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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1984-04-18 adjApril 18, 1984 (Afternoon Meeting--Adjourned from April 11, 19'84) A Joint meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia and the Albemarle County School Board was held on April 18, 1984, at 4:00 P.M., in Meeting Room 12, County Office Building, 401 McIntire Road, Charlottesville, Virginia; said meeting being adjourned from April 11, 1984. Board Members Present: Mr. Frederick R. Bowie, Mrs. Patricia H. Cooke (Arrived at 4:11 P.M.), Messrs. Gerald E. Fisher, J. T. Henley, Jr., C. Timothy Lindstrom (Arrived at 4:11 P.M.) and Peter T. Way. Board Members Absent: None. School Board Members Present: Mr. Charles S. Armstrong, Mrs. Jessie C. Haden, Messrs. Forrest R. Marshall, Jr., Walter R. Perkins, Robert E. Taylor, Charles R. Tolbert and Mrs. Sally H. Thomas. Officers Present: Carlos Gutierrez. County Executive, Guy B. Agnor, Jr. and School Superintendent, Agenda Item No. 1. The meeting was called to order at 4:10 P.M. by the Chairman, Mr. Fisher. Mrs. Haden, Chairman of the School Board, noted that the School Board has been in executive session since April 16, 1984 and declared the School Board now meeting in public. Agenda Item No. 2. Joint Meeting with School Board. Without a defined agenda, Mr. Fisher invited the School Board to proceed as it desired. Mrs. Haden said notification has been received that Literary Funds will be available for the Broadus Wood School renovation as of January, 1985. Mr. Agnor refreshed the Board's memory that the Broadus Wood School project was scheduled for funding in the Capital Improvements Program for Fiscal Year 1982-83 but was deferred to Fiscal Year 1983-84 awaiting the moratorium to be lifted on disbursement of Literary Funds. Once the moratorium is lifted, local funds will be available in order to proceed with the project. Mr. David Papenfuse, Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Administration, was present. He said the Literary Fund is scheduled to receive a deposit of twenty million dollars from the General Assembly in January, 1985. He noted that the projects awaiting funding that are on the list before the Broadus Wood project total seventeen million dollars. Therefore, this project for two million dollars is within the amount of literary funds which will be available. Mr. Henley suggested that the project be bid with an option of constructing or not constructing the water storage tower. This Board has authorized the staff to study the possibility of extending the public waterline to the Earlysville area. Mr. Fisher asked when the project will be bid. Dr. Gutierrez said hopefully construction can begin this year. He further noted that the Fire Official has indicated a five-year grace period regarding the water issue. Mr. Fisher said only a feasibility study was requested of a waterline. The Board will have to make its decision after receipt of same. Mr. Bowie said he hopes there will be an answer to this question in July. Mr. Fisher then asked if the School Board has received an official letter from the State concerning the availability of Literary Funds. Mr. Papenfuse said a letter certifying these answers will be requested. The next area of discussion was salaries for administrators. Mrs. Haden said the School Board has discussed the question of salary increases for administrators, but no merit plan is felt to be at a stage to be implemented at the present time. A committee is developing an evaluation system for administrators; this includes central office personnel and principals. The School Board members do not feel a merit system can be enacted until the evaluation plan is in place. Mrs. Haden further noted that with cuts in central office positions, more work is being required of other administrators. A new evaluation system for teachers requires more of principals and the new budgeting procedures also place more responsibility on principals. For these reasons, coupled with the lack of an evaluation plan to determine merit pay, the School Board does not feel a merit system for administrators can be implemented this year. Mr. Fisher said the Board, at the final work session on the 1984-85 budget, adopted a resolution suggesting that the School Board consider using a percent of the salary increase for the next fiscal year to help implement a merit plan. Mr. Way said he is glad that there will be a plan whether it is implemented this year or next. He feels there should be a performance pay system for other employees as well as administrators. Mr. Bowie said the School Board has the authority to give a higher raise to principals than to other administrators. Mrs. Haden said at the present time, the School Board feels that the central office personnel are earning their share as well as the principals. Mrs. Cooke stated full confidence in the School Board making these types of decisions since the School Board knows what is required of its personnel. Mr. Marshall said a lot of comments have been made by the Board of Supervisors about implementing a pay scale which puts school administrators on a comparable scale with that of county department heads. This is difficult to do because County staff is hired at different times of the year and the school staff is hired all at one time. Mr. Marshall said he is opposed to across-the-board raises and prefers individual interviews. Further, he noted that the difference in job specifications for county department heads and school administrators, would make a comparison of the two very difficult. April 18, 1984 (Afternoon Meeting--Adjourned from April 11, 1984) Mr. Tolbert said if the administrative and classified employees of the School system were added to the County's existing merit pay system that would mean 680 employees on a system designed for 200 general government employees. With that and the concern of Mr. Marshall, perhaps the entire merit system should be evaluated before combining the two. Mr. Agnor said from his experience with merit pay systems, the number of employees involved and hiring times is not a factor. However, the staff is in the process of reevaluating the revised merit system put into effect last year. Mr. Armstrong suggested an entire meeting be set aside just to define "merit" in order to determine what the Board of Supervisors specifically means by the term "merit" Both Boards would then have the same understanding of the term. Mr. Henley said the issue of merit pay has been discussed for three years at least, and he would be surprised if the School Board has a plan in operation next year. Today, he has heard five excuses for not having such a plan. Mrs. Haden said the School Board is working on the matter and trying to get a consensus among its seven members. Mr. Henley said if the School Board wrestled with this as hard as with teacher salaries, something could have been done a long time ago. Mrs. Haden said the School Board does not wrestle with the salaries of teachers as hard as the Board of Supervisors does. Dr. Gutierrez said the major problem is that there has been no agreement among the School Board members that there should even be a merit pay plan. Mr. Henley said the Board of Supervisors has been trying to push the School Board that way for a long time. Mrs~ Haden said she never promised anything, only that the School Board was heading in that direction. T~e first thing in the process is to have an evaluation system that all can agree with. She also noted that Dr. Carole Hastings, Director of Personnel, has a committee that is working on the matter of an evaluation system. Mr. Taylor said his understanding is that the general government system, about thirty percent of the employees receive a merit increase each year. He assumes that results in a rotational system of raises every third or fourth year for all employees. Mr. Taylor said from what he has heard, it appears that more than thirty percent will receive merit increases this year, so the County's existing system is evidently not working. He is not interested in having a system for school employees when the one being used by the County is not working. Mr. Bowie said "merit" pay has not been well defined as noted by Mr. Armstrong and perhaps the total system should be reevaluated. Also, he is not sure that thirty percent receiving a merit increase defines a merit system. Mr. Fisher said this subject should be discussed at the next joint meeting. A presentation from the Personnel Department would be helpful including how the current program is working and whether or not the same employees are getting merit pay increases every three years. However, he personally did not feel that would be the case. Mr. Lindstrom said the lack of an evaluation system in the School division has been a source of frustration for years and the Board has been uneasy about administrative salaries. Mr. Lindstrom said he is open to having a salary structure that the School Board comes up with for administrative personnel. He feels the administrators have a big responsibility in evaluating staff in the schools. In conclusion, Mr. Lindstrom said he feels the School Board understands the Board's feelings and respects what the School Board has done. Dr. Gutierrez said there is a method for evaluating all administrators even though the method is not a merit pay system because it does not have money attached. Every administrator is evaluated based on objectives set out at the beginning of each school year. The object of the evaluation is to produce a better performance. Dr. Gutierrez said expectations for the administrators are high and the result of implementing the system is that fifteen administrators are no longer employed by the school system because they did not meet expectations. Mrs. Haden said Dr. Elizabeth Morie, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, is present to explain the five year school improvement plan adopted by the School Board on April 9, 1984. Dr. Morie said the plan is entitled "Focus on Excellence 1984-89" and is a State requirement (copy of this plan is on file in the Clerk's Office). Dr. Morie said a report will be made to the School Board in 1985 on the progress of meeting goals and objectives stated in the plan, and reasons for not achieving all the objectives if that is the case. Dr. Morie said the first goal in the plan is curriculum and instruction which contains' nine objectives. She said one of the objectives is to develop a plan designed to ensure the quality of foreign language programs and to increase student enrollment particularly for noncollege bound students. A second objective is to develop a plan to enhance the level of successful achievement for developmentally young children in grades kindergarten through first grade. She said some children after completing kindergarten are not ready for the first grade. Therefore, some plan needs to be implemented to address the identified developmental needs of children in their first two years of school. The third objective is the multicultural curriculum to teach students about other cultures within the society and this is to be implemented in 1986. Mr. Bowie asked if this program is a state mandate. Dr. Morie said no, but it is felt that knowledge about people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds should be considered as part of a broad education. The fourth objective is a process for systematically monitoring the progress of K - 12 students in language arts. Dr. Morie said the fifth objective is for computer literary. This is a state mandate that each student, by the time of graduation will have been provided educational experiences as outlined in the standards of the State Department of Education.~ The sixth objective is training for middle and secondary teachers so these teachers can help students in grades 6 - 12 with reading, writing, speaking and listening as tools of learning in April 18, 198q (Afternoon Meeting--Adjourned from April 11, 1984) 111 all content areas. Dr. Morie said the school system will work with the University and the State Department of Education to provide some staff development in this area. The next objective is to meet the needs of slow learners within the existing educational curriculum. The eighth objective is an assessment of interest and need for elementary, middle and secondary school summer programs. There is currently a program at the middle and secondary level, but none for the elementary level. Interest has been expressed to expand this program. Dr. Morie said the last objective under this goal is to develop a plan to study the scope of and support for a fine arts program in grades K - 12. Dr. Morie said the goals and objectives were not something developed by school division staff but were the result of a planning council consisting of business persons, parents, and educators within the community. Dr. Morie then continued with the second goal in the plan which is adult/vocational/ career education consisting of four objectives. The first objective is for programs to be provided that meet the needs of the community. Some of the course offerings at the vocational center have been determined to be outdated. Therefore, the courses need to be updated to meet job demands within the community. The second objective is to expand offerings in adult education. Dr. Morie said another objective is to improve communication between educational agencies and the private sector. The last objective within this area is to develop a structured articulation system between business, industry, community groups, service agencies and the general public. The third goal in the plan is the education of the handicapped; a state and federal mandate. One of the objectives is to involve computers more for the speech language pathologists and special education resource teachers since there is a great deal of paper work required by the legislation. In line with this, another objective is to provide certain special education programs with appropriate computer hardware and software. The third objective is a summer school program for handicapped students. Dr. Morie said the fourth goal is the education of the gifted and talented which has also become a state mandate. One of the objectives is to implement a program for those students demonstrating an above grade level mas6ery in math and/or language arts in all elementary schools. The availability of this program now exists in some of the schools. Another objective is to provide a program for exceptionally capable kindergarten students by 1985.-Dr. Morie said this type of program is not available at this time. Another objective is to have a plan to provide increased opportunities for exceptionally capable high school students. Mrs. Haden asked if Dr. Morie would comment on the new requirements for graduation from secondary school. Dr. Morie said essentially every student must have twenty credits to graduate. An advanced diploma requires twenty-four credits. When there are only six periods a day, it hinders a student from working toward an advanced diploma. Dr. Gutierrez said there is also no flexibility for students to choose electives with that type of schedule. Alternatives will be studied next year to change the system in the high schools. The possibility of adding an additional period to the schedule may be considered in 1986. Mr. Way felt one of the dangers of increased standards mandated by the State is that some courses can qualify as filling another requirement. He hoped that would not mean changing requirements around in order that a student could select an easier course. Mr. Richard Glowinski, Director of Vocational Education, was present and said the State determines which courses qualify to fill requirements so there is no flexibility in that concern. Dr. Morie continued with her presentation and noted the next goal of the plan as personnel/staff preparation and development. One of the objectives is to implement a plan to improve communications between the staff of ll00 employees in the school system. Another objective is to institute a monitoring process of the State Beginning Teacher Assistance Program. She noted that a teacher is not certified until two years of classroom teaching has been completed. Dr. Morie said an evaluation procedure to be developed and implemented for all classes of employees is the next objective. Dr. Morie said another objective being worked on by Dr. Carole Hastings is that fringe benefits and compensation programs for all employees be continually monitored and adjustments recommended if necessary. A comprehensive master plan for staff development will be formulated and implemented for all employees as well. The next objective is to have a master plan for staffing which is designed to coordinate with projected student enrollments for the next five years. Dr. Morie said this is important in order that teachers can be retrained if necessary and these teachers would also know if they are to be replaced in the five year period of time. Also, there is the hiring and retention of qualified minorities as a priority in the personnel recruitment program. There has been a plan in existence, but same needs to be monitored closer. The next goal presented by Dr. Morie is that of accreditation and school evaluation. One of the objectives is to develop a plan to provide for the scheduling of each school to undergo a self-study each ten years. This will begin next year with the four middle schools and also four of the elementary schools. The second objective is a school improvement project for the secondary schools. Another objective is that recommendations based on the Middle School Evaluative Study are to be implemented in the four middle schools. She noted that the studentSm in the County middle schools are doing well academically. The last objective under this goal is a plan to evaluate the progress of each objective in the Five-Year School Improvement Plan. The last goal has to do with administrative support services. This means that a comprehensive five'year capital improvements program and budget for educational facilities will be developed and updated periodically. A schedule for the safest and most cost- ~effective replacement of buses is also to be developed. Dr. Morie said another objective is to provide optimal custodial and maintenance services to each educational facility by using existing resources. 112 April 18, 1984 (Afternoon Meeting--Adjourned from April 11, 1984) Mr. Lindstrom said a specific goal to.monitor basic skills (such as reading) was not addressed and he asked if that skill is performed adequately. Dr. Morie said there are indicators that the system is working well. Based on the national and state evaluation standards, the division appears to be well above average. Dr. Gutierrez said there are nineteen school systams in the State comparable to Albemarle County and this school system is in the middle of everything involved. Dr. Morie stressed that according to the SAT scores, all indicators are very positive since the scores were above state and national averages. Mrs. Thomas said this five-year plan has existed in the past, but this is the first year since she has been a member of the School Board that the plan seems to fit needs. This is one of the reasons why the School Board is standing firm in its evaluation of the administration and the projected expenditures for next year. Mr. Fisher extended appreciation to Dr. Morie and the staff for the presentation of this report. One particular goal that he has received feedback on is the one relating to better communication among the staff. There appears to have been unclear communication in the past of what was to be accomplished and he hoped that this goal is extended to all. Dr. Morie noted that this plan is given to the principals for them to develop individually. After a brief discussion, the next meeting was scheduled for June 18, 1984 at 4:00 P.M. One topic for discussion is to be the definition of "merit" pay. Mr. Armstrong suggested a middle school report be made as well. Mr. Lindstrom asked that a list of course offerings at the secondary level be distributed for information since he has some questions about same. Mrs. Haden said Dr. Morie will be away at that time and suggested that due to her involvement in that subject, same be discussed at a later meeting. Mr. Lindstrom said that would be satisfactory, but he would appreciate any information on the question. Mrs. Cooke requested information about vocational programs, including the high schools and the vocational technical education center. Mr. Way asked if there has ever been any discussion about the possibility of merging the maintenance and support staff of the County and the School System into one system. He questioned why the two should be separate. Mr. Fisher asked Dr. Gutierrez and Mr. Agnor to study this idea and present a preliminary report on same in the future. Mr. Fisher extended appreciation to all those persons present, to all staff persons involved in the meeting today, as well as the help of all persons during work on the budget this year. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:35 P.M. (.C.~A T RMAN