Not All Roses

Not All Roses

I attended a marathon Roanoke County Board of Supervisors meeting this afternoon and evening at the old Southview Elementary. It began at 3 pm and ended at 10:24 pm with a break for dinner somewhere in the middle. I’ll share my notes from that meeting tomorrow or the next day, but I suspect that by the time you read this you will have already heard or read about this meeting.

Late in the evening, a verbal confrontation erupted between Chairman Joe McNamara and a citizen who rose to speak in the public comment section of the meeting. Actually, Joe did more receiving than giving, as was his role. Joe listened respectfully as the man brought up issues about which he was concerned. Then the man began to direct his comments toward Butch Church, who is running for re-election. His comments were stinging, angry, political, and pointed. McNamara interrupted the man and asked him to stop his attack. He managed to inform the man that he must address his remarks to the board chair and not individual board members. McNamara was firm, yet in control.

As the confrontation de-escalated, I felt bad for the board members, all five of them. As a teacher, I’ve been on the wrong end of “conversations” like that one before. You feel trapped because you really want to shout back, but it’s not your place to do that. It takes incredible patience and self-control to maintain a sense of professionalism when you are being blasted. Whenever that happens to me, I always end up singing that ole Johnny Paycheck hit in my head, “Well you can take this job and shove it; I ain’t workin’ here no more.” Then a day or so later, I usually am buoyed by something a kid does to lift my spirits.

For those brief moments, I felt an unusual kinship with that elected board. I hope that feeling doesn’t pass. The adverse situation dropped their shields of invulnerability and unveiled their fragility. Frankly, it made them more human and respected in my eyes.

More later…

Local Newspaper Infested

Local Newspaper Infested

“This story is the first in a three day series on an overlooked blight on our educational system.”

“There are 3 million public school teachers nationwide, most devoted to their work. Yet the number of abusive educators, nearly three for every school day, speaks to a much larger problem in a system that is stacked against the victims.”

My hometown newspaper has chosen to carry a three day series of articles on the front page that attack my profession and the people with whom we work.

Before I vent my problems with the Associated Press piece created by national reporters Martha Irvine and Robert Tanner, I want everyone to know that I in no way support or tolerate teachers in my profession who sexually abuse or harass children. Such teachers should be booted out of my profession and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Then they need to be sent to a deserted desert island somewhere with no food or water and be left to dig in the sand.

I have no qualms with print investigations into the issue of sexual harassment by teachers, but I feel that this series of reports steps beyond the bounds of that and treads into sensationalistic journalism. By placing this series on the front page three days in a row, the Roanoke Times has joined the bashing club and is pointedly fanning the fire. In journalism classes, you learn that every article needs a hook, and the writers found a titillating one, “A young teacher in Iowa sheepishly admits that he fondled a fifth-graders breast.”

I read the articles to this point and have gotten angrier and angrier. For the past 26 years, I’ve worked in education, and I have never met a person who was charged with any sex or harassment crime against children. People I’ve worked with are dedicated to their jobs and to a large degree believe that their teaching is a calling to help society.

One chart used in the first article is a synopsis of cases from the area during the last year. Of the six cases listed, only one took place in Roanoke and that involved a male day care worker. So how is this article important to Roanoke and Roanoke County?

The Roanoke Times series seems to me to be a not so subtle attack on teachers. The front page of newspapers should be used to highlight national stories: fires, wars, etc. By hyping this series and placing it on the front pages, the Roanoke Times is artificially creating issues seemingly for the purpose of selling papers. To me, it’s a real shame that our fine teachers will have to shoulder the microscopic glares of a riled society that thinks that people who have taken a vow to serve the greater society and educate the next generation are nothing more than potential suspects in sex crimes.

Overall, I do agree with one point. Decks are always stacked against victims. Issues get more complicated, however, when you really try to figure out who are the victims. In this case, it’s clear to me that the victims are teachers and our profession. As a career teacher, I simply cannot stand by and be publicly pelted, having my teaching character questioned.

To me, this series is sleazy tabloid journalism with only one purpose. We deserve better treatment.

My thoughts on special education coordinator job

It has come to my attention some of the special education coordinators are not happy with the new year round contracts. I want to let you know my thoughts behind it. When I was asked in the early spring of 2007 my thoughts on the year round contract, I felt what they were asking was no different than what I had already been doing. I went to my school in the summer for meetings if the principal asked. I was not getting paid for it; I just went. So the year round contract did not make any difference for me.

Some think the coordinators in high school have more work to do than coordinators at other levels. Well, I think the work is different, but not more. Doing lesson plans, teaching, along with coordinating duties are all very time consuming, as are FAPT, CPMT paperwork, and meetings. So looking at both , the jobs seem pretty equal to me.

News Hounds Primp for Nothing

Dateline: October 11, 2007

Event: A regular meeting of the Roanoke County School Board

Location: Central Office Board Room on Cove Road

Thursday night’s meeting was a bit unusual. The news hounds were all there, and I frankly didn’t know why until later. Apparently, the School Board, in their closed afternoon session, discussed the unfortunate building collapse at Hidden Valley High School. I wasn’t there to hear the statement after the meeting, but it’s covered well in the newspaper account.

The regular session kicked off at 7 pm with cameras blaring, Justin McCloud strutting around and grabbing a front row seat for News Channel 7. The News Channel 10 hounds were not to be outdone. The Channel 10 cameraman kept setting up his camera in places where cameras were not allowed. So new public relations staff member Chuck Lionberger kept shooing him away.

While the big-time media giants were disappointed that the building collapse story wasn’t addressed at the regular meeting, they did receive one “Sink Your Teeth Into” story. A representative from Honeywell demonstrated a new Instant Alert security system. Parents can sign up for a service that will allow the school system to send instant communication to their cell phones in the case of some important announcement or event. As a geek guy, I was impressed by this system which the board approved later in the meeting at a first year cost of $26,200. The money will come from the Superintendents Discretionary Fund this year. The system will be able to handle 150,000 calls within 15 minutes which will more than be adequate for our system needs. So now situations like the MRSA scare or the asbestos scare earlier in the year at Northside can be better managed with information instantly available to all who need to know. If I had access to this system, I’d probably use it to try to find Virginia Tech/ Duke basketball tickets. :)

In other news, Steve Dalton was named as the new school system security officer. He is responsible for how the entire school system plans for and responds to security situations. Mr. Canada, long time board member, charged Mr. Dalton with studying the security situation at Northside. He’s concerned that with such an open campus (outside trailers and fence gates that cannot be closed due to fire regulations) we need some sort of security plan in place that addresses those realities.

Funding was approved to perform environmental testing on an unnamed future school site. Also, approval was granted for the HVHS school band to travel to London later in the year. The anticipated cost per student will be about $2,000 which the band and students will need to raise.

LaVern Davis was brought before the board to update administrative policy regulation 9.18 specifically to address terminology issues with the section on communicable infections. The changes simply add some more appropriately defined terminology and direction for various situations. While she was standing there, the board members entered in to a spirited discussion regarding the whole MRSA issue. One of the key points in the new regulations was that students should take showers after participating in athletic practice or events. The board members wanted to know from the school board attorney if they could mandate showers in such situations. His answer seemed unclear. Perhaps yes, perhaps no. Mr. Stovall mentioned that simply having the athletes sanitize their hands before and after practice would go a long way to reducing the impact of skin infections. He provided a testimony to the effectiveness of such practice with the WBHS baseball team. One intriguing point that was discussed was whether bus drivers should spray down the vinyl seats of buses that are used to transport sweaty players after games. Again, this was just an item for discussion and no action was taken on those two points.

In her Superintendent's Report, Dr. Lange mentioned several items. Most notably was that Governor Kaine has initiated a Career and Technical Academic School as a joint partnership between the state and local community colleges. These new schools will be similar in concept to the current Governor’s School model but will be geared toward career and technical education. Students will be able to take dual enrollment classes and pursue career and technical certifications at VWCC. I can’t wait to see how this program is developed, marketed, and implemented.

The subject of foreign language in elementary schools was brought up by Mr. Barrineau. He asked Dr. Lange to report on that. She reported that each elementary school is required to provide some type of foreign language instruction, and they’ve been given the freedom to develop their own programs and curriculum. Some schools are providing instruction in several different languages while others are providing instruction in one. Most of the programs involve children learning basic words and phrases.

After a stimulating evening of policy discussion and school issues, I went home.

Visits the Past and Sees the Future

Dateline: October 9, 2007

Event: A regular meeting of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors

Location: The old Southview Elementary School Gymnasium.

Reporter Time Travels: Visits the Past and Sees the Future

The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors (BOS) went through a regular meeting with normal reports and witty banter for about an hour Tuesday afternoon. For me, it was an exhilarating meeting. For the first time in 35 years, I was back in my old elementary school. The board was seated just in front of the stage that I stood on to sing “Zip-a-die Doo-dah” during a PTA show in 1968. Of course, signs of the old gym have long since been covered by an extensive make-over the building received when it was converted into the county public safety building. Now retired from that service, the building is mostly abandoned and awaiting its fate (MSRCCC@SV?). The supervisors are meeting there while their regular space at the county administration building is renovated.

You can read the details of the meeting in Cody Lowe’s Roanoke Times article from Wednesday October 10. He captured most of the important details of the meeting. I will share my thoughts and impressions of that meeting in this space.

After the main meeting was over and before the supervisors took a break before beginning the “work sessions,” board chairman Joe McNamara walked past me and asked me what brought me to the meeting. I’ve known Joe for many years now having taught two of his children in elementary school, and I’ve always respected him as a parent and as a level-headed public servant. I might disagree with him on political affiliations, but I believe Joe has his heart in the right place concerning schools. So I told him that in my capacity as RCEA President, I thought it was my duty to be at as many public meetings as possible (or words to that effect). He accepted that and moved on.

Joining me yesterday at the meeting was RCEA member Sherry Foti. She is one of a band of RCEA members who have answered the call to attend BOS meetings this year. Our goal is to attend every Board of Supervisor meeting so that we can have first-hand knowledge of issues that will dramatically impact education in our schools. We also want the supervisors to know that we are there and will be there every time. The RCEA is the largest employee group in Roanoke County. Education employees are the county’s largest employee group. Additionally, RCPS employees are one of the largest employee groups in the entire Roanoke Valley, only third behind Carilion and Anthem. Children are the greatest resource and investment responsibility the county has. We want the supervisors to understand all of those things, and our presence at the meetings is a positive step in that direction.

Before the work session, each supervisor had the opportunity to give a report to the board. Generally, each person took time to talk about the various events they have attended over the past two weeks. Butch Church did that, too. Then he launched into a political attack on Jerry Custer, one of two people challenging him for BOS in November. He accused Custer of contacting police to search for his missing campaign signs and threatening the police with no pay raise if they didn’t find the wayward signs. Frankly, I only knew what he was talking about after I read the newspaper article the next morning. At the time, I had no idea what Mr. Church was talking about. He seemed to be enraged about something, but what he was saying made no sense to me. I did find it interesting that the news hounds from NewsChannel 10 “On Your Side” just happened to show up a few minutes before Mr. Church’s tirade and left shortly thereafter. Perhaps, Mr. Custer’s strong election bid is beginning to worry Mr. Church.

The supervisors covered four issues in the work session. The first was a report by Diane Hyatt on the upcoming sale of bonds to cover the cost of all of the county capital projects. In case you don’t know, the county plans, in addition to the $28 million renovation of Northside High, to build a $28 million multigenerational recreation center, build a $17 million library, build a $10 million fire/rescue station, install a $8 police/emergency radio system, and extend a water line to the Franklin County line along Rt 220 for $2 million. Funding for these projects hasn’t really been explained to me in terms I can understand, but it seems the supervisors plan to cover these expenses through a $58 million bond issue in either December or spring. One point that Joe McNamara kept making that seemingly fell on deaf ears with staff was that the original funding plan that I didn’t understand was based on a 6% interest rate. However, interest rates are currently set at 4.7%. He seemed to suggest that the whole project would therefore cost less than originally planned. Keep in mind that the more money that projects like these cost, the harder it will be for schools to get the monies they need for vital programs and initiatives.

Lawyer Mahoney (county attorney) then brought up the latest efforts of the state to pass a “Homestead Exemption.” The exemption will allow any citizen to go to Oklahoma and stake a claim to up to 100 acres of prime real estate. Wait a minute…that was the Homestead Act. Right. The Homestead Exemption, if passed and approved, will allow local governments to exempt up to 20% of a homeowner’s real estate tax on their permanent residence. In order to become law and legal, this measure must be voted for affirmatively in the upcoming General Assembly and then be placed on the ballot next November for consideration as a state constitutional amendment. If it passes, localities may choose to invoke the rule.

The problems with this constitutional amendment are many and varied. First, Roanoke County already does not assess property at 100% of value. It’s more like 83%. Dropping taxes another 20% would be like a double break. Institution of this break would cause the county to lose about $13 million annually. Of that, about $1.76 million would come straight out of the school budget based on current projections. Board member Altizer said that this would force the BOS to completely “rewrite the [budget] agreement in place now between the school board and the board of supervisors.” Suffice to say, our county education budget would be forced to radically change if that were to happen after next year. That would seriously jeopardize our hopes of completing a “living wage” campaign for our support staff and our efforts to raise pay for county teachers to the state then national average.

The third issue was the status of the Governor’s budget cuts. The Governor has proclaimed that Virginia is about $613 million short on revenue collection this budget year and cuts need to be made. He has proposed cutting about $300 million from various non-public school education services and making up the rest from the state’s “Rainy Day Fund.” (I heard this morning that he may be overstating the shortfall by about $500 million!). While K-12 public education has not been touched yet, $8.8 million in surplus literary loan money (money pool to be borrowed from for new school construction) will be used to help pay state shares of VRS for employees. The RCPS BOS are worried that the state will come back in December requiring a higher local match of funds. They are also concerned that this issue will carry over to the next budget cycle.

The fourth thing discussed was fire code amendments. To be honest, I listened to that for a moment or two then left.

I’m very pleased that we’ve gotten a cadre of dedicated RCEA members to attend the Board of Supervisor meetings. I would encourage any other members who wish to join the fun to email me at Newt999@gmail.com.

thom ryder

ESEA 2007

ESEA 2007

I didn’t envision the first real entry in this blog to be of such a sad and serious nature, but that is the card I’ve been dealt this evening. Some of you may be old enough to remember the series of “Keep America Beautiful “ commercials featuring an American Indian surveying the land of litter, polluting smokestacks, and unbridled development with a tear rolling down his cheek. I feel like that Native American tonight in regards to the state of public education in our country.

As we all know, public school education has been under attack from all sides for many years. I remember the famous words of Education Secretary Terrel Bell from back in 1983, “We report to the American people that while we can take justifiable pride in what our schools and colleges have historically accomplished and contributed to the United States and the well-being of its people, the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”

Secretary Bell’s words struck me then with an intense sadness. Deep down, I suspected his words were a bellwether of changes to come.

Fast forward almost 25 years. The whole institution of education has changed. The art of teaching has been largely replaced by standards based instructional practices. “Accountability” has become the marquee word of the day; a linear, one way, one size-fits-all term.

Through it all, teachers like you and me have struggled to maintain the sanctity of the classroom. We’ve fought to keep education meaningful for our children. We’ve endured ill-conceived curricular changes at the national and state level coupled with unrealistic performance standards. Through it all we’ve been pounded by the media, by parents, and by our government. Do you remember when the Secretary of Education Rod Paige called the NEA a terrorist organization? Oh we grumbled at the changes, especially in how these changes affected the childhoods of our students. Yet we’ve been engaged in a futile fight against that rising tide of over-reaction, over-regulation, institutional blindness, micromanagement, and vilification. It’s enough to make a teacher just want to throw up her hands in despair.

Today I received two pieces of information that rocked me. Monday, I received information direct from a trusted source that suggests discussions on the reauthorization of The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (NCLB) with members of Congress are not going well. In fact, my trusted source believes that House Education Chairman George Miller is close to releasing the revamped ESEA legislation this week. In it, the trusted source is hearing that there will be no relaxation of NCLB AYP (Average Yearly Progress) requirements. Worse than that, word on the street is that the bill will tie teacher compensation to test performance. That’s right. If the reauthorization passes, our pay will hinge on how well the children we can’t choose from parents we can’t choose from homes we can’t choose perform on tests we can’t modify or adjust.

The second piece of news I received today shook me equally and at a more personal level. A teacher from another school system came to me and told me that a child she received a couple of weeks ago from another country who speaks no English will not be granted an exemption from the Virginia SOL tests this year. So this third grade teacher is faced with the virtually impossible task of somehow imprinting four years worth of curriculum material onto a child who at this moment has no capacity to process it. The teacher was just flabbergasted and at a complete loss. How is she going to be able to get this child prepared to meet the expectations? Is it fair to have this child, who counts in several AYP groups, impact that school’s scores negatively? Imagine if ESEA passes…is it fair to have this teacher’s livelihood negatively impacted because she just happened to have a child placed in her classroom who couldn’t speak English?

It’s all so preposterous. For me, this is a sad Native American-looking-at-litter-tossed-at-his-feet moment. If the new ESEA evolves from draft as anticipated, I don’t see teachers across America taking it quietly.