banked time, students will lose class time, she said. "Even though attendance might be lower if the school year is extended, some students will want to attend classes."
But John Saunders, a board member, said he didn't think there would be "meaningful instruction" if the school year were extended by two days. Seniors will graduate on June 13 and skip town, he said.
Pincus argued that other students likely would attend school on those days, however. Seniors make up less than 10 percent of the enrollment, he said.
After the board rejected Harris' proposal to lengthen the school year, Ellison tried to get the panel to agree to extend the year to make up any additional days the city might miss this winter.
Board Chairman Nelson Harris supported Ellison and Pincus on this approach, but Saunders, Melinda Payne and Charles Day opposed it. The motion failed on the tie vote.
Instead, the board voted to lengthen the school day by up to 30 minutes a day beginning April 1 to make up any additional missed days.
Under the approved plan, the schools have one additional day of unused banked time before the board will have to lengthen the school day.
Saunders said the school day would be lengthened by the minimum time needed to make up the additional days.
By April 1, school officials will know the number of additional days that might have to be made up, he said. If the city doesn't miss any more days, the school day won't be lengthened.
On another matter, Richard Kelley, assistant superintendent for operations, said Roanoke would receive an additional $350,000 in state funds next year to reduce class sizes in kindergarten through third grade in five elementary schools under a budget plan approved by the House of Delegates.
The class size would be reduced from 18 to 15 pupils per teacher in schools where more than 70 percent of the children receive free- or reduced-priced lunches. The schools are Lincoln Terrace, Forest Park, Hurt Park, Fallon Park and Roanoke Academy of Math and Science.
Kelley said the city would have to hire 15 teachers to reduce the class sizes. He estimated that the teachers' salaries and other expenses would be $550,000, with the net local cost being close to $200,000.
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