ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601220032
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Even if there are no more blizzards or floods this year, Pulaski County students will lose at least two days of their spring break in April.
The break was to have been April 5-12. Now, April 11 and April 12 will be school days.
The Pulaski County School Board got its first look Thursday night at a make-up schedule for days lost to snow. At that time, only April 12 had been eliminated from school break. But flooding forced schools to close Friday and April 11 was next on the make-up list.
The bad weather has also extended the school year. Now, instead of ending May 31, the last day will be June 7.
The board decided to give school employees Jan. 8 and Jan. 9 as snow days. Those who were unable to make it to work because of weather will be paid. Those who did make it will get compensatory time.
Thursday's meeting was the first for the newly elected School Board, and Lewis Pratt, the Draper District representative, was unanimously elected as the new chairman.
He was nominated by Ron Chaffin, a nine-year board veteran who has been chairman for the past three years. Chaffin had been re-elected in the Ingles District.
Beth Nelson, one of the board's three new members, is the new vice chairman. The other new members are Rhea Saltz, who has served on the board before, and Jeff Bain.
The board's regular meeting date will remain the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m., although next month's meeting will be postponed a week, to Feb. 15, because of a scheduling conflict.
Nelson said she would like to see a couple of meetings held during the afternoon, to accommodate people who might not be able to attend night meetings. Bain said he wanted the board to meet occasionally at various schools.
Bain also persuaded the board to do away with the sign-up sheet for speakers at board meetings as an experiment for three months. He thought that requiring people to sign up in advance of meetings hindered public expression, although he still wants speakers to give their names and addresses.
"Let's see how it works and if I'm right or if I'm wrong," he said.
The board looked at plans for requiring basic computer typing skills for teacher certification. The requirement would be a minimum of 15 words per minute. "We can raise that standard as time passes," said Superintendent Bill Asbury.
The staff has met with faculties at about half the county's schools to discuss the proposed requirement, but snow canceled meetings with the remaining teachers. Those meetings are still needed, Asbury said. "Any time you mention the words 'requirement' or 'certification,' the red flags go up and we're aware of that," he said.
"I believe that, when teachers see this as enhancing their students' learning and their teaching, they're going to be anxious to get aboard," Nelson said. Roanoke city schools already have more stringent requirements.
"We are trying to prepare ourselves for the standards of learning," Bain said, and state standards include greater use of computers. It is important that all teachers be able to function with computers, he said. "The idea is we all need to be aboard, me included."
The board also received some bad news about average daily class membership, the figure on which state aid is based. This year's budget was projected based on an average of 5,125 students; the average is now down to 5,119 with recent attendance at about 5,099.
State funds amount to about $3,000 per student so, if the numbers continue to fall, a budget shortfall will follow.
Associate Superintendent Phyllis Bishop said the student population has continued to drop for years and is projected to go as low as 4,900 by the year 2003. The high in the 1970s was 8,200 students.
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