THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270273
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: BACK TO SCHOOL
With today's story, the Pilot's education team continues a series of
reports on each of South Hampton Roads' cities
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 106 lines
When many of those who worked or volunteered at the former Florence Bowser Elementary talk about their new school - Northern Shores - they sound like an adolescent whose family just bought a state-of-the-art dishwasher after years of doing it the old-fashioned way.
They point out that Northern Shores, on Respass Beach Road, is air-conditioned and that it will have a gymnasium, access to the Internet and technology, art and music labs.
And they point out that it's nestled in the solidly middle-class Harbour View area, where real estate agents talk up the $7.7 million school as a selling point.
``It's simply a blessing,'' concluded Northern Shores PTA president Eartha Garrett.
The amenities haven't been lost on the students, either.
``It'll be a lot more room, and we'll do a lot more activities,'' said 8-year-old Ashley Cornelius, a fourth-grader.
Scheduled to open next Tuesday, Northern Shores is the district's first new elementary school in 17 years.
Although some of the work on it won't be wrapped up until early this fall, it already is viewed as a jewel in the district's crown: a sign that the school system is growing, and going places.
``This will be the beginning of other building and renovation opportunities,'' said School Board Chairman Mark Croston.
``I just think everyone's excited,'' said Northern Shores Principal Pamela Kiriakos, who was Bowser's principal for the past six years.
``There will be more possibilities to do even better things - especially in the area of technology.''
Northern Shores will serve students who had been assigned to Bowser, which was on Nansemond Parkway.
What was once Bowser is now Oakland Elementary. Oakland's original home was closed for the 1996-97 year for renovation and expansion work.
When that work is done and Oakland's students and staff return to their regular building next fall, district administrators say Bowser could be used as an alternative education school.
Designed for nearly 700 students, Northern Shores anticipated an enrollment of 500 as of last week.
In the fall of 1993, Bowser served only 247 students; last fall, its enrollment was 375.
Like several schools in the city's growing northern and central areas, its enrollment jumped sharply in recent years - especially as Suffolk's new housing developments attracted more families from across the region and elsewhere.
Kiriakos recalled a day last summer when she stepped out for about an hour and a half for a meeting.
About 15 new kids enrolled while she was gone.
By last September, the district's overall enrollment was 5 percent higher than at the same time in 1994 - one of its largest increases in recent memory. The gain - 468 students - was the equivalent of adding a new school.
Last fall's total enrollment was 10,090.
About one in four of the district's elementary school students had their regular classes in mobile units last year.
``Right now, my building is almost maxed out as far as students,'' said Talmadge Darden, principal of John Yeates Middle School on Bennetts Pasture Road, where enrollment was just over 900 students late last week, up from 814 this past school year.
``I could probably finagle and get one or two more classes. But that would be about it.''
This year, Yeates will rely on two temporary buildings on its campus to ease some of the enrollment pressure. And some classes will be held in the school's auditorium, Darden said.
The district plans to build three more elementary schools by 2003, open a fourth middle school in 2000 and a third high school in 2002.
The district already has begun some other capital-improvement work, like the Oakland project and another project now underway to install integrated air-conditioning systems in nine schools without them - including Bowser.
Few residents have publicly complained about construction plans.
But some parents of elementary school children say they don't want new, larger schools to lose the familial atmosphere a small school can foster.
Several Northern Shores teachers said they would work hard to preserve the close-knit environment 34-year-old Bowser was known for.
``We're still going to try to learn all of the students' names; and plan things together as teachers,'' said second-grade teacher Swee Hart, who worked at Bowser for about five years.
``That's still important.'' ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL KESTNER
The Virginian-Pilot
Future Northern Shores student Dominique Foster reads a speech
Friday while holding the time capsule for the newly built elementary
school.
KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK SCHOOLS EDUCATION by CNB