School Board might revamp vision
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By Rhonda Simmons
Published: August 24, 2008
A lot of decisions the Culpeper County School Board has made lately have come under fire.
When it decided to open the county’s schools on Aug. 20 instead of after Labor Day — like the nearly 860 constituents who signed the 2008-09 proposed school calendar petition last fall suggested — parents sent angry e-mails and called board members to share their disappointment.
When the board voted to mutually part ways with former Superintendent David Cox in June — after seven years of service, parents shared their opposing views with School Board members during public meetings and letters to the editor.
When the board announced that it couldn’t afford raises for its employees this year, a group of Culpeper County Education Association members — including teachers and parents — led a march on Aug. 11 from Culpeper Baptist Church to the County Administration building to convey their frustration to the board.
The recent public backlash has forced the board to discuss employing a facilitator to assist in developing a division-wide vision.
Merriam-Webster describes a facilitator as a person who brings about an “outcome by providing indirect or unobtrusive assistance, guidance or supervision.”
The board will talk about this issue during its regular work session meeting tonight at 6:45.
The School Board’s existing vision is “To become the highest-performing school division in the Virginia School Board Association’s Central Region,” according to the school system’s Web site.
School Board Chair George Dasher said the board discussed the idea of hiring a facilitator during its two-day summer retreat.
“I think every organization needs to have a vision,” Dasher said. “It becomes a question of (whether to) involve people from the outside of the inner circle.”
However, the question remains if the school division has enough funds to support another position during this slowing economy.
Dasher’s not so sure it does at this point.
During the work session, the board will also receive construction updates on Eastern View High and Yowell Elementary schools from Construction Projects Manager Hunter Spencer.
Rhonda Simmons can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 125 or .
Want to go?
What: School Board work
session
Where: Central Office, 450 Radio Lane inside the Colin Owens Conference Room
When: Tonight at 6:45 p.m.
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( grjones ) on September 02, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Forgive my reiteration.
Reasonable, my point was if the new school board didn’t have the money to raise salaries, etc., then they didn’t have the money to fire Mr. Cox. Evidently they felt it was more important to further their political agenda than it was to bolster the school system. And don’t tell me that firing Mr. Cox bolstered the school system. “That dog do’t hunt” because if it were true they would have found cause. That’s the bone of contention.
Does that help?
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Posted by ( grjones ) on September 02, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Reasonable,
I can’t really tell if you are trying to confuse the issue beyond all comprehension or you simply don’t have a grasp of the situation.
Timeline:
1)Cox negotiates contract to include 4 years pay if he is fired without cause.
2) New school board claims budget disallows paying teachers’ raises or even standard base pays.
3)New school board chooses to fire Cox without cause resulting in paying his salary and another superintendent (raises asst. super’s salary 28% + $6,000/ yr travel expenses). Costs taxpayer $500,000+.
4) Schools without complete construction and begin year without adequate staff or even activity buses and other necessities.
If they didn’t have the money for raises or completion of school projects, why did they fire Cox without cause?
You also appear obsessed with my motivation: I’ve said it before I’m just tired of seeing incompetence or selfish political interests costing everyday people their taxes and their chidren’s quality education, and having teachers kicked in the teeth for not solving every ill society imposes without being given the personal or professional resources to cure those ills. If you can’t comprehend that kind of altruism there’s nothing I can do for you. Your problem is you don’t know anyone who does things without some self-serving personal agenda. So anyone who tries to point up major mishandling of public resources and insists upon reparation must have some hidden purpose. You attack me instead of those doing the real harm.
Your school board and probably your county board behind it screwed up and now they’re trying to weasel out of it without apology and without correction. That’s “childish and unproductive.“
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Posted by ( Reasonable ) on September 02, 2008 at 9:08 am
Mr. Jones- It is an oxymoron to say take the money from the teachers and give it to the teachers. It appears you have such a cross to bear, you have lost your ability to use common sense. When the money was there, it was not used as it was originally intended and now there is a price to pay. It seems it does not take much for you to be “appalled.“ It is your misinformation and continued position as a self proclaimed “town crier” that perpetuates continued misinformation about the current School Board and their efforts. To praise them when they are giving out the money and bash them when they see the need to reduce costs is similar to the parent child relationship- especially during the teen years. “Oh you are such a good mom and dad, thanks for the new car and the new clothes and the new laptop.“ To “what do you mean you will not buy me a new iphone. I have to have a new iphone to live!! I HATE you!!!“ Sound familiar? The fact is we are all adults and name calling and finger pointing gets us nowhere. So tighten your bootstraps and be a team player and work towards a solution. To continue, to bash the current School Board is childish and not productive. And have you been to the county seat in Orange to see if they have a School Board position for you there?
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Posted by ( grjones ) on September 01, 2008 at 9:54 am
Reasonable,
“... where would the money have come from?“ Where did the money come from to pay two supervisors and their transportation costs? Easy, you take away teacher raises,reduce starting salaries, reduce staff, cut activity bus budgets which of course eliminates after school activities, don’t complete your school construction projects, and cut every corner possible in the education of your children. All because it’s more important to serve your political interests than see to the needs of your children. Reasonable, we didn’t “just get off the bus.“
I am really appalled that you could suggest that the present shortfall is the fault of David Cox. That kind of propagandistic misinformation is the garbage that should make us all nauseated.
And to think those poor board members scarificed their own raises to achieve all this. Don’t think so.
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Posted by ( Reasonable ) on August 29, 2008 at 1:07 pm
It seems with all of the highly intelligent people in the current administration, that the admin staff could help the SB come up with an appropriate misson, vision and goals statement. There are many very smart people already being paid. For those who blame the School Board for no money, everyone seems to forget that five out of seven of those households have teacher salaries. Yes, the decision had an effect on thier very own households. It would only make sense that this decision was made based on the mistakes of the past. If they had voted on a raise, where would the money have come from? The people on the Board are just people like the rest of us who only have the information that is given to them. As far as the current vision misson and goals, were they not implemented under David Cox? Seems pointless to ask for his input when his input contributed to the mess we are current in at this time.
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Posted by ( culpeper ) on August 27, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I guess we can’t afford to give raises when we’re paying for two superintendents for the next few years, opening schools without cafeterias, and numerous other amounts of foolishness.
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Posted by ( tls ) on August 27, 2008 at 6:29 am
Lower cost alternative: Survey Monkey ($200 per year) or SNAP to gather data from all administrators, teachers, parents, etc., for INPUT on their vision for Culpeper County’s students. Then the paid administrators should analyze the data and present their findings to the public for their input/vote. FYI…SNAP includes Questionnaire design, publication, data collection and analysis for paper, phone, web and e-mail surveys all for the low price of $1,995.
I can’t believe the School Board thinks it should hire a consultant for such a simple task. I know this may be something new for the board - actually involving others. The citizens of Culpeper are obviously getting tired of the Good Ol Boy system.
Most of the comments posted show support for our teachers, I find it appauling that Culpeper County couldn’t give it’s teachers a raise this year; pay more for insurance premiums, and oh yea work an extra 1/2 hour a day - this needs to be corrected ASAP.
FYI…we know the game withhold services and no raises for teachers in hope that the public will come before the board(s)demanding those services/raises and oh yea Board go ahead raise our taxes - NOT!
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Posted by ( grjones ) on August 26, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Excuse me on my earlier post I meant to say “One might also ask if Mr. Dale’s name might not be at the top of that list of facilitators.“ The plot thickens.
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Posted by ( 7bacon7 ) on August 25, 2008 at 9:20 pm
What makes you think they will listen to a facilitor? They haven’t listened to the community. This is just another way to take money away from where it needs to be…paying for our teachers and maintaining our schools to ensure a quality education for our children.
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Posted by ( astounded ) on August 25, 2008 at 8:40 pm
The hits just keep on coming. Maybe we could get Michele Rhees to come out to Culpeper. She would find a way to get rid of all the non-performers- adminstration and teachers. As she herself says it’s the quality of the teachers that will make or break the system. We will NEVER get or keep any quality teachers in Culpeper unless we pay them. That’s the simple fact.
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