THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609150044
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 75 lines
School Board members exchanged their dais and business attire for a quiet conference room and tennis shoes Friday and Saturday to discuss construction, employee pay and town meetings during their annual retreat.
Over several courses of chocolate chip cookies and friendly jokes, members met at Greenbrier Intermediate School to tackle topics that are often too complex, such as construction management, or too mundane, such as shortening board meetings, to handle during regular sessions.
But the 14 hours together gave the nine board members, and the several school administrators who joined them, crucial time to look at pressing issues facing the nearly 35,900-student district. It also gave them a chance to become better acquainted.
``The retreat gives a chance to brainstorm under normal conditions,'' said chairwoman Barbara Head.
``You often forget the television camera is there, but you still don't have the opportunity to just talk and brainstorm. . . . Plus we're board members, but we never really have a chance to sit and talk to each other.''
The hot retreat topic was managing building construction, in light of Hickory High School opening two weeks ago while still undergoing construction. Hickory students are attending classes, but certain areas of the school won't be completed until the end of December, and the nearly 1,550 students are relying on boxed lunches while work continues on the cafeteria.
In addition, 14 of 15 other construction projects which were scheduled to be completed Sept. 3 were not finished on time.
Getting a handle on construction will be key for the growing school system, which is proposing to build five schools over the next five years.
``How are we so consistently not having things ready when it's time for the kids to come in?'' asked board member James Wheaton.
``I don't know how we got there or how we allowed ourselves to get into that box.''
Said Superintendent W. Randolph Nichols: ``I don't know how to get out of it. We're at the mercy of the contractor, who says he's at the mercy of the subcontractor.''
The board agreed that the best tactic is to add extra time to the construction process. School officials hope to meet with City Council members next month and request seed money to begin architectural and engineering designs for some of the proposed buildings this fall. Typically, Council doesn't approve the district's Capital Improvement Plan, their tool for building construction, until late February and the district might not receive funding until spring.
Several board members also requested getting more detailed reports on construction, in order to pinpoint problems earlier, and asked the School Board's attorney to look into the legality of offering financial incentives to contractors for completing the work on time.
Board members and school officials looked at other issues, too:
The practicality of town meetings, carrying School Board meetings to different areas of the city, because so few residents attend School Board meetings.
The pros and cons of merit or performance pay for administrators and teachers.
Revising a school policy that prohibits for-profit groups from using school facilities. Currently, the policy is being applied inconsistently; some groups have been allowed to use facilities while others have not.
Beyond the policy talk, the retreat gave board members a chance to relax and talk about their roles as board members. Several members admitted that the juggling of their lives as parents and board members can be tedious. When they want to participate in community activities or PTAs, they're often viewed as ``complaint central,'' ``arbitrator,'' or ``the official School Board liaison,'' when they just want to be parents or volunteers.
Patricia Willis said she recently visited one of her children's schools and noticed that the rooms were cold. Before getting on the board, she would've talked to the principal about the air conditioner thermostat. But she didn't do it.
``I didn't want them to think, `Oh, here's a School Board member telling us the school's too cold,' '' Willis said. ``So I didn't do anything.''
Other board members nodded in understanding. by CNB