ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 18, 1997 TAG: 9702180060
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Jim O'Quinn, an aide to U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., was asking directions from a security guard at Pulaski County High School to the Southwest Virginia Governor's School.
"It's that funny little building sitting up there on the right," he was told.
That funny little building, constructed years ago as a vocational school project, has housed the Governor's School since its first classes in the fall of 1990. Its size limits the number of students who can attend to about 100, and even that makes for cramped conditions.
It was Robb who, during his term as Virginia's governor, launched the governor's schools initiative for high-achieving students. School representatives have contacted his office for advice on whether federal funding might be available to help with its various initiatives, like providing wireless Internet connections for school systems in neighboring counties.
The wooden structure has long been overcrowded with students commuting from eight counties for half-day advanced courses in math, science and technology. But the 1997 General Assembly nixed the $2.1 million request from state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, for a larger building.
"We've been trying since '93 to get a building erected, and it's been an impossibility," said Margaret "Pat" Duncan, the school's director.
"Just last year, we got a sink in the biology room," she told O'Quinn. "When it rains, the front hall out there, you can wade in water. ... You have to cover the computers," she said. "Can you imagine trying to teach like that?"
Apparently the faculty is managing to do so, because their students have won more than their share of competitive awards at science fairs and other competitions over the years.
Marye made some waves last month when he noted state Board of Education approval of $1.6 million for a new Governor's School at Fredericksburg, while the Pulaski school - the only Governor's School west of Roanoke - had been losing state funding. To him, he said, it all meant that "the Golden Crescent would rake in the bacon while the people of Southwest Virginia would just chew on the rind."
Subsequently, funding which has been cut in recent years at the Southwest Virginia Governor's School and others looked as if it would be reinstated. The school would also get about $75,000 in supplementary "no strings" money - but no new building, at least this year.
Duncan has gotten a little grief over that. At least one Department of Education official has expressed concern to her that going directly to the General Assembly to seek funding, apart from overall funding for such schools, may encourage others to compete for the same dollars rather than presenting a united front.
Duncan's argument is that this Governor's School has financial concerns not shared by the others. It got a $33,000 NASA grant for the special Internet access line, but the obligation to pay for that line after September will fall entirely on the school.
"One of the things that makes us unique is this wireless technology," she said. "What we want to do here is connect with these small bridge antennas and transmit. ... With our one computer, we can hook up 250 other computers [in each system] on the Internet at no cost."
This school may also have the lowest tuition in the state, $2,500 per student, but it is doubtful that participating localities in this part of the state can afford to raise that right now.
"Equal shares of monies from state funds do not allow us to survive. This is where it has been for the past few years - a survival question," Duncan said.
The Governor's School at Fredericksburg is not the only one getting started with state funding. Funding also seems assured for a "virtual" Governor's School based in Abingdon and using fiber-optic technology to teach classes over interactive television at each student's own school.
The concept has the backing of Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, who has worked for years to connect schools in Southwest Virginia with fiber-optic lines. It also has the benefit of making long-distance commutes to a central school unnecessary.
But, as O'Quinn learned on his recent visit to the school at Dublin, that concept also has its disadvantages.
O'Quinn talked with about a dozen students and mentioned the "virtual school" idea to them. They were uniformly against it, even though some of them do have long commutes from their home counties to Dublin, because they like the in-person association with the other students.
"It's just something about being close to people with the same interests as you," one student said. "It pushes you to excel," said another.
"The thing that disturbs me about it is they have not proved yet that this teaching over TV is the way to go," Duncan said.
Although actual classes last only half a day, the school's day does not end at that point.
Besides acting as an Internet hub for other school divisions, the Governor's School provides technology training for teachers from counties even beyond those sending students. It is not unusual for some students to return to the school after hours to work on certain projects.
The school for several years has also been overseeing a mentors program, placing its students in real-job situations usually in their home communities for several hours each week. Work sites have ranged from hospitals and laboratories to radio stations and judge's offices. So, Duncan argues, it is much more than a half-day school.
LENGTH: Long : 101 linesby CNB