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Good News About Good Schools

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Mainland High may open by graduation

By Linda Trimble | News-Journal Education Writer

DELAND — A principal´s dream to have the seniors of the Class of 2006 graduate from the new school they´ve watched rise next door to Mainland High could be just enough to make it come true.

"My thought now is it´s highly probable that students will be in there (by) the end of the school year," Volusia School Superintendent Margaret Smith said late Tuesday. That was a departure from the August 2006, opening date that School Board members had been given a few hours earlier.

The turnaround came after Smith talked by telephone with Mainland Principal Patsy Graham, who had said as recently as late June she expected the $47.5 million school in Daytona Beach to open for classes next spring after state tests are completed.

"When we started the whole process, the class of ´06 was scheduled to be the first graduating class from that new facility," Graham said Tuesday night in a telephone interview. "To me that is an ethical contract with those kids. If it´s one month, one grading period, we need to move these kids in before the end of next school year so that they feel they are the first graduating class from that school."

Construction of the Daytona Beach school -- originally slated to open next month -- is now scheduled for completion in February. Facilities Director Pat Drago estimated it would take three months to move in.

"It will be the determination of the principal if we can handle the move this school year or we will have to wait," Smith said.

Last year´s hurricanes, the bankruptcy of the concrete subcontractor on the job and the lack of adequate staffing of the site at times led to the delay, Drago told the School Board.

In other business, the School Board took the first step toward resurrecting an interscholastic sports program in the county´s middle schools. The board approved advertising of a policy that would allow a one-sport pilot program -- most likely basketball -- for both boys and girls.

Interscholastic sports were replaced with intramurals to broaden student participation when junior highs switched to middle schools in the 1990s. The intramurals were later abandoned to cut costs, but middle school principals now want to re-establish a sports program to help pupils identify better with their schools and build school spirit.

A public hearing will be scheduled, probably next month, before a final decision is made.

The School Board also:

Approved a tentative $1.14 billion budget for 2005-06 and proposed tax rate of $8.259 per $1,000 of taxable property value. A final decision will be made after a Sept. 13 public hearing.

Agreed to pay Smith a bonus of up to $16,120 next year if Volusia´s scores on state tests improve in specified categories and the dropout and graduation rates are maintained or improved.

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