Thanks for reading Fluco Blog! I’m Perrie Johnson, Fork Union’s representative to the Fluvanna County School Board. My goal with Fluco Blog is to let people know what’s going on at School Board meetings beyond the reports available online. Be forewarned, when it comes to discussions, most of the comments I remember turn out to be mine! Here’s the latest…
I’m sure everyone noticed (!) I skipped my report on last month’s regular meeting but there wasn’t much to tell since we were still waiting on budget news from the county, we’re in-between superintendents, and we can’t comment much on the new superintendent search.
This post will put me back on track with an update on our April meeting held last week.
We hardly ever get input during our time for public comments, so it was great to start the meeting off with a retiree filling us in on her opinion of the Extended Service Plan. The purpose of the plan is evolving into taking advantage of the expertise of recent Fluvanna retirees, usually as substitutes, in whatever capacity they served when they left us. They know the kids, the curriculum, and the routines of our schools so their service is more valuable and we’ll pay them a little more than other subs to fill in. Currently the plan has two parts, 20 people who make $125/day and 8 people with special assignments who make $225/day. After a lot of discussion (including my proposal to eliminate the $225 tier) there was consensus on a modified plan as described in the school board documents.
Most of the budget discussion focused on what to do this year with over $300,000 in (sort of) unexpected state revenue. Some Board members wanted more technology. One pointed out the irony of asking for increases from the Board of Supervisors every year, then seeing this increase also. I agreed with another member who advocated for a bonus for all staff. I also suggested that IF the Board was reluctant to support bonuses and pay the associated increase in employment taxes, we could consider an allocation to all personnel for supplies. This would essentially increase their compensation because many spend their own money anyway, and we could open other avenues for purchasing beyond the often required Staples and Faye’s Office Supplies. Mr. Winkler suggested a portion of the money go toward translation services for SPED documents, financial and legal services, the superintendent search, technology, bus replacements, and FCHS field maintenance.
That pretty much covers it because, as of last Wednesday, we were still waiting on budget news from the county, we’re still in-between superintendents, and we still can’t comment much on the new superintendent search.
Yogi Berra said it best.
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This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. The views expressed in this blog are purely my own and do not represent the Fluvanna County School Board, the school superintendent, or anyone else. Comments added by others are not necessarily my opinions and I am not responsible for their content.
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