ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010032
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
For many black Montgomery County residents, things haven't changed much in the three decades since school integration.
At least, when it comes to seeing similar faces in the schools.
With the move of a black assistant principal to an administrative position last month, no principals in the Montgomery County schools are black. That job change prompted the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to speak out.
"We're concerned about what's happening in the schools," said the Rev. John Price, chapter president.
At its meeting tonight, the School Board will consider a letter written by Price, asking for a meeting between the board and the NAACP. Price and other members have said they're tired of asking the board to increase the number of black teachers and administrators, and it's time for action.
Russell Holladay, director of personnel for the schools, said he has no set policy for minority hires.
"Our main goal is to hire the best possible employees," he said. "We feel real proud about what we're doing."
School administrators say the percentage of minority hires correlates with the overall minority population in the county. The percentage of blacks hired, however, falls almost 1 percentage point below the black population.
NAACP members say that hurts black children, who often need to look to someone from their own culture for guidance and discipline.
Deborah Girma, a black eighth-grader at Blacksburg Middle School, agreed.
"It's mostly Hispanics and blacks who get less education, you know, and drop out," she said. "Having black teachers can show them a higher level of learning."
Aubry and Mary Mills, longtime Nellies Cave area residents, still lament the teachers of the former all-black Christiansburg Institute who were lost to integration 30 years ago. The institute was closed and its staff dispersed.
"They were dedicated to you knowing something when you got out. ... We lost a lot with integration," said Mary Mills.
They say few of those teachers were hired at the integrated schools. Now that they have several grandchildren in the schools, the Millses said they're still waiting to see an improvement.
Holladay said he actively recruits at job fairs around the state and surrounding states, even though the supply of graduates from Radford University and Virginia Tech could fill most positions. In North Carolina, he said he hits five predominantly black colleges in one week.
In the past two years, 4 percent of applications have been from minorities - which includes blacks, Hispanics, Asians and American Indians. Almost 13 percent of those minority applicants were hired, he said.
Holladay said competition for minority hires is tough, and larger school systems can afford to pay $28,000 for starting pay. Last year, Montgomery County paid its first year teachers $22,600.
Increasing those salaries, said Mary Mills, should be the School Board's "number one priority" to attract blacks.
One problem the school system can't fix, most admit, is the social trends of the county. With such a small population of blacks, it's difficult to find a niche, said John Martin, the assistant superintendent for personnel, who is black.
"If you get young people, they're single and looking for mates - the pickings are kind of poor," he said. "If you're older, you're looking for a good social life, which can be difficult too."
One solution, Aubry Mills said, is to provide more job opportunities so children would either stay in the county or come back after college.
"There's not a lot of potential here," he said. "If you're not an instructor at Tech, or an engineer at the Radford arsenal, there's no opportunity for kids - any kids, black or white."
Many say one way to make blacks feel more welcome in the school system is to give more attention to their history. Black History Month only focuses on the usual leaders like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, Mills said.
Learning about lesser-known leaders and local history could benefit all children, said Mary Mills.
"Many whites would have a different feeling if they understood. They look at them as a minority, but if they learned the history, it wouldn't make any difference," she said.
Martin said the school system is changing the curriculum to meet new state learning standards, which will give opportunities to teach history from a more global perspective.
Girma and her eighth-grade friends said they take advantage of after-school activities geared toward learning about different cultures.
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: Black hiring trends. KEYWORDS: MGRby CNB