Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 9, 1995 TAG: 9503090058
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
School administrators have been working on the Montgomery County Six-Year Plan for more than two years.
But on Tuesday, board member Peggy Arrington thought the plan needed more emphasis on technology and member Barry Worth wanted to take out funding for the International Baccalaureate program, an intensive college-bound high school curriculum.
The board passed those two amendments to the plan by a 5-4 vote, but then failed to approve the entire plan, 4-5.
Board member Dick Edwards cast the swing vote.
"Frankly, I got lost in all the verbage," Edwards said Wednesday. "This was a negative, negative vote in terms of the procedure because I thought it was flawed. We were now trying to approve a Six-Year Plan after we had already approved the budget."
New initiatives contained in the 1995-1996 school budget - including funding for technology and the International Baccalaureate program - are based on the Six-Year Plan. Edwards and board member David Moore have argued since December that the board is doing things backward.
"If it had been the proper sequence of events, we would've had the Six-Year Plan approved before the budget," Moore said.
After a sometimes heated discussion, the board came up with a final version of the Six-Year Plan and passed it, 7-2. Barry Worth and David Moore voted against the plan, which provides funding for the International Baccalaureate program next year, but no funding in the 1996-1997 year.
"I don't know what happened [at the meeting]," said board member Bob Goncz. "I was in the trees and I couldn't tell you where the forest was. There had to be a lack of communication between us and there must have been a break down somewhere there."
Goncz said he expects next year's process to be smoother.
"We've been saying all along we're going through a transition," he said.
The Montgomery County Six-Year Plan is based on the recommendations from the Focus 2006 Planning Commission, a community-wide group that set goals for the school system to be accomplished by the year 2006. It contains six goals:
Reduce pupil-teacher ratio.
Enhance curriculum and instruction.
Increase funding for support programs (this includes at-risk children, preschoolers, adult education and counseling services).
Maintain an adequate and safe environment for students.
Equalize access to learning opportunities for all students.
Provide additional staff development, increase parental involvement and improve communications.
Superintendent Herman Bartlett said the Six-Year Plan will be the "major plan for the school division," incorporating plans for the gifted, special education, vocational education and other programs.
"What you will have hopefully is one plan with all the plans in it," he said.
The estimated cost for implementing the Six-Year Plan is $2.5 million for the 1995-1996 school year. By the year 2000, school planners estimate a budget increase of $11.2 million.
The Six-Year Plan is required of every school system in the state, and will help guide growth and changes within the county. Although the goals are broad, Bartlett said they will be revised every two years to accommodate the school systems' ever-changing needs.
"Once we can get it implemented and then begin the biennial plans, we will see that it gets very very specific," Bartlett said. Furthermore, he said, it will establish a vision for the school system.
"If you don't have a vision and you don't have a focus for the school division, then you will tend to run in circles," Bartlett said.
by CNB