Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 9, 1995                   TAG: 9511090031
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

TEACHERS HOPE FOR LESS TENSION WITH NEW SCHOOL BOARD

On Wednesday, as they studied the slate of new board members, they expressed hope for a future with less tension and more cooperation than in years past.

The new "members will listen to our concerns and give us the respect professionally to move forward," said B.J. Mullins, a kindergarten teacher at Kipps Elementary School. "We'll be working as a team, and that's the way we should have been all along."

Mullins, a former Montgomery County Education Association president, heads the association's political action committee. The PAC campaigned for the four winning candidates, contributing $300 to each campaign, conducting workshops and providing volunteer help for mailings and telephone banks.

The winners - Bernard Jortner in District B, Mike Smith in District E, Jim Klagge in District F and Wat Hopkins in District G - used that support to cover neighborhoods with signs and fill mailboxes with pamphlets.

"I had support from a wide range of people, but I think [the PAC's support] definitely helped," said Klagge, a Virginia Tech philosophy professor who easily defeated incumbent Dick Edwards.

Klagge said the results indicate that people want the School Board to be more in touch with the community and more aware of employee morale.

"I hope [the results] send a message to teachers that their work is respected and they are appreciated," he said Wednesday.

Whether or not the teachers' support swayed the vote, a survey the county education association released recently showed their desire for a new relationship with the board.

The National Education Association's climate survey, distributed by the group last spring, varied greatly in content from last year's climate survey conducted by Wayne Worner, dean of Virginia Tech's College of Education. While it's difficult to compare the two surveys, the results are similar when it comes to employee dissatisfaction with school system administrators.

In the 1994 survey, employees gave teachers and principals a B+; the School Board received a C-; and Superintendent Herman Bartlett received a D+. In this year's study, some of the lowest scores pertained to relationships with the School Board and superintendent.

Three-fourths of the 800 surveys were returned. Questions covered such topics as cooperation levels among teachers; quality of school facilities; and the amount of support received from principals, the School Board and the superintendent.

Teachers ranked their relationships with the superintendent and School Board at 2.3 on a scale of 1 to 4.

They said they wanted to be more involved in setting policy.

Karen Trear, association president, said the results prove that teacher morale has not improved in the last year.

Conditions will improve only with a new attitude, with administrators and employees working as a team using two-way communication and mutual respect, she said.

"It has to get better," Trear said Wednesday. "We are at our low, and the only place we can go is up. [The election results] mean it will get better for building administrators, teachers" and support staff.

Smith, the new District E representative, said he sees his selection to the board as a chance to improve the relationship between the superintendent and teachers.

"We have to work with [Superintendent] Bartlett to get him to understand what problems people have so that they can trust him," he said.

"This is not a new slate. It's an old slate that has a new beginning."