Posted in Budget, Compensation, Meetings, Pay Scale, School Board by flucoblog

Moving On In September

Posted in Budget, Compensation, Meetings, Pay Scale, Policy, School Board, Teacher Input, Testing by flucoblog

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 discussion, most of the comments I remember turn out to be mine! Here’s the latest…

Within minutes of beginning September’s open session, there was a controversial vote on the position of Director of Elementary Instruction and Federal Programs. The vote was to put a certain person in the position. I have no objection to this person or the last, but I do object to the position itself. I voted no because this was not a director’s position a few years ago and, in my experience, the highly structured methods and programs put in place by those in the position severely restrict teachers’ abilities to use their own professional judgment to tailor instruction to meet the needs of their unique group of learners. It’s a mouthful, I know. And I have other concerns. The motion to fill the position failed (2 in favor, 3 against) but I think the discussion will live on.

The first round of public comments drew 7 speakers, commenting on kindergarten staggered opening (teachers were appreciative), my opening day remarks (staff was supportive), testing (too much), and the first day bus fire.

Budget reports covered three years. Closing out 2018 gets us closer to a “carryover” amount for 2019, which is about $1.5 million BUT the timing of sales tax revenue reduces that by about $180k and another $500k is spoken for by state and federal programs we’re obligated to fulfill. Then another $470k is “promised” to the county for funds used for Carysbrook roof replacement.

The 2020 budget discussion began with the governor’s plan for a 3% raise BUT state funds would only cover positions required by the Standards of Quality. That includes only 219 out of our 500+ employees. To raise all salaries by 3% would cost us an additional $625k. I thought it sounded like a lot, too, so I asked twice. The administration is also looking at some large class sizes at the high school.

Two items of Unfinished Business came up. Ms. Stewart asked the Board to consider busing student voters to the polls during the school day in November. The admin will prepare a report for our next meeting. I asked if the Board was willing to discuss reducing the amount of testing we require in Fluvanna. At our last seminar we heard from the administration about testing. I’d also like input from those who give the tests and use the results for instruction. The Board agreed to have this future discussion.

A couple of action items were especially interesting. In addition to some simple changes to the teachers’ probationary policy, the Board voted 4-1 to change the terms of probation from 5 years back to 3.

We changed the date of the November meeting from the 14th to the 7th. I hated to make the switch, and we thought about not changing it since three of us would be available, but two requested the change and both the clerk and deputy clerk will be away on our regular day.

We were scheduled to vote again on the motion from last month that certainly felt like a reprimand to me concerning my opening day remarks to staff. However, Ms. Stewart and Ms. Pace rescinded their motions and the item was removed from the agenda. I was actually disappointed (and said so) because I was hoping for a vote of support from a majority of the Board, and would have preferred that as the last word. I respected the Board’s wish to move on, though, and somehow resisted the temptation to revive the motion myself!

For the last round of public comments, two teachers made it through the entire meeting to speak again in support of my opening day comments to staff. I am very grateful to everyone who came, spoke, emailed, shared a kind word, patted me on the shoulder. I needed it!

If you’d like to keep up with Fluco Blog, click the FOLLOW button near the very bottom right corner and enter your email address. It’s private and completely free. If you want to comment on a post, click Comment or Reply. You’ll be asked to provide a name and an email address. If something hits too close to home and you want to be anonymous, DON’T GIVE YOUR REAL NAME ANYWHERE. Make something up. Do give your real email address, which will NOT show up with your comment. You might also be asked for a website, which is weird and not required. Your information is not sold or leased to anyone.

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.

15Feb2018

All I Ever Wanted for Valentine’s Day (was a School Board meeting)

Posted in Budget, Compensation, Pay Scale, Policy, School Board by flucoblog

The School Board is meeting A LOT in February, mostly to pass a budget to present to the Board of Supervisors. On Feb. 7 we heard the superintendent’s proposal and comments from six employees during a public hearing. The comments were wonderful, and the stories and information made a big impression.

Last night (Feb. 14) we passed the budget BUT the work may be just beginning. If the Board of Supervisors doesn’t approve the total we’re asking for, we’ll have to make adjustments, of course, and I’m hoping the School Board will not just cut new requests off at the top (money for salary and health insurance increases). You can see the budget packet online, but along with a few additional instructional staff and assistants, that’s the gist of it.

The night went on with something like a million superintendent’s reports. The proposed calendar for next year got some attention. One parent addressed it during public comment. The big controversy involves 9 half days for students so teachers can attend professional development sessions. I believe in the concept in theory, but I think to lose that much instructional time and, yes, place that much of a burden on parents, the professional development needs to be really valuable, and that has not always been my personal experience. (I did run for School Board partly to bring a teacher’s perspective.) And, because the calendar says 12 other full staff/workdays but actually contains 13, I suggested fewer half days.

Mr. Winkler wants to begin to approve calendars two years out instead of one at a time. I suggested we get input from staff and parents and look at other counties to consider the big picture in that case.

The next big discussion was about staff bonuses this year. The Board definitely wants to get this money to the staff, but timing became an issue. It’s a long story. Ms. Pace wanted to vote to approve the bonus now, Ms. Stewart abstained, I moved to table the vote until April because the two other Board members thought it might help.

Toward the end of the meeting we looked at cell phone policies. The consensus was the policies are good, and if enforcement is an issue maybe the School Board can help by assuring administrators we will back them up.

Items of New Business brought up VSBA board development and recording/streaming/archiving our meetings for future discussion.

We finished some old business by voting to lift the restrictions on Board members visiting and volunteering in the schools. Formerly, protocols called for 24 hours notice to the superintendent and Chair. We replaced those protocols with existing Fluvanna policy that specifies School Board members may visit schools to maintain contact with employees and increase their understanding of actual educational practices. SB members follow the same procedures applicable to all other visitors. I know I went overboard a little there, but this change was important to me. (Unofficial quote, ‘I am crazy excited’)

It was one of my favorite Valentine gifts!

25Jan2018

It was an 8 hour meeting. LONG post!

Posted in Budget, Compensation, Pay Scale, School Board by flucoblog

The Jan 19 meeting ran twice as long as expected because Board members wanted to look at current program costs before we add any more to our next budget. The superintendent reported on costs and some revenues (grants and other state and federal funds we receive only because we have some of these programs) for alternative education, testing, athletics, cafeteria, vocational, gifted, technology, and transportation. These reports are all online if you’re interested. We talked about these costs quite a bit, but we purposefully didn’t get into costs vs. benefits to students, though that’s coming of course, because it’s the whole point.

The Board talked about salaries a lot, for this year as well as 2019. This year’s budget still accounts for money the former governor proposed to increase salaries. The increase didn’t pass through the General Assembly but we discussed the possibility that our 2018 budget can still accommodate a small staff bonus before the end of this year.

Some of the superintendent’s proposed changes to Fluvanna salary scales for 2019 are in the Jan 19 packet online. There’s a lot of discussion to come before anything is finalized. It started with the psychologists’ request for a scale separate from and above the current teachers’ scale. That general discussion recognized the importance of their work, but acknowledged that many teachers also have higher degrees and specialized qualifications and most on the Board felt we don’t have the money at this time to increase funds for reading speacialists, guidance counselors, and others in addition to our much appreciated school psychologists. I’m making a kind of big deal about this because it was great to have the psychologists speak at our last meeting to make their proposal.

Our two different teachers’ salary scales got a lot of attention, as usual. SO FAR, the budget proposal includes another adjustment – tiny increase – to the lower scale (Scale B), step advancements for both scales, and a 1% increase for all staff. ( Albemarle is looking at 2% and Charlottesville at 4%.) I suggested a cap on salaries that benefit from the 1%, perhaps $100,000, only because as some of our teachers took a step back with Scale B, no other employee categories took this hit. According reports on the Va. Dept. of Ed website, our administrators are still well compensated compared to surrounding counties while our teachers are less so. I’d like to correct that proportion for morale as much as taxpayer savings. I’ve stated several times that I certainly think our administrators are worth their money, even more, as all educators are. But I think this adjustment is fair.

One of the last discussions on salary was about the 40 teachers who were hired before Scale B existed and then placed on that scale. The Board talked about returning any or all of these teachers to Scale A, and the potential timing for making that happen. At least two of us were in favor of moving all 40 over next year. The cost is not prohibitive now, though it increases as these 40 move up on the higher scale.

So, the budget priorities most Board members agreed to consider at our next meeting (Feb 7) included the salary changes already described, an autism teacher plus 2 aides, a part time (I think) Emergency Medical Tech teacher, a full time teacher for a new vocational program (I’m not in favor of funding a new program at this time given our pupil teacher ratios in many existing classes), five new instructional aides – some to go toward more equal planning at the elementary level (I’m a big fan – check out my last post if you’re really into it), and Continue reading →

16Oct2017

Another Twofer

Posted in Budget, Compensation, Pay Scale, School Board, Teacher Input by flucoblog

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 discussion, most of the comments I remember turn out to be mine! Here’s the latest…

The Board met last Tuesday morning to talk about early plans for the 2019 budget. This applies to the 2018-19 school year. I appreciated that a survey was sent to staff, asking about budget priorities AND cost saving measures. Most respondents were teachers, and interestingly, many more were from the high school than any other building. It’s often the reverse with the spring survey.

Reporting the results gets a little bumpy because people were asked for their first, second, and third choices, and I’m just sticking with responses that came in at #1. You’ll see what I mean. Putting together all similar references (meaning I added together responses labeled salary, teachers’ salaries, and salary scales) salary was the #1 priority of more than half the respondents. The next #1 priority (again, putting together all similar references) was staff. I assume this means additional staff, as in allowing for lower class sizes or providing more special ed services. The third #1 priority was instructional funds.

Turning to cost saving measures, and there weren’t as many of these, the #1 suggestion was cutting energy costs. The next #1 (and again, I’m putting together all similar references) was reducing certain categories of certified, but non-classroom staff. And the third #1 (if you get me) was a tie between decreasing the number of assessments and bus routes.

Most of the priorities and savings suggestions were addressed during the rest of the meeting. I’ll turn you loose on the reports online at this point (Oct 10) and you can draw your own conclusions. There were some important salary comparisons for non-certified staff (bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria, aides, etc), another interest of mine. I did have some comments about the reporting of our administrative salaries compared to other districts. Our administrative scales were used in the comparison, but they are not applied as one would assume in reality.

SO FAR, and it is very early and elections are coming, most Board members were in favor of holding employees harmless for a possible 15% increase in health insurance premiums, supporting current salary steps, and making some adjustments to Scale B.

We had another meeting the next day. It went pretty quick. I’ll try not to drag it out.

The superintendent presented two reports originally requested by Mr. Rittenhouse. The first was about buses and school vehicles. There was some discussion, mostly against reducing our three separate bus runs down to two, but I’d like the Board to consider it further, after input from bus drivers and others. The second report provided a description and cost of programs for disadvantaged students. US Flucos inspired some discussion. Mr. Rittenhouse remembered it as a $22,000 budget item a few years ago and this year it’s $98,875, mostly because a full time teacher is now included. When asked how many students are served by the program, principals reported 15-20 at the middle school and 350 (all 8^th grade, as I understood the reference) at FCHS.

Thanks again for reading. I hope it helps!

If you’d like to keep up with Fluco Blog, click the FOLLOW button near the very bottom right corner and enter your email address. It’s private and completely free. If you want to comment on a post, click Comment or Reply. You’ll be asked to provide a name and email address. If something hits too close to home and you want to be anonymous, DON’T GIVE YOUR REAL NAME ANYWHERE. Make something up. Do give your real email address, which will NOT show up with your comment. You might also be asked for a website, which is weird and not required. Your information is not leased or sold to anyone.

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.

10Sep2017

Goodbye Budget 2017 (Almost)

Posted in Budget, Compensation, Morale, Pay Scale, School Board, Vocational (CTE) by flucoblog

The Board met on Aug. 30th to talk about money left over from last year’s budget. There’s always some money left, but this year it was more than usual (essentially $1.2 million). You can check out the reasons why in the Aug. 30 packet online, but I’m just going to jump into other discussion.

The Board of Supervisors decides if we get to keep any left over money. So our first discussion was how much to ask for. Mr. Winkler was clear that all staff feedback he received was to ask for the entire $1.2 million. The consensus of the School Board was to ask for half, in recognition of both the educational needs of our students and the financial demands on our citizens.

Next we talked about what we would like to do if we get half the money. About $165,000 would go toward bills incurred in 2017 but paid in 2018. The superintendent also suggested funding cars and trucks, buses, technology, and radio repeaters. He presented a synopsis of recent staff compensation increases, averaging 2% in 2016 and 1.5% last year (I just found out the 1.1% I previously reported was for instructional salaries only, not all across the board). Mr. Winkler referred to questions from the BOS about the $400 staff bonus last year. I suggested putting that $400 in perspective by comparing it to the July 3^rd holiday we recently voted in for 12 mo. employees. Several of our administrators make $400 per day, so the bonus could be compared to one day’s work for some employees.

Regarding buses, it’s the superintendent’s goal to reach a 15 year replacement cycle. Some of our working buses are much older. I suggested we may need fewer buses if we change our current practice of separating students by school into three sometimes overlapping bus runs. Looking at the total transportation budget category on a per student basis, in 2013 (when diesel was about $4 per gallon) our cost per pupil was $639. Last year (with diesel only $2.50 per gallon) our costs per pupil were $826, an increase of almost $200 per student. I readily acknowledge that this expense may be worth the investment, or maybe we can get very similar results with only two route repetitions, rather than three. I asked that we consult our bus drivers about this issue before we ask our BOS for bus carryover funds.

I also suggested we use the funds to continue to address disparities between teachers’ salary scales A and B. I provided handouts referencing comments from the state School Efficiency Review (“One of the main components of employee morale and job satisfaction relies on a division having a compensation and pay plan that assures employees they are being treated equally in pay”) along with a comparison of Scale A next to Scale B. The steps on Scale B are always less than Scale A, for the same job at the same level of education and experience, and on seven of the steps the difference is over $5000/year.

When the rubber hit the road, we negotiated a consensus requesting the $165,000 to cover previous bills, $50,000 more for trucks/cars, $300,000 for new buses, $50,000 for 6 chromebook carts, and $75,000 to make adjustments to scale B. Fingers crossed.

One of my final comments was in anticipation of future discussion about the 2019 budget. I’m very hopeful that the process will begin with input from our staff about what we’re currently funding that we can live without, in order to re-prioritize some resources toward changing goals. That’s a lot of words, I know, but I’ll walk around the barn a few times to be as respectful as I possibly can.

Wait, wait. Don’t go. I also had my meeting with administration about student scores on Career and Technical Education (CTE) tests. Here’s my takeaway. Every student must pass a course in personal finance to graduate. It’s reported as a CTE class and obviously, has high pass rates. Likewise, every student must pass at least one CTE credential (test) to graduate. Most satisfy this requirement by passing a broad measure of workplace readiness skills. When it comes to the more specific credentials (tests) I associate with vocational training like carpentry, culinary arts, engineering, cosmetology, nursing, agriculture… often (not always) only a few students take classes long enough (past the beginning levels) to sit for the credentials test and then those few have varying degrees of success at passing the test. You can see those specifics in the July 26, 2017 school board packet.

Just a few more observations on CTE… when we last had auto mechanics, only 1-2 students took most of the credentialing tests each year. When we last offered an EMT course, 6 took the test and all failed, though firefighting was much more successful (5 took the test and almost all passed). Our last pharmacy tech, one took the test and failed. HVAC, one took the test, but passed.

There’s another school board meeting this Wednesday. I’ll get back to work!

If you’d like to keep up with Fluco Blog, click the FOLLOW button near the very bottom right corner and enter your email address. It’s private and completely free. If you want to comment on a post, click Comment or Reply. You’ll be asked to provide a name and email address. If something hits too close to home and you want to be anonymous,DON’T GIVE YOUR REAL NAME ANYWHERE. Make something up. Do give your real email address, which will NOT show up with your comment. You might also be asked for a website, which is weird and not required. Your information is not leased or sold to anyone.

30Jul2017

Morning Meeting #2

Posted in Administration, Budget, Compensation, Discipline, Pay Scale, School Board, Teacher Input by flucoblog

No votes were taken during July’s morning meeting #2. We discussed common School Board priorities and certain priorities specific to each Board member. Generally, Ms. Pace addressed the importance of meeting the emotional needs of children; Ms. Carr wants to strengthen technology, vocational education, and the gifted program; Mr. Rittenhouse wants to make sure our funds directly support students and quality staff; and I want teachers more extensively involved in decision making. (Teachers know their students and know their content, and I think we can improve instruction, discipline, assessment, budgeting -almost everything- by soliciting more input from the professionals who address all of these every day.)

There’s a long but pretty interesting report online with data about test scores. With Advanced Placement (AP) exams, 40% more students tested than last year, but our pass rate doesn’t look great compared to the state average. SOL scores are generally down, but all schools are still accredited. SAT statistics put us in line with the percentage of students who take the tests statewide -at 54%- and a little above the state average score in reading and math. There’s also a lot of information about Career and Technical Education (CTE) credentialing pass rates, which I need to talk over with an administrator before I spout out about (hehe) possibly incorrect conclusions here.

We heard some numbers I’m not sure made it online, about student discipline and teacher (maybe staff) attendance. To address discipline concerns the administration is considering expanding the PBIS program (Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports) from the elementary schools to middle and high school. Concerning attendance, student att’d is going down but still at about 95%. A real eye-opener (for me) were statistics on teacher attendance. Missing more than 10 days/yr is defined as chronically absent by the state, and the Board was told that 30%-40% of our teachers are chronically absent. The national average, according to the U.S. Dept. of Education, was 27% last year. Mr. Winkler doesn’t assume a problem with Fluvanna’s numbers, but will explore the issue.

We can’t have a meeting without talking budget, and salary comparisons are available among the online reports to start discussions for 2018-19. After seeing some of the administrative comparisons, I commented to the Board that while teachers’ experience generally equates to steps on the scale, our administrator scales carry the footnote that ‘experience may not necessarily equate to steps’. And, in fact, many of our administrators are contracted at a much higher rate than their steps would indicate by experience. I brought it up because, in my opinion, this situation makes comparing our administrative steps to others unreliable.

Finally, on another (short) note… a word about new staff for 2017-18. So far we’ve welcomed almost 40 new members. Of the new teachers, the three largest categories by instruction are special education (7), math (6), and CTE (Career and Tech Ed-3).

No more morning meetings in the foreseeable future, but you can join us at 6:30 on Wed, August 9 (or just look for my next post at some undetermined time after that). Thanks again for reading!

If you’d like to keep up with Fluco Blog, click the FOLLOW button near the very bottom right corner and enter your email address. It’s private and completely free. If you want to comment on a post, click Comment or Reply. You’ll be asked to provide a name and email address. If something hits too close to home and you want to be anonymous, DON’T GIVE YOUR REAL NAME ANYWHERE. Make something up. Do give your real email address, which will NOT show up with your comment. You might also be asked for a website, which is weird and not required. Your information is not leased or sold to anyone.

9Feb2017

I Did It Again

Posted in Budget, Compensation, Pay Scale, School Board by flucoblog

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…

My last post was way too long because (I’m going with) I combined 3 meetings into one report. Well, I did it again, this time because (I’m going with) we had 3 meetings in 8 days, and nobody wants to hear from me THAT much.

On Feb. 1 the Board met for a budget work session and a public hearing on qualifications of a superintendent. The one person who spoke at the public hearing was in support of naming Mr. Winkler our next superintendent. The work session took a little longer.

You can see the interim superintendent’s latest budget proposal online. It’s about the same as I reported in my previous post. (I can’t help but brag that I just deleted a whole paragraph spouting the almost identical information.) One big change is that our health insurance rates will actually go down, a huge relief, so our new revenue request of the county will be closer to $500,000 (not $800,000) above last year’s allocation.

There was a lot of discussion (again) about our two teacher salary scales, particularly Scale B. I asked for (and several other school board members supported) a salary committee, including teachers, to look at Scale B in the future. I gave my (now familiar) opinion that we should reverse the trend of the scale that improves very little for the first 20 years and then speeds up the next 10. I cited (again) the School Efficiency Review which supports front-loading teacher scales. I repeated my goal of funding improvements to Scale B by re-prioritizing some of our current expenses, not by increasing the tax burden on our community.

Our next meeting was Feb. 7 and after a long closed session, we discussed the qualifications of our next superintendent. I pressed for a requirement that all candidates have some kind of public school teaching experience (they’ll be making decisions about teaching methods, programs, schedules, compensation, and evaluation) and that our chosen candidate agrees to live in Fluvanna. The Virginia School Boards Association also recommended this qualification when they met with us last month, pointing out that this may be the highest paid position in the county and it’s key that all candidates are willing to spend their time and money in the community that pays them. The Board chose to make these preferred, rather than required, qualifications.

Finally, meeting no.3 was just last night. There were a few last-minute changes to our budget presentation for the Board of Supervisors (Feb. 15). One future proposal (for 2019) was to allocate almost $1 million to include auto mechanics in our vocational program. At a previous meeting I wondered about this as a budget priority. The new presentation still includes the addition, but transfers some of the cost to the capital improvement plan.

When we voted on the budget, Mr. Rittenhouse and I voted against its approval. My comments mirrored my opinion of last year. The percentage of our total budget spent on the instructional category has gone down almost every year from 78% in 2010 to this budget’s 73.3%. I understand reporting requirements can change, but none of our other categories appear to trend consistently downward as instruction does. Also, about the same time that we had 78% of our budget in the instructional category, we spent 86% of our money on people. Now we spend 80-82% on people. I said I’d like to see a budget that allocates a greater percentage of available funds to instruction and staff. Mr. Rittenhouse said he’d like to see more money go to the classroom and less to administration.

Another long post. I’m going to hear about it. At least it was fascinating!

If you’d like to keep up with Fluco Blog, click the FOLLOW button near the very bottom right corner and enter your email address. It’s private and completely free. If you want to comment on a post, click Comment or Reply. You’ll be asked to provide a name and email address. If something hits too close to home and you want to be anonymous, DON’T GIVE YOUR REAL NAME ANYWHERE. Make something up. Do give your real email address, which will NOT show up with your comment. You might also be asked for a website, which is weird and not required. Your information is not leased or sold to anyone.

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Category Archives: Pay Scale

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