Roanoke County School Board Rethinks Specialty Programs

By Shawna Morrison shawna.morrison@roanoke.com 777-3523

The Roanoke County school system made plans in June to move all its specialty programs to one school, but those plans are changing.

At a school board workshop that lasted about two hours Wednesday evening, board members and school administrators came to a consensus that they will move only some of the programs to Arnold R. Burton Technology Center for the upcoming year.

Each of the county’s five high schools has a specialty program: visual arts at Cave Spring; performing arts at Glenvar; global studies at Northside; communications at Hidden Valley; and marketing and business at William Byrd. There is also a popular engineering program at Arnold R. Burton Technology Center; it will not change.

According to Lorraine Lange, the county’s deputy superintendent, this is what will likely take place:

n Glenvar’s program will be moved to Burton next school year;

n Cave Spring’s program will remain only for existing students, and the new center for visual arts and museum studies — set to open next school year at Burton — will take its place;

n Third- and fourth-year students in Hidden Valley’s program will remain at Hidden Valley, while first- and second- year students will attend the program at Burton;

n Northside’s program, which attracted no new students this year, will be phased out. In a couple of years, the school may start a new program at Burton; and

n Byrd’s program will not be moved.

The final decision to change the programs either will be made at the administrative level or with a vote from the school board at its meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

For the past few years, a student who was accepted into a specialty program had to transfer to the school where the program is taught. That school then became the student’s home school.

Most of the programs weren’t drawing enough students to be cost- effective. Superintendent Linda Weber said some parents said their children were interested in the programs, but didn’t want to have to change schools.

Once the programs are housed at Burton, students will attend classes there for two periods — zero, which takes place before school starts, and first — then be bused back to their home schools.

“The goal is to have these specialized classes for all students in the county,” not just for students where the programs are housed, Lange said. By having them at Burton, transportation won’t be as much of an issue for some students and others won’t have to worry about leaving their home schools.

The school system had planned to move all the programs to Burton for next school year, but reconsidered for existing students after receiving feedback from parents.