DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997                TAG: 9704100361

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Education 

SOURCE: Denise Watson

LENGTH: 37 lines

NORFOLK BOARD OKS CONTROVERSIAL STIPEND

NORFOLK - Norfolk School Board members will no longer have to work for free.

The School Board last week approved the district's operating budget, which included $22,000 to pay School Board members stipends - $3,000 for the six members and $4,000 for the chairman.

The idea has been controversial for the board.

For years, Norfolk prided itself on being the only South Hampton Roads board to work without pay - sending a message, the members felt, that they truly labor out of love. But board meetings, mounds of paperwork and public hearings make demanding work, and some board members argued the time for some compensation had come. Member Conrad Greif has stressed that board members are still dedicated public servants, but he and several others are retired and live on fixed incomes. The $250 a month could help a bit.

But other members, including Anita Poston, said the cash-strapped district shouldn't pay salaries to appointed officials.

Poston was out of town and couldn't attend last Thursday's meeting, but she wrote a letter that was read which detailed a number of ways, she thought, the $22,000 could better serve the schools - including providing seven classroom computers, paying for another teacher assistant for a preschool class, or providing 440 underachieving children with five hours of tutoring.

A couple of board members said that they didn't want the stipend, but they also didn't want to deny the salary to other board members.

Board chairman Ulysses Turner said he would donate his share to the two elementary schools with the lowest test scores to purchase reading and math resources. KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOL BOARD SALARY

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