BOARD NOTES

BOARD NOTES: Wicomico County Board of Education Approves Voluntary Retirement Incentive Option (VRIO) and Alternative Governance Plan for Wicomico Mid

The Wicomico County Board of Education at its monthly Board meeting on Feb. 8 approved the Voluntary Retirement Incentive Option (VRIO), which will be offered to approximately 225 employees who are eligible for full-service retirement this year.

Human Resources will send details of the program to eligible staff members this week. Eligible employees who sign up for VRIO by March 15 will receive 20 percent of their 2010-11 base salary on separation June 30, 2011. Employees will have the chance to meet with financial planners to discuss tax and financial planning questions about the retirement offer. All four employee bargaining groups support VRIO.

While Board members and the Superintendent expressed mixed feelings about the possibility of losing experienced teachers and other staff members through VRIO – particularly after losing others through the Early Notification Program (ENP) in recent years -- the school system needs a program like VRIO to reduce salary costs in a very difficult budget year. Last fall, Wicomico schools began planning for a budget that would be $2 million to $3 million less than this year’s budget, but more recent estimates from the county and state show the school system could receive $5 million to $12 million less.

“I hope employees will understand that we appreciate their service, and were it not for the financial challenges we are facing, we would not be doing this,” Dr. Fredericksen said.

For the current budget year, the school system eliminated 31 positions that had been left vacant by ENP retirements. For next year, the school system again faces a need to reduce staffing due to a smaller budget. Voluntary retirements would reduce the number of involuntary layoffs that must occur, though some will still happen because not all retirements will align with staffing changes, Dr. Fredericksen said. Reducing the number of employees at the upper end of the pay scale would also allow the school system to preserve more positions by filling them with new staff members at the lower end of the pay scale.

This is only one cost-saving option the Board and school system will study and pursue this spring in the development of a balanced budget with much less funding. The Superintendent has directed staff to leave no stone unturned in looking for ways to cut costs or raise revenue as a budget is built that protects classroom instruction.

“For us to handle the future, we’ve got to make these kinds of decisions and look at these kinds of options,” Board President L. Michelle Wright said.

The Board of Education also approved the Wicomico Middle School Alternative Governance Plan, which the school was required to develop now that it is in Year 4 of School Improvement. The plan outlines the improvement actions the school will take in the areas of Reading/English/Language Arts, Mathematics, and School Culture over the next two years to meet Adequate Yearly Progress.

The plan was written by the Wi Middle Instructional Leadership Team in collaboration with Central Office staff members. It has been shared with the school’s staff, parents and community partners and revised to reflect their input. The school system’s Alternative Governance Board approved the plan. The plan will now go to Maryland State Department of Education staff for review, with a vote by the Maryland State Board of Education in April.

Comments on these and any other issues may be shared by sending an email to comments@wcboe.org; leaving a message on the unmanned Public Input Line at 410-677-5251; by mail to Wicomico County Board of Education, PO Box 1538, Salisbury, MD 21802; or by hand to the Board Office at Mt. Hermon Road and Long Avenue in Salisbury.

In other business on Feb. 8, the Board:

Moment of Silence

Held a moment of silence for former Supervisor of Elementary Education Dr. Marian B. Church, for Frances P. Jeffers, mother of Board Attorney Fulton Jeffers; and for W. Richard Holloway Sr., father-in-law of Board President Robin Holloway.

Public Comments

Heard a community member’s concern that while teachers and students are held accountable, parents are not, and too many students come to school without a foundation in discipline and caring.

Superintendent’s Report

Heard from the Superintendent that:

The Superintendent, Board President and Dave White, president of the Wicomico County Education Association, will be among 150 people selected for training in Denver next week in preparation for Race to the Top. Funding for the training is provided by the Ford Foundation.

The School Vehicles Contract is in the hands of contractors, with a series of meetings to come and a signed contract expected to be in hand by June 1.

Wicomico students are making testing progress each year, but with the AMO (Annual Measurable Objective) targets rising each year, more schools will have difficulty making AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) for the percent of students at proficient/advanced. This is a tough challenge schools and the school system continue to work on daily.

Seven groups (and a total of 11 people) came to the January Superintendent’s Open Door Session to discuss the theater program at James M. Bennett High, streetlights and parking lot lights at JMB and Pinehurst Elementary, bullying programs, protecting the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Program, concerns about the Exam Exemption Incentive Program, time taken from instruction for testing, website functionality, whether the school system should be on Facebook or not, and opportunities for more cooperation between schools and businesses. The next Superintendent’s Open Door will be on Wednesday, Feb. 23, from 4-6 p.m. the Board office.

The Connections program is now operating and the school system is continuing to look at ways to serve persistently violent and disruptive students.

Plans are in the works for conducting the staff development that would have taken place on Feb. 28 and May 2, which are now school days to make up for weather closing days.

Diploma Presenters

Agreed to a plan for which Board members will present diplomas at which commencement exercises this spring.

Bid Awards

Awarded the contract for the Wicomico Middle School Elevator Replacement to Delaware Elevator as the low responsive and responsible bidder at $158,000. The elevator replacement will be done as soon as school ends.

Voted to utilize the Baltimore County Public Schools Health Supplies contract to purchase supplies and equipment nurses use to provide health services in schools.

Voted to utilize the Anne Arundel County Public Schools contract for Football Lacrosse Equipment Reconditioning with Schutt Reconditioning Inc., for the reconditioning of football equipment at significant savings over the previous contract.

Reports

Approved the February 2011 Budget Transfers and the monthly personnel matters report for certificated employees, and received for information the monthly personnel matters report for classified employees and the monthly update on competitive grant proposals.

Board Member Reports

Heard praise from Board members Donald L. Fitzgerald and Ronald O. Willey for the outstanding level of skill shown by students at the Feb. 5 local SkillsUSA Competition/Parkside High School Department of Career & Technology Education open house. CTE program trains students well for careers and further education, and the program enjoys considerable family and community support, with many graduates returning to serve as judges. While CTE has been in existence for decades, it ties in well with the current educational focus on STEM. Bryan Ashby, supervisor for career and technology education, said that last year, approximately 82 percent of graduating seniors who completed a CTE program went on to post-secondary institutions or the military.

Heard from Board member Willey that James M. Bennett High is looking better all the time, and he’s eager to see traffic congestion at JMB and Bennett Middle eased. Brian Foret, Director of Facility Services, said that the city is continuing to discuss improvements to the Onley/Bateman/Division Street intersection. Foret also said the auditorium renovation is on schedule and that the auditorium should be turned over to the school for use by April 1. Students are enjoying the new school building, with one junior even saying it would be nice to stay longer at the school instead of graduating next year.