DATE: Sunday, September 14, 1997            TAG: 9709120248

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: COVER STORY 

SOURCE: BY REBECCA MYERS CUTCHINS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  100 lines

PRACTICAL EDUCATION NEW SCHOOL BOARD CHAIRMAN THINKS VOCATIONAL COURSES SHOULD BE OFFERED AS AN OPTION TO STUDENTS WHO AREN'T PLANNING TO GO TO COLLEGE.

SINCE PORTSMOUTH'S FIRST elected School Board began its work a year ago, a lot has been said and done to make sure high school students are better prepared for college.

But what if those students don't go to college?

That's the question most on the mind of David I. Joyner, Portsmouth's new School Board chairman.

Joyner wants to make sure those students are better prepared for jobs.

That's not surprising for a longtime educator who began his career as a Portsmouth vocational education teacher.

But he's not alone.

Faced with a climbing crime rate and chronic unemployment, Portsmouth voters found vocational education to be a top concern in last year's first School Board election.

Though teachers' salaries, building maintenance and instructional supplies are among the School Board's top priorities, Joyner feels a critical need to revive the district's vocational education program, especially in light of the state's tougher curriculum standards and the higher expectations students now face.

Though Joyner has undergraduate and doctorate degrees in education from Virginia Tech and a master's in educational administration from the College of William and Mary, he acknowledges that college isn't for everyone.

``I don't think that everybody should go to college or wants to go to college or can go to college,'' he said.

Joyner thinks vocational education - courses that train students for such trades as carpentry, brick masonry and roofing - should be offered as an option.

``It's more the practical side of education which I think is largely being ignored with the new standards,'' he said.

By coordinating school-to-work programs with local businesses and industries, Joyner would like to prepare students for jobs right out of high school.

He also would like to see stronger bonds formed with schools that offer a full range of vocational education classes, like Tidewater Community College and Norfolk's Technical Vocational Center, he said.

``I don't disagree with higher standards, higher expectations for students,'' Joyner said, ``but I am concerned that a lot of people are really going to be left behind when those kinds of programs are expected of people that have no interest in going to college.''

Accompanying Joyner's concern over tougher standards is anxiety over the students who may fall short of those objectives.

``The state doesn't make any provision for either providing or paying for remediation programs,'' he said.

Joyner says he thinks the old I.C. Norcom High School, which will be vacant after students move to their new facility in January, would best be suited for students ``who have problems with school, who need some additional incentive and motivation and help.''

The old school could house GED classes as well as programs for students who need to strengthen their basic skills, Joyner said. Currently, academic preparatory classes are scattered throughout the city in two community centers, a church, the Tri-Cities Center and the EXCEL Campus at Wilson High School.

``We really have some programs that we could put in that building,'' Joyner said. ``The only problem is that it's going to cost a little money to renovate it. . . . But on the other hand, we've got programs that we're renting buildings for, and we could use that money to do the renovations.''

Though he had no political experience, the Old Dominion University professor had spent nearly four decades in education and thought a School Board spot would make good use of his expertise and interest in educational issues, he said.

After only one year on the board, Joyner was selected this summer by his fellow board members to a one-year term as chairman.

``I just thought he would be excellent as a chair,'' said Mary Roberts (formerly Mary Curran), who nominated Joyner for the chairmanship. ``I don't see him using this position for his political aspirations. . . . And I think that will be good for the School Board.''

Joyner, 60, a native of Courtland, grew up in Franklin. At age 10, he started working on a dairy farm and kept the job through high school.

``It was a good, solid, traditional kind of a small-town experience,'' Joyner said, ``and I think that's served me well.''

Joyner and his wife, who is retired from Clariant (formerly Hoechst-Celanese), live in Edgefield. They have two sons, ages 35 and 30, both of whom have followed in their father's footsteps.

The older son has been a music teacher in a Newport News elementary school for about 10 years; the younger is an early childhood education major at ODU.

Joyner remembers he changed majors three times while in college, switching from business to forestry before settling on education.

``I'm really very happy there,'' he said. ``It's always been not a job but a pleasure. It's not something that I did for money, but because I loved it.

``And that's the best you can ask out of a job.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by JIM WALKER

Bud Brueggeman, an associate professor at Tidewater Community

College, conducts a mechanics class at the GM Training Center.

Students are Jeff Pedigo, David Hough and Rebecca Collins.

David I. Joyner

New School Board chairman

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