ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 9, 1996 TAG: 9605090045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Roanoke needs a bond issue in the next two years to help pay for nearly $20 million in middle school improvements, educational technology and air conditioning in elementary schools, the School Board chairmansaid Wednesday.
The school system needs money to renovate Woodrow Wilson and Addison middle schools after the refurbishing of Jackson and Breckinridge middle schools is finished, Chairman Nelson Harris said. School officials also want to air-condition the 12 elementary schools that were not air-conditioned during the recently completed elementary renovation program.
Funds also are needed for a study of renovating or replacing Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools, he said.
The projects are estimated to cost $19.6 million, which would require $14.6 million from the next city bond issue, he said. The remaining $5 million would come in loans from the state Literary Fund.
Harris told City Council that the bond issue should be approved by the 1997-98 school year so the renovation projects at Woodrow Wilson and Addison can remain on schedule.
"The School Board and I request that you give the timing of the next city bond issue your highest fiscal priority in order to keep our schools in the forefront of educational modernization and innovation," said Harris, who will leave the board soon.
Harris, who was elected to council Tuesday and will take his seat July 1, outlined the building needs at a joint meeting of the board and council to review next year's $82.7 million school budget.
Council members will decide whether and when to have a bond referendum. Traditionally, they have packaged school improvements with other city projects in bond issues to broaden support.
Council members made no commitment on a bond issue, but Councilwoman Linda Wyatt said she likes the proposal to air-condition elementary schools.
Wyatt, an elementary teacher in the city, said she has never taught in an air-conditioned school, adding that the heat can be oppressive for students and teachers in hot weather. She said the classrooms are so hot at times that she has let her pupils take off their shoes to lower their body temperature.
Councilman-elect James Trout, who attended the budget meeting, asked if the schools had any plan to air-condition high schools. Students might have a better attitude toward their studies in hot weather if the schools were cool, he said.
Renovations
Superintendent Wayne Harris said the school system will likely want to install air conditioning at Patrick Henry and William Fleming if they are renovated in the next few years. School officials are considering major renovations at the high schools after the middle school projects are finished in 1999.
Nelson Harris said a bond issue would ensure that all schools are equipped with computer networks and have at least one computer for every five students.
He also said more space is needed at elementary schools because of enrollment increases, smaller classes and more special-education students. To help meet the space needs, Nelson Harris said, modular classroom buildings will be added at four elementary schools next year and a two-room addition will be constructed at Morningside Elementary. During the following two years, six additional modular buildings and two additions to schools will be required, he said.
The board also is undertaking a study to determine the need for large-scale elementary school expansions during the next 10 years, Nelson Harris said.
Wyatt and Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles said they want school officials to avoid the use of modular buildings because they are inconvenient and unattractive. Wyatt said teachers lose at least one hour of instruction time a day in modular classrooms because they have to stop teaching and take the entire class to the bathrooms in the main building several times a day.
Planning periods
Nelson Harris reviewed the school budget with council members and told them the board has enough money to fund all priorities except planning periods for elementary teachers. All middle and high school teachers have planning periods, but elementary teachers have no free time to develop lesson plans, he said.
The budget includes funds for planning periods for teachers at four elementary schools, but there is no money for them at 17 elementary schools. Nelson Harris said this would require an additional $325,000 from the city. Several council members said the city might not have the funds.
"It is something that is needed," said Councilman Mac McCadden, a former teacher. "But I'm not sure we can do it next year."
Vice Mayor William White, a former School Board member, agreed. "If the board thinks it is a priority and any money becomes available, I think we ought to do it."
City Manager Bob Herbert has recommended that the city provide an increase of $1.7 million in local funds for schools next year. State funds will increase by $2.9 million.
Nelson Harris said the budget includes a 6 percent increase in the salary scale for teachers, but nearly 20 percent of the teachers will receive a large pay boost because they also will be eligible for a step raise. The average salary for principals will increase by 6 percent, while other administrators will receive average raises of 3.8 percent. Custodians, secretaries, cafeteria workers and other school employees will receive average raises of 5 percent.
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart: Roanoke School Budget.by CNB