Ocean View Elementary School (Norfolk, Virginia)

Ocean View Elementary School is an American public primary school in the community of Ocean View in the city of Norfolk, Virginia. It teaches grades one through five, in addition to its Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs for younger children. After completing grade five, most students go to Northside Middle School, which is also located in the Ocean View community.

History

Prior to the construction of this school, there was another school of the same name in the Ocean View community of Norfolk at a different location (on 1st View and Maple).

Construction of the current Ocean View, at the current location (on Mason Creek Road), began on March 1, 1937. Part of the funding came from the Public Works Administration (PWA), which was part of President Roosevelt's New Deal program, which was designed to provide skilled employment in midst of the Great Depression. The school opened for students at the current location on March 10, 1939.

Lucy Mason Holt, the first principal of the school (who started at the old Ocean View location), had to deal with students from families to poor to buy shoes. As a humorous way of dealing with it, and avoiding stigma for the children, she organized barefoot races for students. These races attracted state-wide and even some national attention. She even gave a small amount of money to the child who could stay barefoot for the longest time into winter.

In 1949, during the Post-World War II baby boom, the school was greatly expanded to accommodate enrollment of a thousand students, up to grade seven. Construction of new schools, making grade five the final grade of the school, and construction of other schools since, means current enrollment is well below that level today.

pecial programs

A special education specialist works with children with learning disabilities, who make up slightly more than one tenth the overall student population.

Environmental activity

Norfolk Public School's "Maritime Studies Pathway" is a special program for only three schools in the district: Ocean View Elementary School, Northside Middle School, and Granby High School. The environmental education content is concentrated on the Chesapeake Bay (the largest estuary in the U.S) and its convert|64000|sqmi|km2|sing=on watershed.

A forestry and extension specialist from the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech advised teachers and students at the school about the significance of the last mature dune in Norfolk on the southern shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

Students and teachers from Ocean View and nearby Willoughby Elementary lobbied local authorities to save the dune. This is and other efforts helped encourage The Norfolk Environmental Commission to recommend a convert|6.5|acre|m2|sing=on parcel, known locally as the “Sand Hills”, to be protected by city council.

Extra curricular activity

The school has the following clubs:
*Chorus Club
*Media Club
*Science Club
*Tech Club

External links

* [http://www.nps.k12.va.us/ Norfolk Public Schools]
** [http://ww2.nps.k12.va.us/education/school/school.php?sectiondetailid=404 Ocean View Elementary home page]
** [http://ww2.nps.k12.va.us/education/school/schoolhistory.php?sectiondetailid=410 History of school]
** [http://cf.nps.k12.va.us/perform04/performes/pr_es04final.cfm?DID=054 Performance report for Ocean View]
** [http://www.nps.k12.va.us/schools/maps/mp_oceanvwes.htm Map to school]
* [http://www.npl.lib.va.us/absoluteig/gallery.asp?action=viewimage&categoryid=85&text=&imageid=124&box=&shownew= Profile of Lucy Mason Holt at Norfolk Public Library System]
*" [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1996/vp960310/03090044.htm Trail Honours Women From Pocahontas to "Black Patti"] " - Article mentions Lucy Mason Holt and her nomination for recognition.
* [http://ovesaa.blogspot.com/ Ocean View blog] - A personal blog of a student from the 1950s.
* [http://www.cnr.vt.edu/forsite/schools/oceanviewES.htm Virginia Tech Forestry Outreach] - Flora of the Ocean View Elementary School grounds
*" [http://www.fw.vt.edu/cnr_webpages/news/051104.htm Forestry Expert Helps Children to Save Bay Dune] " - Discuss efforts by school, students, and expert from Virginia Tech to save geographic feature. It also mentions a tree inventory program, which involves local elementary students.
* " [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/051003/3district.htm Success in the City: A once troubled urban school system is lauded for blazing a new path to academic progress] " (October 3, 2005) - Article in "U.S. News & World Report", which mainly discusses board but also mentions this particular school.