Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994 TAG: 9407070089
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The School Board, with all but Vice Chairman Bob Goncz present, unanimously awarded Superintendent Herman Bartlett a 21/2 percent raise, the same increase given all school and county employees.
Bartlett will now be paid $82,000 a year. When the Montgomery School Board hired him from a Richmond suburb last year, the Galax native received a 23 percent salary boost.
Bartlett, who finishes his first year as Montgomery's superintendent later this month, has come under fire from teachers, parents and students for everything from a perceived lack of support for the Focus 2006 long-range planning goals to comments he made before a student government panel earlier this month.
On the other hand, Bartlett also has his supporters among parents and School Board members.
The 50-year-old superintendent, who headed Craig County's schools for four years before his eight-year tenure in Colonial Heights, stood by his record Monday, pointing out the School Board hired him with three areas in mind: budgeting, developing a long-range plan for the division and implementing site-based management at the county's schools.
"I think I've been extremely successful," Bartlett said Monday.
Unlike Bartlett's mid.year review, which dragged across several weeks last winter, the board began and finished this evaluation in a single executive session, School Board Chairman Roy Vickers said. Goncz missed the review because of an illness in his family.
The School Board is still scheduled to take up a climate survey of school staff attitudes toward the superintendent and board at a July retreat. The 450 teachers, 16 principals and 16 central office employees who responded to the survey gave Bartlett a D+ (on a grading scale of A to F) and the School Board a C-. Two years ago, a similar survey gave former Superintendent Harold Dodge a C and the School Board a C+.
The School Board also must review Bartlett's employment in September "to determine whether to extend the contract for an additional year," according to his Feb. 27, 1993, employment agreement.
Bartlett was the third choice for the job when hired for the three-year contract. The School Board hired him with one dissenting vote, from Blacksburg-area member Annette Perkins. While relations with some constituencies within the school division soured earlier this year, Bartlett has continued to enjoy the support of at least a majority of the nine-member School Board.
That equation is not expected to change significantly with Peggy Arrington replacing Don Lacy in District G and another, yet-to-be named appointee replacing Virginia Kennedy in District F. Lacy is leaving the board after two terms; Kennedy is resigning because she is moving from the area.
The first School Board elections, which county voters overwhelmingly approved of last fall, will be held in November 1995 for seats representing districts B, E, F and G.
Bartlett's contract, which the School Board also must review in September 1995, will expire six months after the first elected members take office in January 1996.
by CNB