THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610270319
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 77 lines
PTA membership has increased tenfold. Students seem more focused on learning. Teachers are bursting with creativity.
Some are amazed at the changes since the old Chesterfield Heights Elementary School last year became Norfolk's first elementary magnet school. Now called Chesterfield Academy of Math, Science and Technology, it's part of Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr.'s effort to transform a system dogged by urban social ills and low achievement.
For many, it offers a vision of how the city can increase school choice, improve its academic offerings and racially integrate its 10 majority-black elementary schools. Parents say they'd like to see more of the magnets - schools of choice built around special fields of study.
``I think the magnet program has been a blessing to us in this area and is a concept that should expand,'' Chesterfield PTA president John W. Bilberry said. ``It's attracted a diverse group of people, all coming together for a common goal - and that's what America is supposed to be anyhow.''
Formerly 97 percent black, more than 120 white children now attend the 586-student school, where behavior, attendance and work habits have improved, parents say.
Initially, some black parents whose children already attended the school worried that their children would be edged out or couldn't compete. Many white parents were leery of busing their children into an unfamiliar neighborhood.
But much of the fear seems to have been dispelled.
To get to Chesterfield, Wendy and Phillip Amos's daughter, who had attended Ocean View Elementary School on the other side of town, rides a school bus an hour each way to Chesterfield.
``It's not an ideal location, and it's not a very pretty school, it's older, but when we went inside and started meeting people and seeing what they were all about, we did a 180-degree turn,'' Wendy Amos said.
Principal Deborah L. Mansfield recruited top teachers from throughout the system. The school is packed with computers, and math, science and technology are taught using hands-on experiments that challenge kids to think and work together to solve problems.
Most teachers keep animals in the classrooms, such as lizards, hedgehogs and snakes.
``You get to learn all about them and where they live,'' said Joshua Stone, 9, a fourth-grader.
While technology-conscious parents are happy with a school emphasizing it, some think Chesterfield should be reserved for kids with an aptitude for math and science.
``The sole reason we sent our daughter to that school is because we were under the impression it was for advanced children,'' said James Pollock. But the Pollocks don't regret the choice; they've left their daughter in the school.
Students from outside the school's attendance boundary are chosen largely because of their interest in the subjects. But none of the Chesterfield neighborhood children is turned away.
``It's a very creative group I'm working with, and the prevailing philosophy is we're going to meet the needs of our kids at whatever level that may be,'' Mansfield said.
Bilberry, of the PTA, said bringing in students from outside the neighborhood has motivated underachieving black students.
``I think it's made the students more competitive, but in a positive sense,'' Bilberry said of the new program. ``They focus more on the positive aspects of the classroom and what teachers are putting out there for them.''
The program also has instilled pride among parents, who feel good that their kids are being equipped to compete in an increasingly technological society. PTA membership has increased from about 40 members to more than 400.
While Nichols hopes to create more elementary magnet schools, the system doesn't have the money at this point to do so. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
[BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
With lunch ending before she could finish her milk, Betsy Mings, 5,
gets in a last sip at the Chesterfield Academy of Math, Science and
Technology, in Norfolk. Betsy and her classmates learn with
top-notch teachers, and with computers and hands-on experiments that
challenge kids to think and work together.] by CNB