A Day in Oz

This blog entry is also on my teacher association blog: RCEA
I've been spending a bit of time there lately instead of here.

A Day in Oz

The Roanoke County School Board met today at their annual school board retreat. In past years, the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors would join them and open, frank discussions would take place over the issues facing the county and the school system. This year, the supervisors chose not to attend, much to our loss.

The retreat took place at the spacious and comfortable confines of the Roanoke County Schools central office boardroom on Cove Road from 8 am until 4pm with a 20-minute break for lunch. Water and Chik-fil-a nuggets and wraps were provided for the staff and board members. Certainly, no one can possibly accuse them of misusing taxpayer’s money on this retreat!

I also attended the session along with our Uniserv Director, Pat Wood. Together, we also played the role of “The Public” at the meeting. Few formal decisions were made at this meeting; instead, the purpose of the meeting was to take stock of where our school system is now and what we hope to pursue in the near and long-term future. To that end, the discussions were detailed, rich, and lively. Many of the discussions will bear fruit in policies adopted at future school board meetings, so I won’t report on them here and now.

As many of you know, the Roanoke County School Board was shuffled in the last election with Fuzzy Minnix and David Wymer being elected to the body. Today was their first opportunity for an intense and prolonged policy discussion. At the risk of heaping overwhelming praise on them, I would like to let readers here know that I was impressed with them today. Jerry Canada, chairman, has a breadth of historical knowledge which is key for keeping a group on course. Drew Barrineau, vice-chair, is an astute observer of county politics especially regarding the Board of Supervisors. He also has a keen eye for organizing a budget. Mike Stovall, besides having a depth of historical knowledge, has the unique ability to gather all of the ideas on the table and synthesize them. David Wymer possesses a strong understanding of the inner-workings of educational programs and internal budgets. Fuzzy Minnix brings a fresh perspective from the general public and a wealth of experience as a former supervisor. This board knows what they are doing, and that’s an important thing for the continued strength of our school system.

Those who know me, know that I don’t suck up to people. So my praise of the board is genuine. I’m sure that as time passes, there will be issues where our organization will disagree with decisions made and policies created by the board; however, I feel strongly that this board has the interests of the whole system in mind.

From the meeting today, several things are clear. I’m going to address them in list form with my perceptions, understandings, and opinions attached.

1. The state legislative season is jumbled even more than it has been in recent years. The General Assembly is split ideologically and politically. There is a real possibility of continued acrimony and gridlock. That does not serve our public school children or public school employees well. Despite that, there is a real opportunity for a significant increase of state monies this year, despite the turmoil and despite the soured economy. It seems that Roanoke is poorer so our composite index score is lower. This should bring us more dollars from the state via their funding formal for local schools. On top of that, the state has re-benchmarked their Standards of Quality. These two factors, even if the legislature doesn’t add any additional money for teacher salaries, means that the county will receive a nice increase in state funding for the next budget year.

2. It looks like the board is committed to providing a substantial increase in salary for classified employees (secretaries, building supervisors, nutrition specialists, and instructional assistants). While it may take two or more years to accomplish the goal of making these categories the regional leaders, this board seemed resolute in making that happen. While the RCEA has not taken a position on that, I personally applaud that move. We represent about 35 teaching assistants and all of the teachers in our organization work closely with these people daily. Their dedication and loyalty should be rewarded. They deserve our support and the board’s support in raising their wage to a more respectable level.

3. Teacher pay was like the big gorilla hiding out in the open in the room. It wasn’t discussed, but it was always in the background. The RCPS Salary Committee will meet on February 14 to hash out the official committee position. Hopefully, the committee will come into agreement with the RCEA’s salary position: Multi-year approach to improve salaries to the best in the region (more on that later).

4. A decision was made on the laptop initiative. I’ll hold off commenting on that until the central office staff has the opportunity to discuss release that information. I will say that the board has provided a clear direction on how technology will be integrated into the entire system.

Many more topics were discussed at the meeting. Ideas were thick and fast. All told, it was a great meeting.

Virginia Tech beat Boston College 81-73 today!!!!!!!

On another note, our members are very concerned about teacher salaries. I’ve heard from many of you. Many of you are upset that the Governor did not include money for the state’s share of salary raises for teachers in the first year of the biennial budget. I’m upset about that, too. Governor Kaine professed to be “The Education Candidate,” and he is coming dangerously close to joining recent governors Gilmore, Allen, and Wilder in the book of non-supporters. Here are some points to consider. Again another list.

1 VEA may still be able to persuade the General Assembly to amend the budget. Then it will be up to us to persuade the Governor to accept the amendment.

2 No matter what the state does for salaries, the salary war will be fought at the Board of Supervisor level. Will they pass along the increased state funds to the schools? We will have to persuade them.

3 I’ve heard those neutral on salary increases for teachers state that you really shouldn’t have to improve salaries to the National Average because that’s a “moving target” that can never be hit (Wouldn’t it be nice to hit the target for a change instead of continually missing?). Instead, they say that our state should compare itself to salaries in our region. They also proclaim that we shouldn’t necessarily be paid at or above the state average, because Northern Virginia skews that average, and the cost of living is much less here. Finally, they matter-of-factly state that teacher salaries in Roanoke County should only be compared to other systems in the region. So I’ve been thinking about all of that…

…and now a list in response to number 3

A. National Average-Moving Target: Okay, let’s play their game. Twenty years ago, Virginia was a leader in salaries for our region (VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, TN, KY, WV, MD, DL). By 2004-05, the state had slipped to 5^th in that group. In recent figures just released by NEA for last school year, Virginia had fallen to 6^th on that list. Looks like the target IS moving…away.

B. The State of Northern Virginia: In the latest national salary rankings, Virginia is ranked 31^st in the country. If we were to allow the state of NOVA to succeed from us, the average salaries for the remaining school districts would drop to 46^th in the country. I suppose that Virginia would no longer be the 7^th wealthiest state either, but we certainly wouldn’t be the fourth poorest either.

C. Systems in the Region: As we’ve pointed out in recent blog entries, the unquestioned leader in teacher salaries in the area is Salem, a school system born from Roanoke County Schools about 30 years ago. Roanoke County surely would be second on that list, right? Wrong. We come in, generally, fourth or fifth in the region behind Roanoke City, Botetourt, Franklin County, and sometimes Craig County at various points on the teacher pay scale.

Why don’t teachers in Roanoke County have top pay in the region? I’m not one to tie test performance to pay, because we all know that there are many factors that affect whether or not a school makes AYP. But if I was that kind of person , a strong argument could be made in favor of rewarding pay for RCPS teachers.

So I guess the point of this little exercise is that a group can excuse, deflect, and deny the fact that teachers are underpaid, but no matter how the facts are twisted, teacher pay scales in Virginia and Roanoke County are, to adopt a word made famous by Tom Hanks in the movie- “The Terminal,” unacceptable.