DATE: Wednesday, September 24, 1997         TAG: 9709240444

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   73 lines

HEARING SEEKS SOLUTIONS FOR CROWDED SCHOOLS MOST SUGGESTIONS AREN'T IN SUFFOLK BOARD'S CONTROL, AND PANEL'S IDEAS ARE UNPOPULAR.

The people needed to talk much louder at Tuesday's public hearing on alternative ways to use limited school space.

That's because they generally weren't talking to the school officials conducting the meeting, but to City Council and Planning Commission members who weren't there.

How about a moratorium on new homes, said Steve Raby, whose son is in kindergarten. ``It would buy us some time,'' he said. ``Sounds to me like we've got a crisis.''

Spend city money more prudently to leave more for schools, like buying less expensive Fire Department vehicles, suggested Debra Spratley, mother of three schoolchildren. ``A (Chevrolet) Blazer would've done the same thing as a Suburban would've done,'' she said. ``And they're cheaper.''

Scrounge money from the state and federal governments to free up more local money for education needs, and have new businesses and residents pay them back as loans, suggested Carl Sweat, father of two schoolchildren.

All fine ideas, agreed members of the Alternative Methods Committee. Call your council member, your planning commissioner, even - one woman suggested - your state delegate and senator. They control growth and spending, not us.

But Tuesday's hearing was about ``what if?''

What if there isn't enough space in the schools for the students? Most of the 70 people filling Lakeland High School's library didn't much like the ideas tossed on the table by the committee, ideas like year-round schools and increasing class sizes and eliminating pre-school programs for at-risk children.

``Certainly our hope is that none of these options become necessary,'' Assistant Superintendent Milton R. Liverman said at the outset.

``I want you to understand: We're not selling these ideas,'' emphasized Janice B. Holland, also an assistant superintendent and chairwoman of the committee appointed by the School Board in January to come up with ways to accommodate students in a space emergency.

The people sure weren't buying. Betty Rountree, a mother and school volunteer, said there aren't enough classroom assistants to help with classes now, much less bigger classes.

Two teachers spoke out against cutbacks in the classes to prepare needy 4-year-olds for school.

One, Karen Gunter, also a parent, said she could live with year-round schools or double shifts. She suggested more combination high school-college credit courses, using Paul D. Camp Community College.

An older couple wondered why abandoned buildings like the old Suffolk High School weren't remodeled. Doesn't meet state standards and too expensive, Liverman said.

The committee was appointed in January after the City Council rejected as too expensive the School Board's requested building plan that included several schools and renovations, instead agreeing to fund just one new elementary school.

The School Board this month sent back a new, larger, six-year, $142.2 million building plan of what it says the school system needs, including four new schools and five new additions to existing schools.

Recent years of surprising 5 percent to 7 percent enrollment growth have put the squeeze on school facilities. Some 21 percent of the more than 11,000 Suffolk students are in mobile classrooms because of lack of regular classroom space.

That's the council's fault, several people said. But as they complained about how things were - Sweat said public officials need to be accountable for their handling of the city's growth - several said the people themselves need to take action - even to the point of paying more.

``We've got to come to an idea of what we're going to do,'' Rountree pleaded to the crowd. ``We've got to put money back into the schools.''

Holland said she expects a larger crowd at the second hearing Thursday at Nansemond River High School. She was hoping for more ideas.

``But I was glad to see the group take ownership,'' she said. ``This was `our' problem. What can `we' do? . . . I think that was a big plus.''

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