Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 14, 1995 TAG: 9503140150
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bowers banged the gavel, called a recess and walked out during a statement by Councilman Mac McCadden - the fourth person on the seven-member council who voiced objections to the mayor's proposal.
"I think that's very unfair, mayor. I think that's very unfair," McCadden said as Bowers exited through a door that leads to his office.
After a few minutes of head-shaking and puzzled looks by council members, Bowers returned to the chambers and asked that the proposal be withdrawn.
He said later that he had a headache, that he was surprised by council's opposition, and that "I thought it was appropriate for me to recollect my thoughts on the matter and regain my composure."
At issue was a letter Bowers sent council last week that called for city-county cooperation to end see-sawing teacher salaries that leave the two jurisdictions competing with each other for talent.
In the letter, Bowers called for equal salaries and asked the council to endorse his request and send it on to the School Board for consideration during a joint council-School Board budget meeting in May.
The letter originally was listed on council's consent agenda - routine matters that rarely generate controversy.
Items on the consent agenda almost always are taken up together and receive unanimous approval. But Councilwoman Linda Wyatt asked that Bowers' letter be removed.
Wyatt, a city schoolteacher, then launched into a prepared speech in which she lambasted previous city school administrations for giving short shrift to teachers' salaries and said she had "real concerns" about the mayor's request.
Wyatt said she'd rather have council adopt "some goal to try to make our salaries reach the national average." Average teacher pay in both jurisdictions is below that level.
The city School Board last Tuesday recommended raises for teachers to near-equal levels with the county. But a county salary committee on Thursday recommended more raises that would keep county teachers ahead of the city.
Roanoke County pays its starting teachers $25,937, or $737 more per year than the city. But city teachers with 20 years' experience earn $36,988, or $1,398 more than 20-year county teachers.
"Under previous school administrations, and I mean previous administrations, there was a great deal of effort put into upper-level administrators' salaries, experimental programs and building renovation,'' Wyatt said.
"That put teachers' salaries - and other school employees' salaries - very low on the list of priorities," she said.
Councilman William White said he thought sending the letter to the School Board would be a case of council "overstepping its bounds."
"I think we're in the wrong field right now. I think we have a School Board that's capable of dealing with it," White said.
McCadden then suggested that the mayor personally send the letter to the School Board.
But Bowers pressed on, arguing that the city often hires teachers only to see them leave for the county a few years later.
"To me, that's the worst kind of education," Bowers said.
After McCadden again challenged the mayor, Bowers picked up the gavel, banged it down and left the room.
"I had the floor, and I was speaking. He gave me the floor," McCadden said after the meeting adjourned. He said he'd never seen Bowers walk out on council before.
"I didn't anticipate the comments of council," Bowers said later. "And for that reason, it just caught me by surprise."
After the dispute over salaries, council also rejected by a 5-2 vote a separate request by the mayor to extend the deadline for taking applications for two upcoming vacancies on the School Board.
The deadline originally was last Friday. On Thursday, Bowers asked that it be extended to March 24 because up to that point, only two people had applied.
They were current board Chairman Nelson Harris, whose term expires June 30, and Total Action Against Poverty employee Martin Jeffrey. A third application later came in from Melinda Payne, an employee of the Roanoke Times & World-News.
Council initially approved the extension on a 4-3 vote, with Wyatt, Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles and Vice Mayor John Edwards opposing it. But because the resolution was an emergency measure, five votes were needed to pass it. Without a fifth vote, it wouldn't become effective until April 6, two weeks after the new deadline.
The resolution came up for a second vote. When it became apparent that none of the opponents would change sides, White and McCadden switched and opposed it. McCadden later said he thought extending the deadline was "too cumbersome a process" if it couldn't take effect immediately.
"There's no need to delay the situation when we have three qualified candidates," he said.
by CNB