DATE: Thursday, November 20, 1997           TAG: 9711200495

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   60 lines

RESIDENTS SEEK FUNDS FOR SCHOOLS IN SUFFOLK HIGHER TAXES WOULD BE WORTH IT, THEY SAY

To Quentin Coleman, a fifth-grader at Booker T. Washington Elementary School, a new learning facility would leave a legacy.

The current school that he and about 600 other students enter and exit each day has an unreliable heating and air-conditioning system, leaky roofs, inadequate wiring for new technology and a dozen mobile classrooms.

For Coleman, that's OK. He's leaving to attend middle school next year.

But it's not too late for the first-, second-and third-graders who call Booker T. their second home.

``I was taught to wait my turn,'' Coleman told the City Council on Wednesday night. ``When is it our turn? Some of the students you promised a better school are long gone. Some will be voting in a few years.''

More than 20 residents asked council members to give the Suffolk school system the money it needs for outdated and crowded buildings in the city's building plan for next year.

They told council members that their children deserve better. And if it means paying more money in taxes each year, they don't mind, because Suffolk's future will rest in the hands of their offspring.

``Children can't get through the lunch line during lunch period at John Yeates Middle School,'' said Pat Merica, a Suffolk parent and resident. ``If my daughter gets at the end of the line by the time she gets her food, she has three minutes to eat. I would support a tax raise.''

Although the council cannot approve a building plan for next year until its Dec. 17 meeting, it asked city officials to look for ways to find more money to support the growing city.

For the past few years, the city has been faced with trying to fund a larger list of needs with limited funds.

Suffolk needs improved streets, more police and fire protection, new schools and larger municipal buildings to support the 700 new homes built in the 430-square mile city each year.

``We need to see what could be taxed for school purposes only,'' council member Leroy Bennett said.

Council member S. Chris Jones asked city officials to find design money for a new middle school.

The city's pared-down list of building expenses for next year totals $17.1 million, and $21.6 million would be needed to improve and expand Suffolk's utility services.

That proposal is more than $20 million short of what the school system requested.

School Superintendent Joyce Trump told council members that without start-up money for a new middle school this year, the number of mobile units on school grounds will once again swell. The city has 84 mobile classrooms this year, seven fewer than last year.

The city's proposed list includes $8.1 million to renovate and enlarge Booker T. Washington Elementary. It does not include fees for a new middle school, which has never been built in the city.

``Each year means more . . . challenges,'' Trump said. ``It's a tough problem.''

The city's proposed building plan also includes money for a new library, to renovate the former Suffolk High School and the municipal center and start-up money to develop two new industrial parks.

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