There will be a open meeting of the GEPA on Sunday, Feb 28 at 7 PM at the home of Jo D and Treve Hosken. Their address is 12662 Fawn Lane.
Any Goochland resident is welcome to attend. The agenda will focus on a recap of the budget process to date and next steps for GEPA as well as GEPA paper drives and other ideas for assisting the schools.
If you need directions, email the board at board@goochlandparents.com.
Please consider bringing a ream (or a case) of copy paper to support the paper drive.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
2/23 School Board Meeting Recap
The School Board meeting was held to 45 minutes due to the 7 PM BOS Workshop.
Kindergarten Early Enrollment
The policy of allowing early kindergarten enrollment was discussed. In the past GCPS would allow children not old enough (according to state guidelines) for kindergarten to petition for early enrollment (with some paid tuition - details not discussed). To be allowed early enrollment, children must be assessed by the schools for social and cognitive readiness. Given that we will have no new teachers, the Superintendent and schools recommended that they end this policy.
Our neighboring counties do not allow early enrollment.
The SB asked how many students this affected. Last year there were 3 assessed, all qualified, but only 1 enrolled.
The SB modified the recommendation to SUSPEND this policy for the 2010-2011 school year. Voted and approved.
Transportation Facility
Mr. Turner presented an update on the new transportation facility. $600,000 has already been appropriated to make improvements to the existing bus garage and build a new bus garage next to the existing one. Of this money, $25,000 has been spend on developing the engineering plans, and $11,000 has been spent putting new roof on the existing garage.
The plans for the new garage (a metal pre-fab structure) were presented to the Design Review Committee for the overlay district, and it was rejected by that board (as metal buildings are not allowed in the overlay district).
Mr. Turner presented the SB with 3 options:
1. Appeal to the BOS for a waiver of the Design committee's decision
2. Develop a new plan with a different exterior that would be acceptable to the committee. This would cost more than planned, but the exact cost is not yet known.
3. Make sufficient renovations to the existing facility that are required to keep it operational the next 3-5 years. These renovations include sewer hookup, electrical upgrade, concrete apron for the shop, painting the exterior, and window replacements. In an additional 3-5 years, the bathrooms will require renovation.
Mr. Turner estimated the cost of the option 3 renovations without the bathrooms at about $75,000.
If the SB goes with option 3, the remaining funds (roughly $490,000) not spent by June 30 would go back to the county.
Mr. Haskell proposed that the SB defer their decision for 2 weeks and asked Mr. Turner to research the cost of a different exterior (option 2).
GES Renovation Needs
Per the last SB meeting, the replacement GES building is not in the county CIP. The SB discussed renovations that would be needed if the existing GES building continues. Mr. Turner indicated that immediate needs included HVAC in the kitchen, a new boiler at the Specialty Center, and some work to accommodate the kitchen (I didn't catch these details). Dr. Underwood also pointed out the bathroom renovation and elevator (since the building is not ADA compliant). Dr. Underwood felt they had sufficient information to develop a solid estimate of the costs of renovations for the SB to consider.
At this time the meeting was recessed.
Kindergarten Early Enrollment
The policy of allowing early kindergarten enrollment was discussed. In the past GCPS would allow children not old enough (according to state guidelines) for kindergarten to petition for early enrollment (with some paid tuition - details not discussed). To be allowed early enrollment, children must be assessed by the schools for social and cognitive readiness. Given that we will have no new teachers, the Superintendent and schools recommended that they end this policy.
Our neighboring counties do not allow early enrollment.
The SB asked how many students this affected. Last year there were 3 assessed, all qualified, but only 1 enrolled.
The SB modified the recommendation to SUSPEND this policy for the 2010-2011 school year. Voted and approved.
Transportation Facility
Mr. Turner presented an update on the new transportation facility. $600,000 has already been appropriated to make improvements to the existing bus garage and build a new bus garage next to the existing one. Of this money, $25,000 has been spend on developing the engineering plans, and $11,000 has been spent putting new roof on the existing garage.
The plans for the new garage (a metal pre-fab structure) were presented to the Design Review Committee for the overlay district, and it was rejected by that board (as metal buildings are not allowed in the overlay district).
Mr. Turner presented the SB with 3 options:
1. Appeal to the BOS for a waiver of the Design committee's decision
2. Develop a new plan with a different exterior that would be acceptable to the committee. This would cost more than planned, but the exact cost is not yet known.
3. Make sufficient renovations to the existing facility that are required to keep it operational the next 3-5 years. These renovations include sewer hookup, electrical upgrade, concrete apron for the shop, painting the exterior, and window replacements. In an additional 3-5 years, the bathrooms will require renovation.
Mr. Turner estimated the cost of the option 3 renovations without the bathrooms at about $75,000.
If the SB goes with option 3, the remaining funds (roughly $490,000) not spent by June 30 would go back to the county.
Mr. Haskell proposed that the SB defer their decision for 2 weeks and asked Mr. Turner to research the cost of a different exterior (option 2).
GES Renovation Needs
Per the last SB meeting, the replacement GES building is not in the county CIP. The SB discussed renovations that would be needed if the existing GES building continues. Mr. Turner indicated that immediate needs included HVAC in the kitchen, a new boiler at the Specialty Center, and some work to accommodate the kitchen (I didn't catch these details). Dr. Underwood also pointed out the bathroom renovation and elevator (since the building is not ADA compliant). Dr. Underwood felt they had sufficient information to develop a solid estimate of the costs of renovations for the SB to consider.
At this time the meeting was recessed.
Displeasure with School Board and Superintendent
Below is a letter from Linda Wise to the School Board, originally sent on February 12th. We appreciate her permission to reprint her words here.
Dear Mr. Meng,
As a taxpayer and concerned citizen in your District, I feel it is my duty to express my extreme displeasure with the School Board and the Superintendent. I have followed the yearly saga of the budget via the newspaper, on the GEPA blog, the School website, reports from other concerned citizens, and attendance at some of the meetings. I find it remarkable how every year the School Board and Superintendent use smoke and mirrors to vilify the Board of Supervisors and even parents and citizens who cry out for a more responsible budget.
I have been extremely impressed with the efforts of the GEPA. I found their presentation and speeches to be eloquent, thoughtful, practical, well-researched and credible. Their attempts to present new and fresh ideas and solutions to the financial problems facing the school system , should have been received with open minds. In fact, these are suggestions that you yourselves should have come up with long ago. Instead, the Superintendent and the School Board responded in an arrogant, dismissive and condescending manner, which in the final analysis simply made all of you look supercilious and ignorant. In the past, your Board has been able to stir up the parents and scare them into believing that the bare-bones school budget is being viciously cut by the callous Supervisors and County Administrator and as a result their children will suffer. You use these passionate parents as pawns in a game that attempts to take any blame or responsibility off your shoulders and places it on the Supervisors and Administrator.
Thankfully, this time is different and an impressive group of parents and citizens have refused to be used in this way, and instead have insisted that the Superintendent and the Board come up with a more responsible, effective and realistic budget. They have taken a close look and realized that there is waste and excess in the budget and that the school payroll has become top heavy with Administrative jobs, at the expense of teachers and instructional supplies and programs. Parents and citizens, through this economic downturn have had to learn to be more careful, responsible and resourceful with their money and prioritize, and they are now demanding that local, state and federal governments do the same.
Be very careful not to think that this is just a small group of people, when over 400 signatures were collected on a petition in a very short period of time. You can figure that for every signature on that petition, there are at least 10 people behind the scenes in total agreement. One of the reasons I chose to speak out is because I know there a many parents who are scared to speak out for fear of reprisal. I don’t have to worry about that. It’s time parents and citizens were heard, and what we’re telling you is that we expect our Supervisors, County Administrator, Department Heads, Superintendent of Schools and School Board to be better guardians of our hard-earned dollars and come up with a responsible and effective budget that best serves this County. A storm is brewing and you best sit up and take notice. We hope the Supervisors will never accept a budget that allows cuts to teachers’ jobs, instructional programs and supplies. We want average, gifted and challenged children alike to receive the best education we can offer. On the other hand, financial hardship is a reality for this County right now and we expect a more sincere effort on your part to cut waste and meet the request of the Administrator.
While there are many other areas of concern in your budget, my focus here is on the payroll. I strongly suggest that the School Board and the Superintendent do some in-depth analysis of personnel and make cuts to administrative staff by consolidating jobs and eliminating non-productive positions. Conduct a serious review of job descriptions and workload studies, that will lead to determinations of who is competent, resourceful, proficient, and efficient and who is not. Determine which employees are not really working a fulltime job and combine various positions and in this way make your administrative budget more cost-efficient. I have taken a close look at the administrative positions in our school system and was shocked by the number of people earning over $70,000 a year.
Every effort should have been made by Dr. Underwood to cut down administrative personnel and consolidate positions, rather than cutting teacher’s positions or instructional programs. Perhaps it’s harder for her to cut people in Administrative positions she works more closely with, but frankly that’s why she gets paid the big bucks. As a manager she must show us that she will make the right decisions based on facts, not friendships. Running our schools is a business like any other, and should be run in a businesslike and professional manner. In difficult economic times, tough decisions have to be made. No one wants to see someone lose their job, but the highest priority must always be given to teachers.
Take a close look at the payroll. There is no question in my mind that some of these positions could be eliminated or combined. There seems to be a great deal of overlap and at times an overabundance of positions geared for the same purpose. Sometimes managers think they will increase efficiency and productivity by adding more people. Often it is quite the opposite. Tasks and duties spread across more people often leads to less efficiency, more delays, missed details and loss of continuity. It also would seem that there is an over-abundance of top level administrators. By the way, only positions highlighted in yellow were designated as Admn in the budget for 09-10.
The following information was obtained from a database of GCPS salaries as provided by the School System to The Gazette, as of August 31,2009.
Board Member $ 5,500
Board Member 5,500
Board Member 5,500
Board Member 6,000
Board Member 6,000
Superintendent 121,808
Assistant Superintendent 107,279
Director of Secondary Education 105,812
Director of Elementary Education 66,998
High School Principal 94,263
Middle School Principal 79,882
Elementary School Principal 94,407
Elementary School Principal 80,139
Elementary School Principal 75,177
High School Assistant Principal 73,644
High School Assistant Principal 70,547
Middle School Assistant Principal 65,027
Dean of Students 90,301
School Board Clerk/Administrative Services Specialist 54,835
School Secretary 43,883
Administrative Assistant 37,516
Secretary 29,313
Receptionist 25,967
Administrative Assistant 18,479
Administrative Assistant 21,975
School Secretary 34,662
School Secretary 43,883
Receptionist 20,579
Director of Finance 83,070
Account Payable Specialist 45,869
Payroll Specialist 29,968
Middle School Secretary/Bookkeeper 38,345
School Bookkeeper 31,224
Human Resource Specialist 60,654
Teacher Induction Specialist 32,533
Human Resources Clerk 33,011
Information Technology Specialist 63,293
Technical Services Specialist 58.856
Research & Information Services Analyst 50,570
Technical Services Coordinator 89,925
Services for students and/or parents, but clearly not instructional:
Procedural Due Process Specialist 47,973
School Nurse (Underwood put some under Admn, some Instr) 46,755
School Nurse 49,298
School Nurse 58,862
School Nurse 43,874
School Psychologist 53,851
School Psychologist 42,911
School Psychologist 23,469
Guidance Counselor 41,194
Guidance Counselor 40,400
High School Guidance Counselor 72,543
High School Guidance Counselor 58,640
High School/Middle School Counselor 56,295
Elementary Guidance Counselor 50,798
Guidance Counselor 46,272
High School Guidance Secretary 23,830
Secretary (Clinic/Guidance) 17,213
Student Services Specialist 40,571
Student Services Secretary 37,075
Elementary & Parent Involvement Specialist 45,438
At this point the total is $2,999,546
I would consider all or most administrative, but I suppose these are open to interpretation:
Director of Special Education and Student Services 97,492
Internship/Independent Study Coordinator 45,303
Coordinator of Student Services and Special Education 65,527
Administrator of Alternative Education 45,620
Testing Coordinator 50,172
Transition Specialist 43,287
Library Media Specialist 49,298
Library Media Specialist 44,500
Library Media Specialist 45,374
Library Media Specialist (this is not a repeat) 44,500
Library Media Specialist 42,373
Supervisor of Instructional Technology 71,313
I am flabbergasted that Dr. Underwood didn’t even consider eliminating or combining Administrative positions in order to make some cuts to the budget. Obviously, I cannot pretend to know what each person does and whether or not what they do is essential or unnecessary, or how productive they are. But the point is that a responsible and competent manager is supposed to do just that. The Superintendent’s job is to make sure that the work is done as proficiently as possible, with the least number of people and at the lowest cost possible. Anything short of that is frivolous and irresponsible use of taxpayers’ money. It would appear that positions within the School System have just been piled on, with no real plan or coordination of duties and tasks.
Henrico’s website states that the cost per pupil is $9,469, while our cost, as stated by Dr. Underwood herself is $10,594. Henrico County’s pie chart shows that 79.2% of the budget is under Instructional and 3% Administrative. Dr. Underwoods’s pie chart states that 70% is Instructional and 3.65% is Administrative. She reports that $889,913 of the budget is Administrative and $17,123,254 is Instructional. When if fact, just adding up the salaries shown above, that are clearly not Instructional, it comes to $3 million, and that’s not to mention the benefits such as health insurance and retirement that would be added to the figure. These salaries alone make Administrative costs over 12 %, and reduces Instructional to 61%. That is simply unacceptable.
The argument from Dr. Underwood as to whether a position can or should be categorized as Administrative or Instructional is ridiculous. I don’t care where she sticks each person in the budget, I care that we not argue semantics and get down to the facts. Unless you are talking about a teacher or someone who assists and supports the teacher and students with actual instruction, it’s not instructional, it’s administrative. We realize that we need nurses, librarians, counselors and support personnel, but when cutting personnel and costs, teachers and educational programs should be last on the list. To do anything else is frankly, illogical and reprehensible. The determination comes down to what jobs can be cut or consolidated with the least amount of pain and impact on our students.
The Board apparently also needs to be reminded that the Superintendent works for them, and they need to start demanding that she show more leadership and careful guardianship of the taxpayers’ money, and the education of our County’s children. In my opinion, the Board simply cannot allow Dr. Underwood to continue to behave irresponsibly, incompetently, and arrogantly, when her actions have become so divisive and destructive. The Board must also start taking more responsibility for the decisions made, and do their own research and analysis. Stop simply rubber stamping whatever she does. Like the Supervisors, the members of the School Board were elected by the citizens and you must be responsive and responsible to the citizens.
We are not pawns and we certainly are not stupid…….I suggest you start listening. There is more at stake here than whether or not you and your fellow Board members get re-elected. There is the matter of reputation, pride, honesty, and integrity at stake. Under Dr. Morgan our school system excelled and his leadership, honesty and knowledge inspired teachers, students and parents alike. He turned our school system into something we could all be proud of, so let’s not lose that legacy now. These are difficult times and it takes a competent manager and leader to make the tough choices, for the right reasons. As a taxpayer, I am demanding and expecting our Superintendent and our School Board members to admit mistakes and oversights in this budget process, go back to the drawing board, and take a more responsible and accountable look at the budget you manage. Much better to recognize and rectify your mistakes now, than to have the Board, Superintendent, parents, citizens and most especially the children pay for them later.
This letter is not confidential, so feel free to share it with anyone you like.
Sincerely,
Linda Wise
CC Board of Supervisors
School Board Members
County Administrator
Superintendent
GEPA Board
Dear Mr. Meng,
As a taxpayer and concerned citizen in your District, I feel it is my duty to express my extreme displeasure with the School Board and the Superintendent. I have followed the yearly saga of the budget via the newspaper, on the GEPA blog, the School website, reports from other concerned citizens, and attendance at some of the meetings. I find it remarkable how every year the School Board and Superintendent use smoke and mirrors to vilify the Board of Supervisors and even parents and citizens who cry out for a more responsible budget.
I have been extremely impressed with the efforts of the GEPA. I found their presentation and speeches to be eloquent, thoughtful, practical, well-researched and credible. Their attempts to present new and fresh ideas and solutions to the financial problems facing the school system , should have been received with open minds. In fact, these are suggestions that you yourselves should have come up with long ago. Instead, the Superintendent and the School Board responded in an arrogant, dismissive and condescending manner, which in the final analysis simply made all of you look supercilious and ignorant. In the past, your Board has been able to stir up the parents and scare them into believing that the bare-bones school budget is being viciously cut by the callous Supervisors and County Administrator and as a result their children will suffer. You use these passionate parents as pawns in a game that attempts to take any blame or responsibility off your shoulders and places it on the Supervisors and Administrator.
Thankfully, this time is different and an impressive group of parents and citizens have refused to be used in this way, and instead have insisted that the Superintendent and the Board come up with a more responsible, effective and realistic budget. They have taken a close look and realized that there is waste and excess in the budget and that the school payroll has become top heavy with Administrative jobs, at the expense of teachers and instructional supplies and programs. Parents and citizens, through this economic downturn have had to learn to be more careful, responsible and resourceful with their money and prioritize, and they are now demanding that local, state and federal governments do the same.
Be very careful not to think that this is just a small group of people, when over 400 signatures were collected on a petition in a very short period of time. You can figure that for every signature on that petition, there are at least 10 people behind the scenes in total agreement. One of the reasons I chose to speak out is because I know there a many parents who are scared to speak out for fear of reprisal. I don’t have to worry about that. It’s time parents and citizens were heard, and what we’re telling you is that we expect our Supervisors, County Administrator, Department Heads, Superintendent of Schools and School Board to be better guardians of our hard-earned dollars and come up with a responsible and effective budget that best serves this County. A storm is brewing and you best sit up and take notice. We hope the Supervisors will never accept a budget that allows cuts to teachers’ jobs, instructional programs and supplies. We want average, gifted and challenged children alike to receive the best education we can offer. On the other hand, financial hardship is a reality for this County right now and we expect a more sincere effort on your part to cut waste and meet the request of the Administrator.
While there are many other areas of concern in your budget, my focus here is on the payroll. I strongly suggest that the School Board and the Superintendent do some in-depth analysis of personnel and make cuts to administrative staff by consolidating jobs and eliminating non-productive positions. Conduct a serious review of job descriptions and workload studies, that will lead to determinations of who is competent, resourceful, proficient, and efficient and who is not. Determine which employees are not really working a fulltime job and combine various positions and in this way make your administrative budget more cost-efficient. I have taken a close look at the administrative positions in our school system and was shocked by the number of people earning over $70,000 a year.
Every effort should have been made by Dr. Underwood to cut down administrative personnel and consolidate positions, rather than cutting teacher’s positions or instructional programs. Perhaps it’s harder for her to cut people in Administrative positions she works more closely with, but frankly that’s why she gets paid the big bucks. As a manager she must show us that she will make the right decisions based on facts, not friendships. Running our schools is a business like any other, and should be run in a businesslike and professional manner. In difficult economic times, tough decisions have to be made. No one wants to see someone lose their job, but the highest priority must always be given to teachers.
Take a close look at the payroll. There is no question in my mind that some of these positions could be eliminated or combined. There seems to be a great deal of overlap and at times an overabundance of positions geared for the same purpose. Sometimes managers think they will increase efficiency and productivity by adding more people. Often it is quite the opposite. Tasks and duties spread across more people often leads to less efficiency, more delays, missed details and loss of continuity. It also would seem that there is an over-abundance of top level administrators. By the way, only positions highlighted in yellow were designated as Admn in the budget for 09-10.
The following information was obtained from a database of GCPS salaries as provided by the School System to The Gazette, as of August 31,2009.
Board Member $ 5,500
Board Member 5,500
Board Member 5,500
Board Member 6,000
Board Member 6,000
Superintendent 121,808
Assistant Superintendent 107,279
Director of Secondary Education 105,812
Director of Elementary Education 66,998
High School Principal 94,263
Middle School Principal 79,882
Elementary School Principal 94,407
Elementary School Principal 80,139
Elementary School Principal 75,177
High School Assistant Principal 73,644
High School Assistant Principal 70,547
Middle School Assistant Principal 65,027
Dean of Students 90,301
School Board Clerk/Administrative Services Specialist 54,835
School Secretary 43,883
Administrative Assistant 37,516
Secretary 29,313
Receptionist 25,967
Administrative Assistant 18,479
Administrative Assistant 21,975
School Secretary 34,662
School Secretary 43,883
Receptionist 20,579
Director of Finance 83,070
Account Payable Specialist 45,869
Payroll Specialist 29,968
Middle School Secretary/Bookkeeper 38,345
School Bookkeeper 31,224
Human Resource Specialist 60,654
Teacher Induction Specialist 32,533
Human Resources Clerk 33,011
Information Technology Specialist 63,293
Technical Services Specialist 58.856
Research & Information Services Analyst 50,570
Technical Services Coordinator 89,925
Services for students and/or parents, but clearly not instructional:
Procedural Due Process Specialist 47,973
School Nurse (Underwood put some under Admn, some Instr) 46,755
School Nurse 49,298
School Nurse 58,862
School Nurse 43,874
School Psychologist 53,851
School Psychologist 42,911
School Psychologist 23,469
Guidance Counselor 41,194
Guidance Counselor 40,400
High School Guidance Counselor 72,543
High School Guidance Counselor 58,640
High School/Middle School Counselor 56,295
Elementary Guidance Counselor 50,798
Guidance Counselor 46,272
High School Guidance Secretary 23,830
Secretary (Clinic/Guidance) 17,213
Student Services Specialist 40,571
Student Services Secretary 37,075
Elementary & Parent Involvement Specialist 45,438
At this point the total is $2,999,546
I would consider all or most administrative, but I suppose these are open to interpretation:
Director of Special Education and Student Services 97,492
Internship/Independent Study Coordinator 45,303
Coordinator of Student Services and Special Education 65,527
Administrator of Alternative Education 45,620
Testing Coordinator 50,172
Transition Specialist 43,287
Library Media Specialist 49,298
Library Media Specialist 44,500
Library Media Specialist 45,374
Library Media Specialist (this is not a repeat) 44,500
Library Media Specialist 42,373
Supervisor of Instructional Technology 71,313
I am flabbergasted that Dr. Underwood didn’t even consider eliminating or combining Administrative positions in order to make some cuts to the budget. Obviously, I cannot pretend to know what each person does and whether or not what they do is essential or unnecessary, or how productive they are. But the point is that a responsible and competent manager is supposed to do just that. The Superintendent’s job is to make sure that the work is done as proficiently as possible, with the least number of people and at the lowest cost possible. Anything short of that is frivolous and irresponsible use of taxpayers’ money. It would appear that positions within the School System have just been piled on, with no real plan or coordination of duties and tasks.
Henrico’s website states that the cost per pupil is $9,469, while our cost, as stated by Dr. Underwood herself is $10,594. Henrico County’s pie chart shows that 79.2% of the budget is under Instructional and 3% Administrative. Dr. Underwoods’s pie chart states that 70% is Instructional and 3.65% is Administrative. She reports that $889,913 of the budget is Administrative and $17,123,254 is Instructional. When if fact, just adding up the salaries shown above, that are clearly not Instructional, it comes to $3 million, and that’s not to mention the benefits such as health insurance and retirement that would be added to the figure. These salaries alone make Administrative costs over 12 %, and reduces Instructional to 61%. That is simply unacceptable.
The argument from Dr. Underwood as to whether a position can or should be categorized as Administrative or Instructional is ridiculous. I don’t care where she sticks each person in the budget, I care that we not argue semantics and get down to the facts. Unless you are talking about a teacher or someone who assists and supports the teacher and students with actual instruction, it’s not instructional, it’s administrative. We realize that we need nurses, librarians, counselors and support personnel, but when cutting personnel and costs, teachers and educational programs should be last on the list. To do anything else is frankly, illogical and reprehensible. The determination comes down to what jobs can be cut or consolidated with the least amount of pain and impact on our students.
The Board apparently also needs to be reminded that the Superintendent works for them, and they need to start demanding that she show more leadership and careful guardianship of the taxpayers’ money, and the education of our County’s children. In my opinion, the Board simply cannot allow Dr. Underwood to continue to behave irresponsibly, incompetently, and arrogantly, when her actions have become so divisive and destructive. The Board must also start taking more responsibility for the decisions made, and do their own research and analysis. Stop simply rubber stamping whatever she does. Like the Supervisors, the members of the School Board were elected by the citizens and you must be responsive and responsible to the citizens.
We are not pawns and we certainly are not stupid…….I suggest you start listening. There is more at stake here than whether or not you and your fellow Board members get re-elected. There is the matter of reputation, pride, honesty, and integrity at stake. Under Dr. Morgan our school system excelled and his leadership, honesty and knowledge inspired teachers, students and parents alike. He turned our school system into something we could all be proud of, so let’s not lose that legacy now. These are difficult times and it takes a competent manager and leader to make the tough choices, for the right reasons. As a taxpayer, I am demanding and expecting our Superintendent and our School Board members to admit mistakes and oversights in this budget process, go back to the drawing board, and take a more responsible and accountable look at the budget you manage. Much better to recognize and rectify your mistakes now, than to have the Board, Superintendent, parents, citizens and most especially the children pay for them later.
This letter is not confidential, so feel free to share it with anyone you like.
Sincerely,
Linda Wise
CC Board of Supervisors
School Board Members
County Administrator
Superintendent
GEPA Board
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
2/23 Board of Supervisors Meeting notes
Here is the final version of John Herrman's outstanding presentation to the BOS last night. If you haven't seen this presentation, I urge you to review it. It is very compelling!!
http://www.goochlandparents.com/files/GCPS_Transportation_and_Maintenance_Final.ppt
I will not try to recap Ms. Dickson's budget proposal, but her powerpoint is embedded in the agenda packet for the meeting here:
http://www.co.goochland.va.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=XpKazY2VKV0%3d&tabid=59&mid=474
http://www.goochlandparents.com/files/GCPS_Transportation_and_Maintenance_Final.ppt
I will not try to recap Ms. Dickson's budget proposal, but her powerpoint is embedded in the agenda packet for the meeting here:
http://www.co.goochland.va.us/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=XpKazY2VKV0%3d&tabid=59&mid=474
Monday, February 22, 2010
SB and BOS Meetings on 2/23
School Board meets at 6 PM in the Annex Building.
BOS meets at 7 PM in the Administration building.
Agendas are below:
GOOCHLAND COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD WORKSHOP
FEBRUARY 23, 2010
ANNOTATED AGENDA
Annex Building Conference Room
6:00 p.m.
I. Call to Order
II. Additions/Deletions/Changes to Agenda
III. Public Comment Period
IV. Personnel Actions (Action Item)
Personnel actions are provided as Enclosure 1. Additional recommendations
may be provided at the meeting.
V. Early Admission to Kindergarten (Information Item)
A discussion will be held regarding kindergarten early admission.
(Enclosure 2)
VI. Transportation Facility Renovation (Information Item)
An update will be provided on the renovation of the transportation facility.
VII. Goochland Elementary School Renovation Needs (Information Item)
A discussion will be held regarding the renovation needs of Goochland
Elementary
School.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS' WORK SESSION AGENDA
FEBRUARY 23, 2010, 7:00 P.M.
BOARD MEETING ROOM
GOOCHLAND COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
1800 SANDY HOOK RD., GOOCHLAND, VA
I. Call to Order: Chairman Quarles
II. Invocation and Pledge
III. Citizen's Comment Period on Unscheduled Matters
• John Herrmann: Education Budget
IV. Presentation of FY2010-11 County Administrator's Recommended Budget
V. Other Business
VI. Adjourn to March 2, 2010
BOS meets at 7 PM in the Administration building.
Agendas are below:
GOOCHLAND COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD WORKSHOP
FEBRUARY 23, 2010
ANNOTATED AGENDA
Annex Building Conference Room
6:00 p.m.
I. Call to Order
II. Additions/Deletions/Changes to Agenda
III. Public Comment Period
IV. Personnel Actions (Action Item)
Personnel actions are provided as Enclosure 1. Additional recommendations
may be provided at the meeting.
V. Early Admission to Kindergarten (Information Item)
A discussion will be held regarding kindergarten early admission.
(Enclosure 2)
VI. Transportation Facility Renovation (Information Item)
An update will be provided on the renovation of the transportation facility.
VII. Goochland Elementary School Renovation Needs (Information Item)
A discussion will be held regarding the renovation needs of Goochland
Elementary
School.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS' WORK SESSION AGENDA
FEBRUARY 23, 2010, 7:00 P.M.
BOARD MEETING ROOM
GOOCHLAND COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
1800 SANDY HOOK RD., GOOCHLAND, VA
I. Call to Order: Chairman Quarles
II. Invocation and Pledge
III. Citizen's Comment Period on Unscheduled Matters
• John Herrmann: Education Budget
IV. Presentation of FY2010-11 County Administrator's Recommended Budget
V. Other Business
VI. Adjourn to March 2, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
2/16 School Board Meeting Comments & Recap
Comments from GEPA Members:
JOHN WRIGHT
My name is John Wright; I live at {redacted - KGM}. Board members, I am speaking to you tonight on behalf of the Goochland Education Parents Association.
Mr. Miller, as you are aware I was present when you addressed the Board of Supervisors on February 2nd of this year. In that address, you stated that you have, and I quote, “worked under many different Superintendents” in your time on the School Board. This statement, I believe is at the root of issues that GEPA and many of your constituents have with the budgetary process, and with the actions taken (or not taken) by the School Board recently. Dr. Underwood works for the School Board, not the other way around. We have seen all too frequently the consequences of the Board’s rubber stamping of proposals put forth by the Superintendent, and feel that those consequences have done the Board and the citizens of the county a great disservice.
We have gathered literally hundreds of signatures on petitions submitted to the Board of Supervisors, asking them to reject the budget that you approved on January 26th of this year. Our differences with the proposal are well documented, so I will not repeat them. People signing this petition feel, like we do, that the budget submitted does not reflect the public’s best interest, and in fact feel that it has driven a wedge between the citizens and Dr. Underwood.
Dr. Underwood has committed a breach of confidence with the citizens that she serves. Constant avoidance of specific questions, bait and switch tactics with budgetary items, a lack of good faith in executing her duties, and a refusal to supply requested information have created this breach. In fact, had we not gone over her head to the Department of Education, I have serious doubt that we would have ever gotten past budgetary information her office is required to make available under state code. To top it all off, Dr. Underwood is on record, both here and before the Board of Supervisors, blatantly misrepresenting the facts about the categorization of administrative staff as instructional. She said it’s been that way since before she ever began working in Goochland. A quick check of historical data proves that administrative staff was shifted in the FY 2007 budget when she was Assistant Superintendent, and that as Superintendent, she created six new clearly administrative positions which she placed into the instructional category.
The School Board’s use of parents as pawns in their ongoing chess match with the Board of Supervisors is reprehensible. To ask us with a straight face to go to the Board of Supervisors and request a tax rate increase when obvious waste was never addressed is shameful. The use of our children’s educational future, as well as their emotions, for political gain is enraging; causes distrust, and further alienates the public from the Board and Dr. Underwood.
For all of these reasons, we respectfully request that the Board perform a formal review of the Superintendent and ask that the results be made available to the public. A copy of this request is being provided to each member of the Board of Supervisors.
JANE CHRISTIE:
Back in November, early on in the budget process, one of the School Board members used the analogy of the school system being like an airplane, that the School Board and Superintendent were trying to keep up in the air.
The cuts to the School Board budget requested by the County were likened to being asked to cut off one of the wings, because so many cost cuts had already been made to the plane, that there was now nothing else left but the nuts and bolts.
We would like to say that we don’t want a pilot and a team of mechanics who would try to keep our plane up in the air by:
Diluting the jet fuel
Shutting down the main engine, or
Hacking off the end of the wing.
What we are looking for is a pilot, and a team of engineers, who would have the good sense to kick the 6 elephants out of the cargo bay, before even attempting a take-off!
Now, I don’t say this to mock you, gentlemen. The goal is simply to couch our message in terms you might understand, in an attempt to convey what GEPA has been trying to explain to you for months.
Because despite all the public “hearings” held during the budget process, if we had managed to have just one, solitary public “listening”, it really might have made a difference to the outcome.
Recap of the Meeting:
Next week's meeting on Tuesday conflicts with a BOS meeting, so the SB agreed to move their meeting to 6 PM and recess at 6:45 to allow people to attend the BOS meeting. So I believe the schedule next Tuesday is:
3 PM - BOS meeting -- John Herrman giving his whole presentation
6 PM - SB meeting
7 PM -- BOS meeting -- County Administrator presenting the county budget proposal
JD Wright and Jane Christie spoke during the comment period.
John Hedron provided an overview/demo of the use of technology in the schools.
Stacy Austin presented his Randolph School Improvement Program.
There was a discussion about the school CIP:
In regards the CIP . . . the county is changing the way the CIP is handled, and only items actually funded for the next 5 years are contained in it. None of the SB's proposed CIP items are in the county CIP. This means NONE of the GES improvements are there. However, there has been discussion between Dr Underwood and the county about a CIP item to renovate the old High School gym and the old middle school. Essentially, the county would renovate the old middle school and move the Parks and Rec department there. Currently the Parks and Rec uses the old High School gym building (this is behind the Free Clinic/up the hill from the Specialty Center). This CIP item would renovate the old gym building for use by GES. This would add a gym and 4-5 classrooms to GES. (which would be good -- not as good as a new school, but better than nothing). Dr. Underwood pointed out that this does not address capital needs within the existing GES building --- I believe bathroom renovation and HVAC are among the primary needs. So she has asked the county to look at addressing those needs within the CIP, as well as having a discussion about the general building usage roadmap for the entire county. The current line item for the old High School gym and old Middle School renovations is $3.077million.
Budget update: Dr Underwood indicated that she had met with the county and a consultant to discuss an RFP for healthcare (for schools and county). She indicated that they had asked that the RFP include non-traditional options including HSAs and self-insurance. When asked about the timeline, she indicated that the county's current plan renews 7/1, so presumably a decision would be made before that. She also indicated that she is talking to the county about sharing of services -- namely mowing. Currently the schools contract out all grass mowing. The county indicated that they believe that they can take on all mowing for the schools except the balls fields with just their existing staff and addition of some equipment.
Brad Franklin talked about a grant that they are pursuing in regards to Readiness and Emergency Preparedness. If the GCPS receives the grant they could gain UP TO $150k over 24 months for planning, equipment, evaluation, etc.
Mattox asked Dr. Underwood about the potential for Governor McDonnell to change the state's calculation for school system allocations (unfreezing the LCI -- see this article: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=1889634). If this goes through, Goochland is the only local school system that actually gets more money (a whopping $4000 -- but other systems could lose millions more). She agreed that this particular change would not hurt us, but that the governor's office was looking at deeper cuts in the overall budget that could mean $300,000 more in cuts in state funding to Goochland in 2011 and again in 2012.
JOHN WRIGHT
My name is John Wright; I live at {redacted - KGM}. Board members, I am speaking to you tonight on behalf of the Goochland Education Parents Association.
Mr. Miller, as you are aware I was present when you addressed the Board of Supervisors on February 2nd of this year. In that address, you stated that you have, and I quote, “worked under many different Superintendents” in your time on the School Board. This statement, I believe is at the root of issues that GEPA and many of your constituents have with the budgetary process, and with the actions taken (or not taken) by the School Board recently. Dr. Underwood works for the School Board, not the other way around. We have seen all too frequently the consequences of the Board’s rubber stamping of proposals put forth by the Superintendent, and feel that those consequences have done the Board and the citizens of the county a great disservice.
We have gathered literally hundreds of signatures on petitions submitted to the Board of Supervisors, asking them to reject the budget that you approved on January 26th of this year. Our differences with the proposal are well documented, so I will not repeat them. People signing this petition feel, like we do, that the budget submitted does not reflect the public’s best interest, and in fact feel that it has driven a wedge between the citizens and Dr. Underwood.
Dr. Underwood has committed a breach of confidence with the citizens that she serves. Constant avoidance of specific questions, bait and switch tactics with budgetary items, a lack of good faith in executing her duties, and a refusal to supply requested information have created this breach. In fact, had we not gone over her head to the Department of Education, I have serious doubt that we would have ever gotten past budgetary information her office is required to make available under state code. To top it all off, Dr. Underwood is on record, both here and before the Board of Supervisors, blatantly misrepresenting the facts about the categorization of administrative staff as instructional. She said it’s been that way since before she ever began working in Goochland. A quick check of historical data proves that administrative staff was shifted in the FY 2007 budget when she was Assistant Superintendent, and that as Superintendent, she created six new clearly administrative positions which she placed into the instructional category.
The School Board’s use of parents as pawns in their ongoing chess match with the Board of Supervisors is reprehensible. To ask us with a straight face to go to the Board of Supervisors and request a tax rate increase when obvious waste was never addressed is shameful. The use of our children’s educational future, as well as their emotions, for political gain is enraging; causes distrust, and further alienates the public from the Board and Dr. Underwood.
For all of these reasons, we respectfully request that the Board perform a formal review of the Superintendent and ask that the results be made available to the public. A copy of this request is being provided to each member of the Board of Supervisors.
JANE CHRISTIE:
Back in November, early on in the budget process, one of the School Board members used the analogy of the school system being like an airplane, that the School Board and Superintendent were trying to keep up in the air.
The cuts to the School Board budget requested by the County were likened to being asked to cut off one of the wings, because so many cost cuts had already been made to the plane, that there was now nothing else left but the nuts and bolts.
We would like to say that we don’t want a pilot and a team of mechanics who would try to keep our plane up in the air by:
Diluting the jet fuel
Shutting down the main engine, or
Hacking off the end of the wing.
What we are looking for is a pilot, and a team of engineers, who would have the good sense to kick the 6 elephants out of the cargo bay, before even attempting a take-off!
Now, I don’t say this to mock you, gentlemen. The goal is simply to couch our message in terms you might understand, in an attempt to convey what GEPA has been trying to explain to you for months.
Because despite all the public “hearings” held during the budget process, if we had managed to have just one, solitary public “listening”, it really might have made a difference to the outcome.
Recap of the Meeting:
Next week's meeting on Tuesday conflicts with a BOS meeting, so the SB agreed to move their meeting to 6 PM and recess at 6:45 to allow people to attend the BOS meeting. So I believe the schedule next Tuesday is:
3 PM - BOS meeting -- John Herrman giving his whole presentation
6 PM - SB meeting
7 PM -- BOS meeting -- County Administrator presenting the county budget proposal
JD Wright and Jane Christie spoke during the comment period.
John Hedron provided an overview/demo of the use of technology in the schools.
Stacy Austin presented his Randolph School Improvement Program.
There was a discussion about the school CIP:
In regards the CIP . . . the county is changing the way the CIP is handled, and only items actually funded for the next 5 years are contained in it. None of the SB's proposed CIP items are in the county CIP. This means NONE of the GES improvements are there. However, there has been discussion between Dr Underwood and the county about a CIP item to renovate the old High School gym and the old middle school. Essentially, the county would renovate the old middle school and move the Parks and Rec department there. Currently the Parks and Rec uses the old High School gym building (this is behind the Free Clinic/up the hill from the Specialty Center). This CIP item would renovate the old gym building for use by GES. This would add a gym and 4-5 classrooms to GES. (which would be good -- not as good as a new school, but better than nothing). Dr. Underwood pointed out that this does not address capital needs within the existing GES building --- I believe bathroom renovation and HVAC are among the primary needs. So she has asked the county to look at addressing those needs within the CIP, as well as having a discussion about the general building usage roadmap for the entire county. The current line item for the old High School gym and old Middle School renovations is $3.077million.
Budget update: Dr Underwood indicated that she had met with the county and a consultant to discuss an RFP for healthcare (for schools and county). She indicated that they had asked that the RFP include non-traditional options including HSAs and self-insurance. When asked about the timeline, she indicated that the county's current plan renews 7/1, so presumably a decision would be made before that. She also indicated that she is talking to the county about sharing of services -- namely mowing. Currently the schools contract out all grass mowing. The county indicated that they believe that they can take on all mowing for the schools except the balls fields with just their existing staff and addition of some equipment.
Brad Franklin talked about a grant that they are pursuing in regards to Readiness and Emergency Preparedness. If the GCPS receives the grant they could gain UP TO $150k over 24 months for planning, equipment, evaluation, etc.
Mattox asked Dr. Underwood about the potential for Governor McDonnell to change the state's calculation for school system allocations (unfreezing the LCI -- see this article: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=1889634). If this goes through, Goochland is the only local school system that actually gets more money (a whopping $4000 -- but other systems could lose millions more). She agreed that this particular change would not hurt us, but that the governor's office was looking at deeper cuts in the overall budget that could mean $300,000 more in cuts in state funding to Goochland in 2011 and again in 2012.
Monday, February 15, 2010
School Board Meeting 2/16
The meeting that was canceled last week is this Tuesday, Feb 16 at 7 PM at Goochland High School.
The agenda: http://www.glnd.k12.va.us/index/schoolboard/agendas/
We hope to see you there!
The agenda: http://www.glnd.k12.va.us/index/schoolboard/agendas/
We hope to see you there!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Reminder -- Paper Drive 2/13/2010
Stock the Schools!
Copy Paper Drive to Benefit GCPS
As a hands-on community, we need to help the schools in these difficult times.
Join your neighbors in keeping our schools supplied with paper
& educating our children.
Drop your donation at
Grace Episcopal Church
2955 River Road West
New Date:
Saturday, February 13
9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Copy Paper Drive to Benefit GCPS
As a hands-on community, we need to help the schools in these difficult times.
Join your neighbors in keeping our schools supplied with paper
& educating our children.
Drop your donation at
Grace Episcopal Church
2955 River Road West
New Date:
Saturday, February 13
9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
BOS Comments from Feb 2nd
There were 7 GEPA Speakers at the Feb 2nd Board of Supervisors Meeting. The text of their speeches is posted below. I have removed personal addresses from the speeches.
JOHN WRIGHT:
My name is John D. Wright. I live at {redacted - KGM}.
Mr. Chairman, Board Members, and Mrs. Dickson, I stand before you this evening an exasperated parent. On November 24 of this past year, I received a phone call from a desperate parent of a classmate in my oldest daughter’s class, informing me that at that evening’s School Board meeting the Superintendent was going to propose devastating cuts to core programs of the school system. She requested that I round up as many other parents as possible to attend that meeting in order to have a voice in this process.
At that meeting, a School Board member shocked parents by flatly admitting that cuts were being proposed to core programs in order to, and I quote, “sick the parents on the Board of Supervisors”, while the Superintendent nodded her approval of the statement. It seemed the familiar back and forth between the School Board and the Board of Supervisors was once again going to play out. The School Board and the Superintendent again intended to make parents the pawns in a high stakes game of chess between these two boards.
Parents are all too familiar with tightening budgets, and making sacrifices in order to meet the essential needs of their children. It didn’t take long to connect the dots that plummeting home values, rising costs and a school population that is growing at 2.5% per year were on a collision course that would no doubt mean dire times for the county and its school system. The County Administrator requested, and rightfully so, a cut of $2.9 million dollars from the previous year’s budget.
This began one of the most frustrating budget processes in the history of Goochland Schools. I say frustrating, not because of the amount of money being cut from the budget, but rather because of the insincere and at times vindictive approach to the process by the School’s Superintendent. Questions went unanswered or skirted by distractive statements that were off subject. Documents such as Board minutes and the budget itself were not made available to the public for weeks, if at all. Offers of help and suggestions from parents were ignored.
On December 15th, the Superintendent tried to sooth parents by announcing a proposed budget consisting of only $700,000 in cuts. She tried to placate the frustrated parents by saying that her proposed budget no longer was going to cut core programs, was no longer going to remove valuable classroom resources, was no longer going to threaten the quality of education being provided by this fine school system. Once again, parents sat shocked at the statements being made. In the final public comment period, a parent questioned the wisdom of going to the Board of Supervisors with a budget so far out of line with the County Administrator’s mandate.
Not surprisingly, at the December 22nd meeting, the Superintendent announced that she planned to propose $1.5 million dollars in cuts, including all the items she assured parents would not be in danger the previous week.
During this time, numerous requests for information went unfulfilled, ultimately forcing parents to request information from the DOE. DOE officials could not believe that the information wasn’t made available locally.
Also during this time, parents felt they had no choice but to attempt to make themselves heard as a group, forming the Goochland Education Parent Association (GEPA). In a week’s time that group grew to over 100 members. Over time that number has multiplied.
The proposed budget was not made available to the public until after several more meetings on January 12th, the final scheduled meeting before the School Board was to vote whether or not to accept the Superintendent’s proposal. GEPA and other parents demanded time to review the proposed budget, and successfully requested another meeting to address their concerns.
As a group, GEPA used the combined talents of it’s members to research, collaborate and propose a Budget Counterproposal that comprised of cuts in the waste in the system, while preserving the frontline Teachers, Textbooks and Programs targeted by the Superintendent’s proposal. This budget counterproposal was thoughtfully assembled, and cuts were not proposed that could not be substantiated by hard facts obtained from the DOE, information previously made public through the local media, and the small amount of information provided by the school administration themselves.
GEPA members, and parents at large, scheduled meetings with their School Board representatives to explain their positions and seek answers. We even invited two School Board members to a GEPA meeting. In this meeting, the school board member who did attend asked why we hadn’t contacted him sooner. When it was pointed out that dozens of emails had been sent to him on a wide variety of budget matters, he admitted that, and I quote, “Oh, I don’t really check that email account”. When asked if he had considered GEPA’s counterproposal, he stated that he did, but when discussing specifics it became apparent that he had not. When asked specific questions about the Superintendent’s proposal, it was apparent that he hadn’t fully read that either.
Ultimately, the parent’s efforts were not seriously considered. The Board saw fit to rubber stamp the Superintendent’s proposal, and then had the gall to request that parents go to the board and ask for a tax rate increase to help fund their flawed version. In the process, they placed blame on the County Administrator and the Board of Supervisors for forcing them to make the decisions they set forth.
I stand before you today to say that I do NOT request that you raise my taxes, or those of other citizens struggling to make ends meet in these difficult times. I stand before you today to say that the School Superintendent has committed a breach of confidence with the public she serves, casting suspicion in the public eye of each action taken on her behalf. I stand before you today to ask that you reject the Superintendent’s Budget Proposal, approved by the School Board, and make changes to it that produce a more sustainable school system. I stand before you today to ask that you pay attention to the wishes of your constituents, even if the School System chooses not to do so. Thank you.
JOHN HERRMAN
John presented a portion of his powerpoint presentation. The full presentation is here --> http://www.goochlandparents.com/files/GoochlandCounty_Maintenance_and_Transport.pdf
ADEEB HAMZEY
Chairman Quarles
County Administrator – Ms Dickson
The honorable members of the Board of Supervisors
Members of the audience
Good evening
My name is Adeeb Hamzey, and I live at {redacted – KGM}
What I am sharing with you tonight reflects my personal point of view, as well as that of the newly formed and growing Goochland Education Parents Association (GEPA), with respect to the County school budget.
I would urge you to reject the School Budget as presented to you by Superintendent Dr. Linda Underwood based on the following, among other issues either covered or will be covered by other speakers tonight.
Having said that please let me assure you that we, the citizens of Goochland County, fully understand and appreciate the need for tightening of belts, including those of County administration and public schools. We are living through very trying times indeed, and we need to make smart and far reaching decisions that address the short term economic constraints yet meet the needs of future generations. Unfortunately, the school budget, as approved by the School Board, is unacceptable.
It lacks vision and is short on a comprehensive thought process. Cutting instructional programs that took years to build, bringing down standards of educational quality, and eliminating teachers needed in the classrooms, while justifying expensive and nonproductive administrative positions, is misguided and lacks leadership.
BUDGET PROCESS
Several meetings citizens have had with Dr. Underwood and members of the School Board point to the awkwardness of the budget process as practiced by those involved in this ritual. They quickly assert that they have to wait for the Board of Supervisors to initiate the budget cycle, and that didn’t come until September 2009. Decisions were made in haste, and conclusions were quick in favor of suggestions to raise taxes. Show me good stewardship in handling expenses, and I will understand the need for more taxes. Raising taxes is a LAST resort not a convenient step.
I work in the private sector and have been involved with preparing budgets. My experience has been that budget preparation takes seven to eight months, during which time cost centers provide their individual budget segments. Controlling entities meet regularly to assess YTD and budget variance that allows timely adjustments. This metric is not unique to the private sector. It is obvious there is a lack of communication between the School Board and County Administration on many issues including the budget. Communication is non-existent between School Board and the superintendent on one hand and the parents on the other hand. It is our right and responsibility to contribute positively to our representative government, since we live in a democracy unlike others. However, the voiced concerns of our citizens seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
This practice is antiquated and needs to be replaced with one that fosters better communication, transparency, and builds trust with the citizens.
WASTE
This School Budget encourages waste on two fronts: material and intellectual.
I see material waste in allocating costs to school administration, maintenance, and transportation; waste that is addressed by Mr. John Herrmann and others; waste in procuring cafeteria food and other supply items; waste in electrical consumption, such as lights left burning all night on various occasions in football and baseball fields, and the like. A good example, on the notion that electric rates were going up by 18% by VEPGA, a budget increase in excess of $33,600 was placed in the Building Services Section 64300 – 090. Where are the actual numbers? What austerity and conservation measures have been enacted by the school administration, through the school system buildings, around the year to lower electrical consumption? Not only turning lights off, removing some light bulbs from electric fixtures, and adjusting thermostats save energy. These measures teach the youth the value of meaningful conservation. Let them feel it and live through it to appreciate it. AND save money along the way. I love my post office, but why do we need $15,000 in postal services? Some figures are carried over from last year. Actual numbers, if tracked, should show whether they need to be adjusted up or down. Contracts such as the $135,000 for repair and maintenance need to be renegotiated, and the $80,000 budget item for repair and maintenance supplies needs to be tracked more closely. Food supplies need to be controlled better. The approximately $5,600 daily revenues will increase if better cost controls are in place. I witnessed many students throwing most of their meals in the waste basket. These are just examples of the waste that needs to be addressed before a decision is made to lay off a teacher or a program is cut.
The intellectual waste is even more dangerous, as it affects the status and preparedness of future leaders. The mind is a terrible thing to waste. When a curriculum is diluted to the point where it provides no challenge to capable students, it stymies their potential and stifles their ability to function at their best. All the young talent in the gifted center, for example, is going to be less served going forward due to the deliberate phasing out of the gifted center and the dilution of the curriculum in the middle and high school. All the research in this area points to this fact. This is detrimental to the future of our kids, to our property value, and counterproductive in terms of making Goochland County the desired place to raise a family.
INEFFICIENCY
Inefficiency lies in not challenging the way we do business. I see duplication of services and nonproductive practices that require further scrutiny in the school budget. In the Technology Division-wide Instructional Support, Code 68,200-90, I question the value of the $500,000 for leases and rentals. Inefficiencies also exist in other areas of Goochland schools operation such as maintenance, transportation, and school administration.
IN CLOSING,
What we need is transparency, a financially savvy superintendent, and a capable school board to challenge budget assumptions and expenditures, which result is a more streamlined budget worthy of defending by the citizens of Goochland County. It may be the School Budget, but it is the taxpayers’ hard earned money.
We definitely do not need rubber stamping decisions with total disregard to public input. Thank you for your time.
Adeeb Hamzey
KRISTIN MCNARON
Gentlemen of the Board, Ms. Dickson, thank you for letting us speak tonight. My name is Kristin McNaron, and I live at {redacted – KGM}. I speak to you today as the secretary of the Goochland Education Parents Association.
In my professional career and life, I have tried to live by the adage . . . don’t offer criticism where you can’t also offer ideas for an alternative solution. Members of the GEPA have spent hundreds of hours studying the proposed 2010-2011 school budget, and we found that there are many opportunities for a more efficient budget that is more in line with community priorities. We offer these ideas in the form of a proposed alternative budget. We offered this alternative budget for the School Board to review, comment, or question . . . as we offer it to you tonight. We will provide you copies tonight, and you may also find the proposal at www.goochlandparents.com.
The GEPA budget alternative is based on the School Board’s proposed budget. While we challenge the miscategorization of clearly administrative positions within the instructional category in the SB budget, we have maintained this categorization for comparative purposes and noted the concerns in our included narrative.
The GEPA budget supports 6 key priorities:
1. Preserve classroom teaching positions.
2. Preserve the current pupil/teacher ratio.
3. Preserve a balanced, full service curriculum of programs and services to fulfill the needs of every child in the GCPS system.
4. Reduce administrative costs and other non-teaching overheads.
5. Operate the GCPS system in the best interests of ALL the children ALL the time.
6. Maintain Goochland property values.
To compare and contrast the SB budget versus GEPA’s proposed alternative:
Within the instructional category, our alternative cuts only $131k LESS than the SB version, but we make the cuts in administrative positions rather than in teachers, programs, or textbooks.
Within the administrative category, our alternative cuts $61K MORE than the SB budget by combination of duties of multiple positions.
Within the transportation category, our alternative suggests $220K in cuts through efficiencies not yet explored by the School Board, whereas the SB version increases the transportation budget YOY.
Within the maintenance category, our alternative cuts $54k through efficiencies and green programs, whereas the SB budgets asks us to again increase this category YOY.
And within the technology category, our alternative cuts $95k by combination of multiple positions, whereas again, the SB budget would have us increase this budget YOY.
The budget to be proposed to you tonight by the Superintendent on behalf of the School Board is NOT in line with community priorities, and we cannot support it. The community has voiced again and again that we CAN be part of the solution, and we have thoughtful alternative ideas that are falling on deaf ears. We ask that you listen.
JO D HOSKEN
Good evening my name is Jo D. Hosken of {redacted - KGM}. What I would like to address is the ratios in the classrooms. Dr Underwood’s proposal states that we will increase the classroom sizes by eliminating teaching positions. She defends this by comparing us to neighboring counties like Henrico and Chesterfield. I think that we are all aware that this is comparing apples to motorcars. Our county revenue barely exceeds their schools’ budget cuts. The amount of resources in each of these school systems is not comparable to ours.
Dr Underwood points out in her blog that this change will instill a minor change bringing us to 18.88 students in the elementary grades and 17.2 in middle and 19.78 in high school. Perhaps the administration failed to look at classroom roosters or include in these ratios special needs children who require 3 to 1 ratios. My son who is a kindergartener at Randolph currently has 19 other classmates. In fact the ratio within Randolph is currently 18.47 to 1. We at Randolph are blessed with full time volunteers who assist in the classrooms but compared to Short Pump Elementary which houses 23 kindergarteners to one teacher and one full time aide, apples to motorcars, we actually have higher ratios.
With a 2.5 % growth in enrollment occurring in Goochland county schools annually over the last three years our teacher to student ratios are increasing and will continue to increase without any teacher cuts. To propose an additional increase while eliminating math and literacy specialists designed to help children who struggle already in the classrooms is absurd. This has time and time again been shown to decrease performance.
In the Center based program the current budget proposes combining two grades in one classroom with one teacher and assistance from another teacher for certain subject matters. This will put 26 children in one room with one teacher. That puts us at state capacity for our most accelerated students.
I fear that our administration forgot somewhere during this process that these are not numbers but little bodies. There is no such thing as a .4 of a child or a teacher. These children will be sitting in larger classrooms and not have resources for extra help in either direction and they will suffer. Who will help them if they struggle with this week’s lesson or prepare them for next week’s assignment? These are children not computers they require teaching not downloads. We will have to rely heavily on volunteers who have come into the schools out of the goodness of their hearts and in return what we will be giving them is added burden and decreased property values from suffering schools?
KENDALL HOFFLER
Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Kendall Hoffler. I have two children at Randolph Elementary, and two younger children who will be there in a few years. My husband and I are both born and raised in the Short Pump area and moved to Goochland six years ago to raise our children here, in a place were they could feel safe playing outside, get a quality education, and easily get to know and become a part of their community.
It is as a member of this community, as well as a parent, that I present the following petition to the Board of Supervisors. This petition was created last week, after the School Board voted unanimously to accept Dr. Underwood’s proposed budget for the 2010-2011 school year. In five days, and during a snow storm no less, more than 400 names have been collected. These are not just members of GEPA, or parents like me, but rather our fellow citizens, some with no children in our school system, that are simply concerned about the impact of this budget on the future of our schools and on our property values.
I can easily speak to this as a parent, who does not want to see any funds cut from the school budget. I’d like to see it fully-funded, so that no cuts need to be considered, but I know that is not realistic in these economic times. It becomes more difficult to speak to this as a homeowner. I have seen my property value drop by more than $60,000 this year alone, and it has been stated previously that one of the greatest factors in the valuation of a home or land is the locality’s educational system. What are the implications to all of our property values if we allow our schools to take a step backwards, which is what the proposed budget does?
I cannot in good conscience support the current proposed school budget, which eliminates teaching positions, vital programs, and important educational tools. I do not think it reflects the priorities that have been stated throughout the budget process, and I do not think the superintendent and the school board have listened to the community. I submit this petition, and the number of signatures gained in such a short time, as proof of that.
Again, over 400 Goochland residents have signed the petition, which reads:
We recognize that Goochland County is facing significant revenue reductions for the 2011 fiscal year, and we appreciate the budget constraints this places on both the County and the School Board.
However, we cannot support the proposed School Board budget, which cuts to the core of our school system. The proposed School Board budget does not accurately reflect the publicly-expressed budget priorities of the parents and residents of Goochland County, which are:
1. TEACHERS: Preserve classroom teaching positions and current pupil/teacher ratios.
2. PROGRAMS: Preserve a broad range of programs and services in our schools, to meet the diverse educational needs of EVERY child.
3. TOOLS: Preserve the key tools needed to support education, including textbooks, art supplies, musical instruments, educational software and other teaching materials.
We do not accept the reduction of any teachers, programs or educational tools. This petition asks the Goochland County Board of Supervisors to protect our teachers, programs and the educational tools available that enable each and every child to reach their full potential.
Thank you for your time.
JANE CHRISTIE
Mr. Chairman, gentlemen of the Board, Ms Dickson, thank you for letting us speak tonight. My name is Jane Christie, I have lived at {redacted - KGM} for about 19 years and have 3 children in GCPS. Tonight, as a parent, a taxpayer and the Vice Chair of the Goochland Education Parents Association, I would like to say that while we sincerely appreciate the difficulties caused by the current economic situation, we cannot accept, and ask you to reject, the proposed School Board budget, which we believe cuts costs in all the wrong areas.
We question why the Superintendent is willing to accept health insurance premium increases totaling almost 50% in two years and the proposal to increase the school budget by $276,000 next year to fund increased health insurance premiums. And why, when it has been shown that Goochland is already among the least efficient counties in the state for Transportation and Maintenance costs, does the Superintendent still recommend increasing the budgets in both of these areas. Contrary to the express wishes of parents and citizens, voiced at numerous public hearings, the Superintendent proposes no cuts in high-level administrative positions, which is difficult to comprehend when we have, for example, a Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and 5 Director-level positions of Education, Technology and Athletics, earning over $1 million in salaries and benefits between the 7 of them!
How can the Superintendent possibly justify these excesses, whilst eliminating 10 frontline teaching positions, cutting the school supplies budget in half, eliminating educational programs, (including the acclaimed Goochland County Center for the Gifted, and Tender Tots), cutting $120,000 from the textbook budget and completely eliminating the budgets for musical instruments and art supplies next year? To consistently target for cuts the very areas on which most advanced education scholarships are based, - the arts, athletics and gifted ability – seems incredibly short-sighted and damaging, not only to the students and the schools, but to our property values in the County. How can we realistically maintain quality in our schools, with these proposed cuts in teachers, educational programs and materials, when faced with a growing school population?
We also request that you please, do NOT accept the School Board request for a single, lump sum payment of funds, and instead, continue allocating funds to the School Board according to the expenditure categories prescribed by Section 22.1-115 of the Code of Virginia. There are already concerns about the allocation of funds within these legal budget categories. For example, the Superintendent currently classifies the positions of Assistant Superintendent, Human Resource Specialist and Psychologist as Instruction expenses, when the VDOE clearly specifies that these should be reported under the Administration budget category. This might perhaps explain why our Administration budget is one of the lowest in the State, and our Instruction budget is apparently too small for us to afford our teachers! To allocate funds as a single lump sum would conveniently avoid this issue of accountability for the Superintendent, but as stewards of the taxpayer’s money, we ask you to favor the public interests of accountability and transparency over the Superintendent’s desire for budget flexibility.
We also question how the Superintendent can seriously put forward a budget for consideration by the School Board, the Board of Supervisors and the public, with over $15 million dollars, or more than 60% of the total budget, in a single line item entitled “salaries and benefits” under the Instruction category? In the interests of public accountability, we feel the Superintendent has a duty to provide a detailed breakdown of salaries and benefits in each expenditure category, by position and Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) account code.
In conclusion, we ask that you please do not accept the proposed School Board budget, which does not eliminate identified waste, cuts to the core of our education system and does not accurately represent the publicly expressed priorities of the people of Goochland County. Thank you.
JOHN WRIGHT:
My name is John D. Wright. I live at {redacted - KGM}.
Mr. Chairman, Board Members, and Mrs. Dickson, I stand before you this evening an exasperated parent. On November 24 of this past year, I received a phone call from a desperate parent of a classmate in my oldest daughter’s class, informing me that at that evening’s School Board meeting the Superintendent was going to propose devastating cuts to core programs of the school system. She requested that I round up as many other parents as possible to attend that meeting in order to have a voice in this process.
At that meeting, a School Board member shocked parents by flatly admitting that cuts were being proposed to core programs in order to, and I quote, “sick the parents on the Board of Supervisors”, while the Superintendent nodded her approval of the statement. It seemed the familiar back and forth between the School Board and the Board of Supervisors was once again going to play out. The School Board and the Superintendent again intended to make parents the pawns in a high stakes game of chess between these two boards.
Parents are all too familiar with tightening budgets, and making sacrifices in order to meet the essential needs of their children. It didn’t take long to connect the dots that plummeting home values, rising costs and a school population that is growing at 2.5% per year were on a collision course that would no doubt mean dire times for the county and its school system. The County Administrator requested, and rightfully so, a cut of $2.9 million dollars from the previous year’s budget.
This began one of the most frustrating budget processes in the history of Goochland Schools. I say frustrating, not because of the amount of money being cut from the budget, but rather because of the insincere and at times vindictive approach to the process by the School’s Superintendent. Questions went unanswered or skirted by distractive statements that were off subject. Documents such as Board minutes and the budget itself were not made available to the public for weeks, if at all. Offers of help and suggestions from parents were ignored.
On December 15th, the Superintendent tried to sooth parents by announcing a proposed budget consisting of only $700,000 in cuts. She tried to placate the frustrated parents by saying that her proposed budget no longer was going to cut core programs, was no longer going to remove valuable classroom resources, was no longer going to threaten the quality of education being provided by this fine school system. Once again, parents sat shocked at the statements being made. In the final public comment period, a parent questioned the wisdom of going to the Board of Supervisors with a budget so far out of line with the County Administrator’s mandate.
Not surprisingly, at the December 22nd meeting, the Superintendent announced that she planned to propose $1.5 million dollars in cuts, including all the items she assured parents would not be in danger the previous week.
During this time, numerous requests for information went unfulfilled, ultimately forcing parents to request information from the DOE. DOE officials could not believe that the information wasn’t made available locally.
Also during this time, parents felt they had no choice but to attempt to make themselves heard as a group, forming the Goochland Education Parent Association (GEPA). In a week’s time that group grew to over 100 members. Over time that number has multiplied.
The proposed budget was not made available to the public until after several more meetings on January 12th, the final scheduled meeting before the School Board was to vote whether or not to accept the Superintendent’s proposal. GEPA and other parents demanded time to review the proposed budget, and successfully requested another meeting to address their concerns.
As a group, GEPA used the combined talents of it’s members to research, collaborate and propose a Budget Counterproposal that comprised of cuts in the waste in the system, while preserving the frontline Teachers, Textbooks and Programs targeted by the Superintendent’s proposal. This budget counterproposal was thoughtfully assembled, and cuts were not proposed that could not be substantiated by hard facts obtained from the DOE, information previously made public through the local media, and the small amount of information provided by the school administration themselves.
GEPA members, and parents at large, scheduled meetings with their School Board representatives to explain their positions and seek answers. We even invited two School Board members to a GEPA meeting. In this meeting, the school board member who did attend asked why we hadn’t contacted him sooner. When it was pointed out that dozens of emails had been sent to him on a wide variety of budget matters, he admitted that, and I quote, “Oh, I don’t really check that email account”. When asked if he had considered GEPA’s counterproposal, he stated that he did, but when discussing specifics it became apparent that he had not. When asked specific questions about the Superintendent’s proposal, it was apparent that he hadn’t fully read that either.
Ultimately, the parent’s efforts were not seriously considered. The Board saw fit to rubber stamp the Superintendent’s proposal, and then had the gall to request that parents go to the board and ask for a tax rate increase to help fund their flawed version. In the process, they placed blame on the County Administrator and the Board of Supervisors for forcing them to make the decisions they set forth.
I stand before you today to say that I do NOT request that you raise my taxes, or those of other citizens struggling to make ends meet in these difficult times. I stand before you today to say that the School Superintendent has committed a breach of confidence with the public she serves, casting suspicion in the public eye of each action taken on her behalf. I stand before you today to ask that you reject the Superintendent’s Budget Proposal, approved by the School Board, and make changes to it that produce a more sustainable school system. I stand before you today to ask that you pay attention to the wishes of your constituents, even if the School System chooses not to do so. Thank you.
JOHN HERRMAN
John presented a portion of his powerpoint presentation. The full presentation is here --> http://www.goochlandparents.com/files/GoochlandCounty_Maintenance_and_Transport.pdf
ADEEB HAMZEY
Chairman Quarles
County Administrator – Ms Dickson
The honorable members of the Board of Supervisors
Members of the audience
Good evening
My name is Adeeb Hamzey, and I live at {redacted – KGM}
What I am sharing with you tonight reflects my personal point of view, as well as that of the newly formed and growing Goochland Education Parents Association (GEPA), with respect to the County school budget.
I would urge you to reject the School Budget as presented to you by Superintendent Dr. Linda Underwood based on the following, among other issues either covered or will be covered by other speakers tonight.
Having said that please let me assure you that we, the citizens of Goochland County, fully understand and appreciate the need for tightening of belts, including those of County administration and public schools. We are living through very trying times indeed, and we need to make smart and far reaching decisions that address the short term economic constraints yet meet the needs of future generations. Unfortunately, the school budget, as approved by the School Board, is unacceptable.
It lacks vision and is short on a comprehensive thought process. Cutting instructional programs that took years to build, bringing down standards of educational quality, and eliminating teachers needed in the classrooms, while justifying expensive and nonproductive administrative positions, is misguided and lacks leadership.
BUDGET PROCESS
Several meetings citizens have had with Dr. Underwood and members of the School Board point to the awkwardness of the budget process as practiced by those involved in this ritual. They quickly assert that they have to wait for the Board of Supervisors to initiate the budget cycle, and that didn’t come until September 2009. Decisions were made in haste, and conclusions were quick in favor of suggestions to raise taxes. Show me good stewardship in handling expenses, and I will understand the need for more taxes. Raising taxes is a LAST resort not a convenient step.
I work in the private sector and have been involved with preparing budgets. My experience has been that budget preparation takes seven to eight months, during which time cost centers provide their individual budget segments. Controlling entities meet regularly to assess YTD and budget variance that allows timely adjustments. This metric is not unique to the private sector. It is obvious there is a lack of communication between the School Board and County Administration on many issues including the budget. Communication is non-existent between School Board and the superintendent on one hand and the parents on the other hand. It is our right and responsibility to contribute positively to our representative government, since we live in a democracy unlike others. However, the voiced concerns of our citizens seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
This practice is antiquated and needs to be replaced with one that fosters better communication, transparency, and builds trust with the citizens.
WASTE
This School Budget encourages waste on two fronts: material and intellectual.
I see material waste in allocating costs to school administration, maintenance, and transportation; waste that is addressed by Mr. John Herrmann and others; waste in procuring cafeteria food and other supply items; waste in electrical consumption, such as lights left burning all night on various occasions in football and baseball fields, and the like. A good example, on the notion that electric rates were going up by 18% by VEPGA, a budget increase in excess of $33,600 was placed in the Building Services Section 64300 – 090. Where are the actual numbers? What austerity and conservation measures have been enacted by the school administration, through the school system buildings, around the year to lower electrical consumption? Not only turning lights off, removing some light bulbs from electric fixtures, and adjusting thermostats save energy. These measures teach the youth the value of meaningful conservation. Let them feel it and live through it to appreciate it. AND save money along the way. I love my post office, but why do we need $15,000 in postal services? Some figures are carried over from last year. Actual numbers, if tracked, should show whether they need to be adjusted up or down. Contracts such as the $135,000 for repair and maintenance need to be renegotiated, and the $80,000 budget item for repair and maintenance supplies needs to be tracked more closely. Food supplies need to be controlled better. The approximately $5,600 daily revenues will increase if better cost controls are in place. I witnessed many students throwing most of their meals in the waste basket. These are just examples of the waste that needs to be addressed before a decision is made to lay off a teacher or a program is cut.
The intellectual waste is even more dangerous, as it affects the status and preparedness of future leaders. The mind is a terrible thing to waste. When a curriculum is diluted to the point where it provides no challenge to capable students, it stymies their potential and stifles their ability to function at their best. All the young talent in the gifted center, for example, is going to be less served going forward due to the deliberate phasing out of the gifted center and the dilution of the curriculum in the middle and high school. All the research in this area points to this fact. This is detrimental to the future of our kids, to our property value, and counterproductive in terms of making Goochland County the desired place to raise a family.
INEFFICIENCY
Inefficiency lies in not challenging the way we do business. I see duplication of services and nonproductive practices that require further scrutiny in the school budget. In the Technology Division-wide Instructional Support, Code 68,200-90, I question the value of the $500,000 for leases and rentals. Inefficiencies also exist in other areas of Goochland schools operation such as maintenance, transportation, and school administration.
IN CLOSING,
What we need is transparency, a financially savvy superintendent, and a capable school board to challenge budget assumptions and expenditures, which result is a more streamlined budget worthy of defending by the citizens of Goochland County. It may be the School Budget, but it is the taxpayers’ hard earned money.
We definitely do not need rubber stamping decisions with total disregard to public input. Thank you for your time.
Adeeb Hamzey
KRISTIN MCNARON
Gentlemen of the Board, Ms. Dickson, thank you for letting us speak tonight. My name is Kristin McNaron, and I live at {redacted – KGM}. I speak to you today as the secretary of the Goochland Education Parents Association.
In my professional career and life, I have tried to live by the adage . . . don’t offer criticism where you can’t also offer ideas for an alternative solution. Members of the GEPA have spent hundreds of hours studying the proposed 2010-2011 school budget, and we found that there are many opportunities for a more efficient budget that is more in line with community priorities. We offer these ideas in the form of a proposed alternative budget. We offered this alternative budget for the School Board to review, comment, or question . . . as we offer it to you tonight. We will provide you copies tonight, and you may also find the proposal at www.goochlandparents.com.
The GEPA budget alternative is based on the School Board’s proposed budget. While we challenge the miscategorization of clearly administrative positions within the instructional category in the SB budget, we have maintained this categorization for comparative purposes and noted the concerns in our included narrative.
The GEPA budget supports 6 key priorities:
1. Preserve classroom teaching positions.
2. Preserve the current pupil/teacher ratio.
3. Preserve a balanced, full service curriculum of programs and services to fulfill the needs of every child in the GCPS system.
4. Reduce administrative costs and other non-teaching overheads.
5. Operate the GCPS system in the best interests of ALL the children ALL the time.
6. Maintain Goochland property values.
To compare and contrast the SB budget versus GEPA’s proposed alternative:
Within the instructional category, our alternative cuts only $131k LESS than the SB version, but we make the cuts in administrative positions rather than in teachers, programs, or textbooks.
Within the administrative category, our alternative cuts $61K MORE than the SB budget by combination of duties of multiple positions.
Within the transportation category, our alternative suggests $220K in cuts through efficiencies not yet explored by the School Board, whereas the SB version increases the transportation budget YOY.
Within the maintenance category, our alternative cuts $54k through efficiencies and green programs, whereas the SB budgets asks us to again increase this category YOY.
And within the technology category, our alternative cuts $95k by combination of multiple positions, whereas again, the SB budget would have us increase this budget YOY.
The budget to be proposed to you tonight by the Superintendent on behalf of the School Board is NOT in line with community priorities, and we cannot support it. The community has voiced again and again that we CAN be part of the solution, and we have thoughtful alternative ideas that are falling on deaf ears. We ask that you listen.
JO D HOSKEN
Good evening my name is Jo D. Hosken of {redacted - KGM}. What I would like to address is the ratios in the classrooms. Dr Underwood’s proposal states that we will increase the classroom sizes by eliminating teaching positions. She defends this by comparing us to neighboring counties like Henrico and Chesterfield. I think that we are all aware that this is comparing apples to motorcars. Our county revenue barely exceeds their schools’ budget cuts. The amount of resources in each of these school systems is not comparable to ours.
Dr Underwood points out in her blog that this change will instill a minor change bringing us to 18.88 students in the elementary grades and 17.2 in middle and 19.78 in high school. Perhaps the administration failed to look at classroom roosters or include in these ratios special needs children who require 3 to 1 ratios. My son who is a kindergartener at Randolph currently has 19 other classmates. In fact the ratio within Randolph is currently 18.47 to 1. We at Randolph are blessed with full time volunteers who assist in the classrooms but compared to Short Pump Elementary which houses 23 kindergarteners to one teacher and one full time aide, apples to motorcars, we actually have higher ratios.
With a 2.5 % growth in enrollment occurring in Goochland county schools annually over the last three years our teacher to student ratios are increasing and will continue to increase without any teacher cuts. To propose an additional increase while eliminating math and literacy specialists designed to help children who struggle already in the classrooms is absurd. This has time and time again been shown to decrease performance.
In the Center based program the current budget proposes combining two grades in one classroom with one teacher and assistance from another teacher for certain subject matters. This will put 26 children in one room with one teacher. That puts us at state capacity for our most accelerated students.
I fear that our administration forgot somewhere during this process that these are not numbers but little bodies. There is no such thing as a .4 of a child or a teacher. These children will be sitting in larger classrooms and not have resources for extra help in either direction and they will suffer. Who will help them if they struggle with this week’s lesson or prepare them for next week’s assignment? These are children not computers they require teaching not downloads. We will have to rely heavily on volunteers who have come into the schools out of the goodness of their hearts and in return what we will be giving them is added burden and decreased property values from suffering schools?
KENDALL HOFFLER
Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Kendall Hoffler. I have two children at Randolph Elementary, and two younger children who will be there in a few years. My husband and I are both born and raised in the Short Pump area and moved to Goochland six years ago to raise our children here, in a place were they could feel safe playing outside, get a quality education, and easily get to know and become a part of their community.
It is as a member of this community, as well as a parent, that I present the following petition to the Board of Supervisors. This petition was created last week, after the School Board voted unanimously to accept Dr. Underwood’s proposed budget for the 2010-2011 school year. In five days, and during a snow storm no less, more than 400 names have been collected. These are not just members of GEPA, or parents like me, but rather our fellow citizens, some with no children in our school system, that are simply concerned about the impact of this budget on the future of our schools and on our property values.
I can easily speak to this as a parent, who does not want to see any funds cut from the school budget. I’d like to see it fully-funded, so that no cuts need to be considered, but I know that is not realistic in these economic times. It becomes more difficult to speak to this as a homeowner. I have seen my property value drop by more than $60,000 this year alone, and it has been stated previously that one of the greatest factors in the valuation of a home or land is the locality’s educational system. What are the implications to all of our property values if we allow our schools to take a step backwards, which is what the proposed budget does?
I cannot in good conscience support the current proposed school budget, which eliminates teaching positions, vital programs, and important educational tools. I do not think it reflects the priorities that have been stated throughout the budget process, and I do not think the superintendent and the school board have listened to the community. I submit this petition, and the number of signatures gained in such a short time, as proof of that.
Again, over 400 Goochland residents have signed the petition, which reads:
We recognize that Goochland County is facing significant revenue reductions for the 2011 fiscal year, and we appreciate the budget constraints this places on both the County and the School Board.
However, we cannot support the proposed School Board budget, which cuts to the core of our school system. The proposed School Board budget does not accurately reflect the publicly-expressed budget priorities of the parents and residents of Goochland County, which are:
1. TEACHERS: Preserve classroom teaching positions and current pupil/teacher ratios.
2. PROGRAMS: Preserve a broad range of programs and services in our schools, to meet the diverse educational needs of EVERY child.
3. TOOLS: Preserve the key tools needed to support education, including textbooks, art supplies, musical instruments, educational software and other teaching materials.
We do not accept the reduction of any teachers, programs or educational tools. This petition asks the Goochland County Board of Supervisors to protect our teachers, programs and the educational tools available that enable each and every child to reach their full potential.
Thank you for your time.
JANE CHRISTIE
Mr. Chairman, gentlemen of the Board, Ms Dickson, thank you for letting us speak tonight. My name is Jane Christie, I have lived at {redacted - KGM} for about 19 years and have 3 children in GCPS. Tonight, as a parent, a taxpayer and the Vice Chair of the Goochland Education Parents Association, I would like to say that while we sincerely appreciate the difficulties caused by the current economic situation, we cannot accept, and ask you to reject, the proposed School Board budget, which we believe cuts costs in all the wrong areas.
We question why the Superintendent is willing to accept health insurance premium increases totaling almost 50% in two years and the proposal to increase the school budget by $276,000 next year to fund increased health insurance premiums. And why, when it has been shown that Goochland is already among the least efficient counties in the state for Transportation and Maintenance costs, does the Superintendent still recommend increasing the budgets in both of these areas. Contrary to the express wishes of parents and citizens, voiced at numerous public hearings, the Superintendent proposes no cuts in high-level administrative positions, which is difficult to comprehend when we have, for example, a Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and 5 Director-level positions of Education, Technology and Athletics, earning over $1 million in salaries and benefits between the 7 of them!
How can the Superintendent possibly justify these excesses, whilst eliminating 10 frontline teaching positions, cutting the school supplies budget in half, eliminating educational programs, (including the acclaimed Goochland County Center for the Gifted, and Tender Tots), cutting $120,000 from the textbook budget and completely eliminating the budgets for musical instruments and art supplies next year? To consistently target for cuts the very areas on which most advanced education scholarships are based, - the arts, athletics and gifted ability – seems incredibly short-sighted and damaging, not only to the students and the schools, but to our property values in the County. How can we realistically maintain quality in our schools, with these proposed cuts in teachers, educational programs and materials, when faced with a growing school population?
We also request that you please, do NOT accept the School Board request for a single, lump sum payment of funds, and instead, continue allocating funds to the School Board according to the expenditure categories prescribed by Section 22.1-115 of the Code of Virginia. There are already concerns about the allocation of funds within these legal budget categories. For example, the Superintendent currently classifies the positions of Assistant Superintendent, Human Resource Specialist and Psychologist as Instruction expenses, when the VDOE clearly specifies that these should be reported under the Administration budget category. This might perhaps explain why our Administration budget is one of the lowest in the State, and our Instruction budget is apparently too small for us to afford our teachers! To allocate funds as a single lump sum would conveniently avoid this issue of accountability for the Superintendent, but as stewards of the taxpayer’s money, we ask you to favor the public interests of accountability and transparency over the Superintendent’s desire for budget flexibility.
We also question how the Superintendent can seriously put forward a budget for consideration by the School Board, the Board of Supervisors and the public, with over $15 million dollars, or more than 60% of the total budget, in a single line item entitled “salaries and benefits” under the Instruction category? In the interests of public accountability, we feel the Superintendent has a duty to provide a detailed breakdown of salaries and benefits in each expenditure category, by position and Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) account code.
In conclusion, we ask that you please do not accept the proposed School Board budget, which does not eliminate identified waste, cuts to the core of our education system and does not accurately represent the publicly expressed priorities of the people of Goochland County. Thank you.
Feb 9th School Board meeting canceled
According to the school website, tonight's meeting is canceled.
http://www.glnd.k12.va.us/index/news/inclement_weather_keeps_schools_closed/
http://www.glnd.k12.va.us/index/news/inclement_weather_keeps_schools_closed/
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Stock the Schools - rescheduled due to weather
Stock the Schools!
Copy Paper Drive to Benefit GCPS
As a hands-on community, we need to help the schools in these difficult times.
Join your neighbors in keeping our schools supplied with paper
& educating our children.
Drop your donation at
Grace Episcopal Church
2955 River Road West
New Date:
Saturday, February 13
9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Copy Paper Drive to Benefit GCPS
As a hands-on community, we need to help the schools in these difficult times.
Join your neighbors in keeping our schools supplied with paper
& educating our children.
Drop your donation at
Grace Episcopal Church
2955 River Road West
New Date:
Saturday, February 13
9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
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