Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990 TAG: 9004130618
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Burns said some teachers will probably resign by the end of the school year, creating openings for the academic teachers being laid off. "They will be the first people back if the openings occur," Burns said.
But the seven vocational teachers losing their jobs will not be rehired, Burns said, because they are not endorsed in other areas, and some do not have college degrees.
Earlier, Burns had said 20 positions needed to be eliminated at Pulaski County High because of tight finances and declining enrollment.
The high school expects 1,812 students this fall - about 500 fewer than were enrolled three years ago. The school system has lost 1,200 students over the past five years.
"We've made tremendous progress moving from the possibility of 20 positions down to 15," Burns said at the meeting. Three of the 15 teachers were hired for just this year, and were told from the outset that their jobs would not be guaranteed next year, personnel director Doris Dawson said.
Dawson said 10 teachers are being transferred to a different department or school in an effort to avoid making further cuts.
The transfers have caused a "great deal of discomfort among teachers, but it's all in an effort to make room for people to stay and not lose jobs," said Don Skeen, vice president of the Pulaski County Education Association.
"The worst is over for this year, but I don't know if the worst is over," said Skeen.
One vocational teacher with an endorsement in history was transferred to the high school's social studies department.
And a physical education teacher with an endorsement in library science was hired as the new librarian for Snowville, Draper and Newbern elementary schools. The job was created to fulfill a requirement of the state Department of Education.
Teachers of math, science and language arts at the high school are being laid off. Pulaski Middle School will lose a social studies teacher and Dublin Middle School a physical education teacher.
The high school's electronics teacher, two marketing teachers, two business teachers, a service occupations teacher and an agriculture teacher also are being laid off.
Two physical education positions needed to be cut at the high school, Dawson said. One teacher with greater seniority was transferred to Dublin Middle School to fill the job of a teacher who's been there for one year.
The board followed its new termination policy, which states it will first make job cuts through voluntary retirements, resignations or transfers.
The policy says the board will use the following criteria to determine who will be laid off: first and most important, the area or areas of certification and endorsement, and second, seniority.
Also at the meeting, the board:
Unanimously approved its final $22.9 million budget for 1990-91. The budget calls for $6.2 million in county funds, or 4.7 percent more than it received this year.
Unanimously agreed to expell a Pulaski Middle School student with an "eight-year history of all kinds of behavioral and attitudinal problems," Burns said. The student is eligible to re-enter in summer school or next year.
Unanimously agreed to join the newly formed Coalition for Equity, a group working to correct disparities in education spending. The state leadership "pretty well knows that the time to put us off is through," Burns said of himself and leaders of other poor school systems. Legislators in Southwest Virginia are deeply concerned but don't have enough votes to solve the problem in the General Assembly, he said. "That's why the courts have to do it," he said, referring to a possible lawsuit to be filed against the state.
by CNB