Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 4, 1994 TAG: 9410050046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
His comments were included on a videotape of the meeting that Gary Waldo, executive director of the Roanoke Education Association, released to reporters Monday.
In that meeting, held shortly before consultants began a study of the program, Harris said he was not saying that anyone who lacked a teaching certificate would be fired immediately.
Harris said he would try to work something out with the alternative-education staff, but he declined to to be specific.
But the superintendent said the teachers would not be given two or three years to get a valid teacher's certificate, as some have claimed.
Waldo disclosed the existence of the tape last month but would not say where he obtained it.
Waldo and several former teachers in the alternative-education program wanted to show the tape to the School Board last month, but the board declined.
The teachers said the tape showed Harris promising the staff members that they would keep their jobs, but Harris denied he ever made such a promise.
In the past two weeks, Waldo again offered to show the tape to the board, but it refused again.
The tape doesn't resolve the dispute definitively.
While it supports staff members' assertion that Harris indicated cooperation with them, it also bolsters Harris' claim that he never explicitly promised staff members that they would keep their jobs.
During the meeting, Harris stressed repeatedly that the alternative-education program would be staffed only with certified teachers.
"We must have certified teachers, and I know this is something that has been discussed with you in the past," he told the group.
In many school systems, they would not have been hired without having a teaching certificate, Harris said.
Harris said he was going to hold the alternative-education staff to the same standards as the rest of the school system.
"I don't play games. I am here to help you. Let's put everything out on the table," he said. He expressed appreciation for the staff and its work.
Harris said he was aware that alternative education had become a dumping ground for troubled youths. He urged the staff to help develop guidelines to determine when students should be transferred to the program.
Only 12 of the 29 staff members were retained after the consultants' report recommended restructuring the alternative-education program. Most of those who were not rehired lacked teaching certificates. The report said the program had been mismanaged and failed to comply with the school system's policies to keep proper records and to use mostly certified teachers.
Several former teachers have asked the School Board to help them get back their jobs, but most board members have said they support Harris' actions.
Since the consultants finished their study, Harris has restructured the program, hired a new administrator and upgraded the staff by hiring only certified teachers. George Franklin, a former director, was not rehired.
The city also will move the alternative-education program from the Addison Magnet Middle School to the Valley Court Mall at Interstate 581 and Hershberger Road near Roanoke Regional Airport.
by CNB