THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 25, 1994 TAG: 9412230263
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Elizabeth Thiel
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Saving trees
Two Bayside High teachers are going to bat for some trees set to be leveled to expand a parking lot and lay some athletic fields at the school.
Architects have said the trees, although not directly in the path of the parking lot or fields, would die anyway because their roots would be covered by fill dirt or pavement.
Martha Rogers and Mary Guest, who stressed that they began their crusade not as teachers but as citizens, have written letters and appeared before the School Board twice to ask officials to save the trees. Guest and Rogers are not asking that plans for the parking lot or fields be scrapped but that builders find a way to do it without harming the trees.
``We're so tired of seeing so much of Virginia Beach simply flattened'' for development, Guest said. ``All we ask is that a few old trees be saved.''
The School Board gave no public response to their request Tuesday night.
Safer schools
The School Board is on its way toward one of its four priorities for 1994: school safety.
The board voted unanimously in favor of a plan to convene a safe schools task force, made up of 53 citizens and two City Council members and led by two board members, Tim Jackson and D. Linn Felt.
The task force is charged with studying the status of safety in Beach schools, highlighting successful safety programs from other areas and making recommendations for improvement here.
The task force is scheduled to begin meeting in February and present a report to the board by July.
Righting the rank
Students will have to wait longer to find out who earns the coveted valedictorian and salutatorian titles for high school seniors.
School Board members unanimously approved new regulations for how students are chosen for those titles.
The biggest change in the rules is that class rank will be determined at the end of students' senior year, instead of after the first semester. Until now, schools had determined class rank early, in part to allow the top students to bask in glory for a few months before graduating.
Now students will not know whether they won valedictorian and salutatorian titles until final grades are in, a short time before graduation.
Officials hope that will eliminate competition and disappointment for kids whose grades drop and bump them out of the top ranks after the first semester of their senior year.
Some principals have warned that the new system won't allow them enough time to print the names of the valedictorians and salutatorians in the graduation programs. School Board members were unmoved by that argument.
``I don't buy that,'' said Robert W. Hall. ``Come next June, when I go to a graduation, I want to see the names in there.''
On schedule
Princess Anne Middle School's hours will be changed next year, as planned, to operate on the same schedule as other middle schools citywide.
The School Board unanimously agreed to spend $1.5 million next year to buy 35 new buses for Princess Anne Middle. The school had been operating on the same schedule as high schools, opening at 7:35 a.m. and ending at 2 p.m. Other middle schools begin at 8:10 a.m. and end at 2:35.
Transportation was the problem. Princess Anne has long bus routes serving rural areas, and there weren't enough buses to go around during the middle school time slot.
School Board member June T. Kernutt has argued that the time difference has put Princess Anne at a disadvantage compared with other middle schools in sports and extracurricular activities. The earlier class time also was tough on kids in outlying areas, who have to ride the bus much longer than other students.
Childcare, a concern of some parents who had adjusted their schedules to accommodate Princess Anne's schedule, may be taken care of by a city recreation department program that is expected to be available at Princess Anne Middle next year.
One board member expressed worry about the cost.
``I don't want to be a grinch, but I'm having a tough time with the $1.5 million,'' said Joseph D. Taylor.
But, Kernutt said, ``This is a basic service that we have not provided.'' by CNB