FLOYD COUNTY'S TEACHERS SEEKING 10 PERCENT RAISE

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

DATE: TUESDAY, January 14, 1992                   TAG: 9201140196
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY
DATELINE: FLOYD                                LENGTH: Medium
FLOYD COUNTY'S TEACHERS SEEKING 10 PERCENT RAISE
Teachers in Floyd County want more money, more insurance and more free time.
Those were the three requests made by the Floyd County Education Association as it made its compensation proposal for the 1992-93 school year to the county School Board Monday.
The teachers asked for a 10 percent increase in salary, which would include placing them on the correct experience step in the pay-scale after salaries were frozen for this school year.
They asked the School Board to pay the full premium for individual medical insurance. And they asked that elementary teachers be given a 30-minute duty-free planning period during the school day.
About 35 teachers gathered in the Floyd County High School library to hear the proposal - and the School Board's reaction to it.
"We're starting to see the signs of teacher despair," said Mike Sowder, co-chairman of the association's compensation committee and a teacher at Floyd Elementary.
"We didn't have as many teachers fill out the [compensation] survey as did last year. And those who did didn't ask for as much as they did for this year. Plus, morale was low at the beginning of the school year. Usually its not that way until April or May after nearly a full school year."
Floyd County is one of only three school divisions in state with a starting salary of less than $20,000. And it pays half of the single subscriber rate for health insurance.
The School Board expressed sympathy with the education association, but cautioned that it probably would not be able to pay for everything the teachers' group requested.
"We'll ask for what we feel is appropriate," said board Chairman Bill Munzing. "But what we get will probably be somewhere between what we need and what we have now."
In other business, the board:

Decided to seek $390,000 for site improvements through the Virginia Public School Authority's spring bond sale. The money would be used to build a field house ($240,000) as well as site and parking improvements at the four elementary schools ($25,000 each) and the high school ($50,000).
The Board of Supervisors must approve the projects before the money can be sought. Superintendent Omar Ross and School Board member Doug Phillips will meet with the supervisors at their Jan. 21 meeting.
Phillips said the new athletic facility should be built because it could be used to help separate the eighth-graders from the older high school students.
The School Board scheduled a special meeting for Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. to discuss the improvement projects further.

Heard from Ross the school system would receive about $161,000 in new state money in 1992-93. However, he cautioned that it would have to be spread very thin.
"We've got to spend that on salaries, increases in personnel, busses, and hospitalization insurance," said Ross.

Announced that Willis Elementary Principal Janet Peak had asked for reassignment for next year. Peak has asked to teach math at the high school.

Appointed Mary White and Board of Supervisors Chairman Howard Dickerson to the Vocational Advisory Committee.

Set the February meeting to one week later than normal, Feb. 17 at 1 p.m.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB