Norfolk school caters to parents who want GEDs

NORFOLK

Kanisha Hurst dropped out of Norview High School more than six years ago.

But now that her 5-year-old son is bringing home class assignments from P.B. Young Sr. Elementary School, she wishes she'd stuck with her education.

"I might not be able to help him with his homework," she said.

That's why she was at an orientation last week for Young's new General Educational Development course, aimed at residents of the Young Terrace neighborhood near the school.

Hurst, an attendant at a Norfolk fitness center, knows she'll have more job security once she earns a GED diploma.

Just as importantly, though, more education means she could reinforce what her son learns at school. "That's a reason I'm here," she said.

It was parents such as Hurst who Alana Balthazar, Young's principal, wanted to reach when she launched the GED program last fall. Balthazar was assistant principal at Jacox Elementary School before becoming Young's principal in 2008.

P.B. Young is surrounded by Young Terrace, a public housing community that, at 752 apartments, is the single biggest property run by the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Nearly all the school's 420 students come from lower-income households and qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches, Balthazar said.

Balthazar, a bubbly educator whose daughter attends Ghent Elementary School, said she was astonished to discover how few parents were involved at Young or even in their children's progress, compared with Jacox.

"I said, 'Where are the parents?' " Balthazar recalled.

To her, parental involvement is a vital complement to teachers' classroom instruction.

"I can't just say, 'OK, you all don't know the homework, we'll take care of your kids and your kids will be successful.' It's a partnership," Balthazar said.

Through a survey and a parent advisory board she formed, Balthazar learned that plenty of her students' parents felt hobbled or embarrassed by their lack of a high school diploma.

"I just kept hearing that buzzword, 'GED, GED, GED,' " she said.

She put the GED program together with help from local church volunteers and the housing authority, which paid for textbooks.

The first class of about 40 adults is expected to take their exams later this month and accept their diploma on Young's gymnasium stage.

The ceremony is the climax of a 90-day course that includes classroom instruction about five hours a week, plus homework.

Camye Allen, who heads the program, held an orientation last week for Hurst and the new crop of prospective adult students. Allen previously taught GED classes to Norfolk jail inmates for nine years.

The adult students get matched with mentors who help in their studies. The school's first GED students had educational levels ranging from fourth-grade to high school, Balthazar said.

Oliver Pinkney, who will take the six-hour GED exams later this month, said he left school after the ninth grade to work and support his daughter, who now attends Young.

A restaurant cook by trade, Pinkney, 27, said he needs a GED diploma to get trained for a new, better-paying career as a heating and air-conditioning technician.

"Another reason I want to get my GED is let my kids know it's never too late," he said. "They see me doing it and now they're more interested in their homework" added Pinkney, who proudly noted his daughter became an honor roll student this year at Young.

Brandi Thomas, who will take the GED exams this month, said she left Booker T. Washington High School in 2000 when she became pregnant. She now has two children, including a first-grade son whose science homework sometimes confounds her.

"Without a GED, you can't get a good job," she said. "I want the best for my kids. I don't want them to think it's OK to drop out of school."

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com