PETERSBURG -- The Petersburg School Board voted last night to create a more controlled learning environment at Peabody Middle School for about 80 struggling students.

The students have been identified as having a Standard of Learning score between 230 and 350. The SOL passing score is 400.

"At this point, we have students who don't come nearly close," Superintendent James M. Victory told the board.

The students also have discipline, attendance and truancy problems and come from low-income households, he said.

Peabody will have only sixth-and seventh-grade students in the fall because the secondary schools were restructured.

The program will put the group of seventh-graders in four classrooms, each classroom having a teacher and a teaching assistant. The teachers are currently on the staff at Peabody; the assistants will be hired with federal funding.

The students will also have an administrative team available to them. They will get instruction in core academic areas, with the emphasis on reading and math, Victory said.

"Regardless of whether students are going to college or going to the world of work, they need those particular skills," he said.

Peabody principal Derrick Scarborough said he would be meeting with parents to talk about the program later this summer.

The program will have incentives for the students who excel, flexible schedules for the students, frequent parent-teacher conferences and weekly reports, he said.

Victory said Peabody was chosen for the program because the middle school gets students from all over the city who need the extra help. The money is available for only one school.

The students need to have a strong foundation to get them through middle school, junior high and high school, he said.

"If by chance that foundation is not solid, then there's a possibility that we'll be setting up those students for failure," he said.

Board members Bernard J. Lundy Jr. and Elsie R. Jarmon were absent. Board member Kenneth W. Lewis said he supports the program but voted no because he wants to give the public more opportunity to look into the program.
Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or jlizama@timesdispatch.com.