THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412280210
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Seventeen people took the podium last week to advise the School Board on what to look for in a new superintendent to succeed C. Fred Bateman, who will retire this summer after 15 years at the helm.
All echoed a common theme: Chesapeake schools need stability, with a new leader who will be open to innovations, but who won't make radical changes.
``I've seen other very good school systems near to us, with some very good superintendents, decide they need to go a totally new way,'' said W.A. Spradlin, a former School Board chairman. ``And some of them still haven't gotten back on track.''
Spradlin and some other speakers recommended that the board look at candidates within the school system before broadening the search to applicants from outside.
The sentiments reflect an underlying concern that after 15 years under a popular leader, Chesapeake schools will go the way of other cities in South Hampton Roads and around the country, which change superintendents and educational philosophies frequently. Nationwide, the average tenure of superintendents is about four years.
``We have come a long way over the past 15 years,'' said Mindy E. Ziegenfuss, president of the Chesapeake Association of Public School Administrators and an assistant principal at Deep Creek High.
``Radical change devastates any quality organization,'' she said.
Ziegenfuss and other speakers urged the School Board to consider the qualifications of candidates carefully, including experience in school systems with challenges similar to Chesapeake's, particularly rapid growth.
Speakers also suggested that the board look for leaders who will seek community involvement in schools, and who have experience with budgeting, school administration, politics and school law, among other qualifications.
John S. Close, a senior at Oscar F. Smith High School, representing the city's student council associations, said, ``He or she needs to be willing to listen to complaints and suggestions from us, the students, as well as from the parents and teachers.''
In other business:
The School Board heard a preliminary report from consultants hired to conduct a study of salary scales for school employees.
Consultants have held extensive meetings and conducted exhaustive surveys and interviews with school employees to recommend revisions to job descriptions for all workers.
A survey was conducted of other area cities and some private businesses, to see how the Chesapeake school system's salaries stack up. Preliminary results show that the salary scales for administrators and classified employees, such as secretaries, probably are out of balance: Entry-level workers are paid too little, while some at the upper end of the scale may be paid too much.
The consultants will come back to the board with more specific information in January but assured board members that no school employee would lose take-home pay because of their recommendations.
School administrators got a holiday on Friday, the day before Christmas Eve. The board granted the holiday after City Council gave its workers the same day off.
But the gift didn't come without some contention. Some board members said they believed their leave policy already was generous enough, without throwing in an extra day off.
Board member Thomas Bray said he worried that ``if we give them Friday, then Thursday's a relaxed day.''
Board member James J. Wheaton called extra holidays ``disguised pay raises.''
Six board members, however, overruled Bray, Wheaton and board member Barbara B. Head and voted in favor of the holiday.
``I feel a `Bah, humbug' coming out here,'' said board member James M. Reeves. ``This is the time for good feelings.'' by CNB