Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 19, 1995 TAG: 9509190021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The board will decide whether to extend Superintendent Herman Bartlett's contract through 1998.
Each September - because of a stipulation included in Bartlett's contract - the board has the option of adding another year to his three-year contract.
Last year, the board voted to add the one-year extension. If they decide to do it again this year, it would essentially turn Bartlett's contract into a five-year agreement - stretching his contract end date to 1998.
The stipulation was unique to this superintendent. Bartlett's predecessors completed one full term before being considered for another. In the past 20 years, only one superintedent actually worked past his one completed term.
This time last year, the School Board's 5-4 vote to extend Bartlett's contract for the first time shocked many parents and school employees.
The decision came after a climate survey showed widespread dissatisfaction with Bartlett among teachers, principals and the administration. The superintendent received overall grades of D+, D- and F.
After the climate survey was released, nearly 300 residents signed petitions asking the board not to extend the contract. Members of all seven Blacksburg PTAs asked for Chairman Roy Vicker's resignation after he cast the deciding vote for Bartlett.
Vickers did not resign, and in June, the Board of Supervisors reappointed him to his seat on the board, which will last until 1998.
Of the four board members who voted against the extension last year, three - Dick Edwards, Bob Goncz and Lou Herrmann - publicly supported Bartlett but felt it was too soon in the superintendents' tenure to consider an extension.
This time, the board can base its decision on another - and a relatively less controversial - year working with Bartlett.
The past 12 months' biggest controversy surrounded budget deliberations. A 4 percent expected pay raise dwindled down to 1.2 percent increase for teachers after Bartlett and the School Board tried to include other Goals 2006 initiatives, such as lower pupil-teacher ratios.
This year, the ratios in elementary schools are lower, though not quite at the 20-1 ratio goal. Curriculum is being revamped to meet state and county standards. A new Riner Elementary School is about to find a home after the Board of Supervisors agreed to back the first stage in the four-school construction plan approved by the board last year.
In June, with all but member David Moore present, the board unanimously voted to give Bartlett a 1.2 percent raise - the same increase given to all school board employees.
It's not clear whether parents and teachers have changed their minds about Bartlett's performance.
Another climate study, conducted this year by the Montgomery County Education Association, reflected the same low morale as last year's study, according to MCEA officials. Details on those results should be released in the next few weeks.
Jim Johnson, speaking as an individual and not in his capacity as president of the County Council of PTA's, sent a letter to the board last week stating his dismay. From a fiscal standpoint, he said, committing public funds for a contract two years down the road is poor management.
"And, I told them that for the members who were running for election, if they decide to do this, they'll be giving their opponents an issue to address," Johnson said.
Dick Edwards and Peggy Arrington, who represent parts of Blacksburg in District F and District G, respectively, are the only members running in the November election. Arrington has generally supported Bartlett in his two years with the county; Edwards has fluctuated on various issues.
How the voting public - teachers and parents in the vocal Blacksburg area specifically - feel about Bartlett's performance may either change, or maintain, the faces on this school board.
by CNB