From Montgomery County:
Dear Staff and Families,
Temperatures have continued to fluctuate and have now dropped to a dangerously low level. Given the majority of schools were originally scheduled for an early release, we will not be able to accommodate a delayed scheduled. Therefore, Montgomery County Public Schools will be closed Friday, January 16, 2009.
Montgomery County school administration has identified a little more than $4 million in cuts -- either through reduction of programs or staff members leaving or being reassigned -- that could trim its 2009-2010 budget.
In all, they identified $4,082,272 in cuts. It's about $126,000 more than the target set by Gov. Tim Kaine's proposed budget cuts.
The early budget adjustments call for losing 16 secondary teachers and 12 elementary teachers, but the board said it doesn't plan for layoffs. Instead, they expect to leave positions vacant once people leave the system or retire.
At a work session on Tuesday, board members heard about further early plans that, if approved, would:
Five Pulaski County schools top the list of the most polluted schools in the state, according to a special report from USA Today.
Newbern and Dublin elementaries, Pulaski High and Middle and the Southwest Virginia Governor's School each is listed among the top 10 most polluted. Other nearby schools on the list include McHarg Elementary in Radford City and Belview Elementary in Montgomery County.
And, Just 174 other schools nationally have a worse outside air quality than Newbern, the study showed.
The newspaper used a model from the Environmental Protection Agency to track the highest industrial pollution. Data indicated that the air outside Newbern had one of the highest levels of dangerous toxic chemicals, most of which have never been tested for their effects on children.
A University of Virginia study has found that as much as $17 million in state money given to public education could have been misallocated because of incorrect student census reporting.
State law says that 1.125 percent of tax and sales receipts are supposed to be given to school districts based on the number of students they have.
Most school districts report that data based on a survey done every three years. In a mailing this summer, residents in Montgomery County were asked to identify the number of school-aged children they had.
Researchers at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at UVa. compared their own population estimates with the 2005 census figures reported by 98 of the state's 132 school divisions -- including Giles, Floyd and Pulaski counties -- and found that the way the data is culled varies widely.
Researches excluded localities with colleges, including Montgomery County and Radford City.
The third options they explore is to appoint their center to provide annual estimates of the school-age population using annual population and other estimates.
Using that formula, some New River Valley school districts would receive more state dollars, but others would dip a bit.
Floyd County reported 2,517 students and received about $1.9 million, whereas the researchers found the county had 2,907 students and should have received about $2.1 million. Giles County schools offiicials would get $2.287,710 for the 3,107 students as opposed to $2.3 for 3,074 students. In Pulaski, schools would get $4.3 million for 5.959 students under the school's study. It received $4.5 million for 5,905 students, according to the traditional method.
"By comparing our population estimates with the counts reported by the school divisions, we found that four school divisions counted accurately, 27 reported too many children (and thus got too much money) and 67 reported too few children (getting too little money)," said researcher Susan Perrone said. "Martinsville reported 575 more children than we would have expected, and Portsmouth reported 5,072 too few. As a result of under- and over-counting across the state, the amount allocated ranged from $582 to $928 per child.”
The study has been handed to school leaders and is expected to be given to state lawmakers, the Associated Press said.
It's the ultimate gift, and it even came before the holiday season.
Lisa Radford, the administrative assistant for Montgomery County's Superintendent Tiffany Anderson, wrote a children's book for her three grandchildren, Shauna, Garrett and Kylie.
Radford used publisher Authorworks to get the book, "God's Great Creations" out. So far, she's sold about 150 copies, but said it's more important that her three grandkids, ages 5, 3 and 1, have something from her.
Radford lives in Floyd, and is working toward becoming a teacher.
Kindergartners would start learning about fractions and count to 100, while fifth-graders would start working on linear equations, according to proposed changes to Virginia's Math Standards of Learning.
The state's Board of Education is looking for comments on the revisions. On Monday, a public hearing is scheduled at Pulaski High School. It starts at 7 p.m.
Right now, the state has no timeline for when the changes would come forth.
Roanoke contractor Branch and Associates will build the new consolidated elementary school in Elliston.
The Montgomery County school board chose the firm after hearing it was the lowest bid at a little more than $18 million. It was one of five bids received.
Assistant Superintendent Walt Shannon said documents should be signed by Dec. 1, with working beginning soon after. The school is expected to be complete by 2010.
The contractors also built Christiansburg and Blacksburg middle school.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office expects to charge a juvenile in connection with the fire this morning at Christiansburg Middle school, according to Lt. Brian Wright.
Deputies responded to a small fire there this at 11:17 a.m. However, before the sheriff's office arrived on the scene, at least three fire trucks and two Christiansburg police officers were on the scene. The exact time the fire broke out is unknown, Wright said.
Wright said a bunch of papers caught fire in a conference room. Students nearby the conference room on the second floor were sent from their classes, but the school was not evacuated. The students, and their teachers, waited at the bottom of the stairs as investigators looked into the fire.
Superintendent Tiffany Anderson sent an e-mail to parents and staff shortly after the fire saying that the school had been evacuated. Teachers stopped by the school's main office asking secretaries about the e-mail.
In an e-mail to the school system's listserve after noon, Anderson said, "There was a small fire that was immediately extinguished by a staff member in a teacher conference room today. Students on the second floor in the wing closest to the conference room were evacuated from their classrooms although the fire had already been extinguished."
Wright could not confirm that the juvenile suspected was a student at the school.
He said the heavy response was typical for any incident at a school "because of the potential victims."
According to research from the University of Chicago (which, as a side note, is well known for its education research), special education teachers are in the top 10 of happiest jobs.
The teachers are No. 5 on a list of jobs in the ""Job Satisfaction in the United States" study that's been smattered in the news today. As far as I can tell, the study is about a year old, though.
Either way, here's what they have to say:
Special education teachers
Job Description: Teach school subjects to educationally and physically handicapped students.
Very happy: 52.6%
Median salary (preschool, kindergarten or elementary school): $41,344
Median salary (secondary school): $43,060
This seems to fly in the face of local concerns that have special education teachers over their workloads and pay.
So, special education teachers, set the record straight.
Are you happy with your jobs? What makes it great, and what leaves something to be desired?
Shortly after reading the story in today's paper about Roanoke students discussing what Barack Obama should focus on, I ran across this.
It's a report on at least one school district in Colorado that asked its teachers to stay mum on politics, and steer from supporting candidates' campaigns.
It made me think about all the times I saw Montgomery school board members Penny Franklin and Phyllis Albritton sporting Obama badges and the number of mock elections held at schools across the valley. Teachers I talked to there said the election was, and will continue to be, a teaching tool for them.
And, I suspect, with the inaguration coming right after the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (as a friend pointed out) and Black History Month the following month, lessons will abound.
What do you think? Teachers, what discussions or lessons are you having in class? Parents, what does the election mean for dinner time topics?
Welcome to Chalk Dust! This is your community aimed at exploring education in the New River Valley. I'm Anna Mallory. I went to public schools in West Virginia and now I cover PreK-12 education for the Roanoke Times.
I read way too many reports about improving schools and can speak in entire sentences using educational acronyms. I'll be letting you know about issues and events affecting your children, schools and tax dollars, but, more importantly, I want to know what you think. Let me know your opinions about issues in the boardroom, classroom and beyond.
