ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 19, 1997 TAG: 9704210015
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Pulaski County School Board members say teachers don't need to have their hours spelled out for them.
Pulaski County school officials disagree over proposed wording in teacher contracts for the coming year outlining working hours.
Superintendent Bill Asbury said at Tuesday night's School Board meeting that it had become necessary to spell out the basic work day as being from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., although it is obvious that teachers often work earlier and later than those hours.
"We'd gotten to the point where we're haggling over how many hours a teacher works a year," he said.
Board members Rhea Saltz and Beth Nelson said such wording might work for hourly workers but was no way to deal with education professionals. Saltz said teachers are reacting negatively to the additional wording.
"I have not seen the concern, the feeling of hopelessness, the lack of positive moral," he told Asbury, like that which he saw when Asbury explained the additional wording to one group of teachers. "I know you disagree with it because things are lovely," he said, but Saltz thought the teachers had a point.
Asbury said schools are no different from any business which sets workday hours, and that school principals "don't have a prayer" if they cannot be sure the teachers will be on hand before the students.
The board did agree to Nelson's request to ask the Virginia School Boards Association for a written opinion on the required number of days teachers must work and how they would be made up.
"I believe honest to goodness that a mountain is being made out of a molehill," said board Chairman Lewis Pratt. "We'll come to a consensus on this matter."
The board did come to a consensus on a regular meeting time, which will be at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month. The times had been jumping around between 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., and occasionally, as with Tuesday's meeting, the dates would change.
"I know that sometimes it's convenient to change it, and we've done it for all the right reasons," Asbury said, but it was causing confusion among those interested in attending the meetings and generating many telephone inquiries at the central office.
The board learned that some parts of its summer school program have become so popular that it is becoming difficult to handle them.
One of the most popular has been four-week Camp Cougar for grade levels 9-10, a health and physical education program which includes white-water rafting, canoeing, rope and rock-climbing, hiking and lessons on wellness, nutrition and general well-being.
It drew only 35 students its first year, but that jumped to 150 last summer. Pulaski County High School Principal Jim Kelly said that number was really too high for the available instructors with the varied activities. "On some days, there are as many as 15 instructors," he said.
Saltz and board member Jeff Bain disliked the idea of reducing participation in what is obviously a successful program.
The summer school program in general is being beefed up. This summer, the high school program will include courses in communications technology, world history, introductory algebra, typing and keyboarding software, child development and parent skills, Literacy Passport preparation, and driver education.
In addition to Camp Cougar, there is also a weeklong program for selected incoming ninth-grade students to help bring them up to high school speed and an independent studies program for students recommended by their teachers. Fees and tuition range from $100 to $175.
"We don't need to have year-round school. We already have it," Kelly said.
Nearly 300 elementary and middle school students took part in remedial summer school courses last year, said Associate Superintendent Phyllis Bishop. A total of 750 to 800 students participated last year, she said.
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