THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996 TAG: 9608200340
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 62 lines
The School Board unanimously voted Monday to ask the General Assembly to raise the ceiling for board members' annual salaries from $2,000 to $5,000.
The resolution seeking the increase will not affect salaries that board members had previously set for themselves for 1996-97.
But, with legislative approval, the board could give itself bigger raises in the future.
Six of Suffolk's seven board members each receive $2,000 annually - the local maximum. The Rev. Mark Croston receives $2,500 as board chairman.
State law allows a local school board chairman to receive up to $1,100 more than the maximum amount for a given locality. The legislature sets salary limits and approves any increases.
Board members said a boost in the ceiling was justified for three reasons:
Board elections had resulted in ``increased demands'' from voters.
The city's annual limit is among the region's lowest.
And the ceiling hasn't been raised in seven years.
Suffolk's first School Board election was held in 1994.
The board discussed the resolution behind closed doors in a special meeting.
Aside from monthly meetings, board members routinely spend some of their time talking with parents, attending workshops and combing through budgets and other documents.
In South Hampton Roads, regular board members' salaries range from zero in Norfolk, where the entire board has declined compensation, to $3,600 in Virginia Beach.
The General Assembly considers an increase in an annual salary limit only after a local school board has adopted a measure seeking one.
This year, the legislature approved salary increases for 15 school boards across Virginia - up from three in 1994, the first year of board elections in the state.
Croston said the issue came up a few weeks ago, when Suffolk Republican Del. Robert E. Nelms contacted school district officials about the matter.
On Monday, Nelms said he planned to submit a similar resolution on behalf of Isle of Wight County's School Board in the upcoming legislative session this winter and offered to submit one for Suffolk - if the Suffolk board agreed to it.
Nelms, who represents part of Isle of Wight, said that county's School Board and Board of Supervisors' attorney recently contacted him about a resolution to raise the annual limit on board salaries.
The annual limit there also is $2,000.
The county's School Board has yet to pass such a resolution, but attorney H. Woodrow Crook said it would be supported by both of the county's governing boards.
In other matters Monday, the Suffolk board approved the appointments of two assistant principals to principals:
Vivian Covington, formerly an assistant principal at Lakeland High, is the new principal of Forest Glen Middle. She replaced Johnnie Edwards, who is now supervisor of student services and who is to improve middle- and high-school attendance rates, among other duties.
Thomas McLemore, formerly an assistant principal at Nansemond River High, is the new principal of John F. Kennedy Middle. He replaced Michaele Penn, who works in the York County district.
KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK SCHOOL BOARD RAISE SALARY by CNB