Proposed Rule Would End Employee
Smoking Inside School Buildinqs
BY SUSAN USHER chewing tobacco ? while supervising
Teachers and other county school students at school functions.
system employees will have to step Presently employees arc allowed
outside their building for a smoke to smoke in designated areas inside
under a policy proposed Monday by buildings.
the Brunswick County Board of Ed- However, not all employees are
ucalion. abiding by the policy and it is not
It was one of six policies intro- achievcing its goal. Air circulation
duccd by the board at its first meet- systems in the schools move smoke
ing since an April 26-27 retreat at from one building to another, said
the Institute of Government in Chairman Donna Baxter.
Chapel Hill. While she expects the proposed
Under the new smoking policy policy to be unpopular with some
employees also would not Ix allow- employees, she said she thinks the
ed to use tobacco products ? such as policy is needed.
New School Calendar Adopted
DATE EVENT
Aug. 21 Students report to school
Sept. 2 Labor Day holiday
Sept. 18 .....Classes dismissed ll:30a.m.
Oct. 4 Teacher workday; no classes
Oct. 14 Report cards go out
Oct. 17 Classes dismissed 11:30 a.m.
Oct. 1 8 Teacher workday; no classes
Nov. 1 1 Veterans' Day holiday
Nov. 27 -....Teacher workday
Nov. 28-29 Thanksgiving holidays
Dec. 2 Report cards go out
Dec. 4 Students dismissed 11:30 a.m.
Dec. 20-Jan. 1 Christmas-New Year's break
Jan. 1 7 Teacher workday; no classes
Jan. 20. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday
Jan. 28 Report cards go out
March 2 Teacher workday, no classes;
March 1 1 Report cards go out
April 17 Teacher workday
April 20-24 .Easter break
April 30 Report cards go out
May 25 .Memorial Day holiday
June 1 South Brunswick High graduation
June 2 .. West Brunswick High graduation
June 3 North Brunswick High graduation
Last day of classcs
Note: Teachcr report to work the week of Aug. 12. Schools dismiss early
Sept. 18, Oct 17 and Dec. 4 to allow staff development at each school.
Students will attend school a full day Dec. 19 and April 16 instead of dis
missing early for the holidays. Also, April 14, 15 and 16 are college day
at North Brunswick, South Brunswick and West Brunswick high schools
respectively. Snow days will be made up at the end of the year.
PACKAGE COSTS $5.2 MILLION
Supply School Bids Awarded
BY SUSAN USHER
A competitive bidding atmos
phere is paying off for the Bruns
wick County Board of Education,
which Monday awarded contracts
totaling S5.23 million for construc
tion of Supply Elementary School.
Work on the 14-month project
could begin as early as this week fol
lowing a construction meeting with
contractors that was scheduled Wed
nesday, said William R. Turner, as
sistant superintendent for operations.
The new school will be located off
U.S. 17 at Supply and is expccted to
open in fall 1992, according to a
schedule developed by Boney Archi
tects of Wilmington. It will serve ap
proximately 650 students in grades
K-5, helping to relieve overcrowding
at Shallotte Middle, Union Primary
and Southpon Elementary schools.
Turner said bids came in at $56
per square foot compared to a pro
jected $65 per square foot, allowing
the board to include optional items
totaling $186,415 in the bids award
ed. These included canopies for the
entrance and bus entrance; an alter
nate sound and paging system; gym
seating; and the electrical and me
chanical systems for the gym seat
ing area.
"Competitive bidding made that
possible," he said. Five companies
bid on the general contract and as
many as 12 companies bid for any
one of the various sub-contracts.
He said all contractors for the
project were low bidders, with one
exception. The low bidder for the
mechanical contract did not file re
quired several required forms relat
ed to encouragement of minority
participation. The school board
went to the next lowest bidder fol
lowing a ruling by the Attorney
General's office, Turner said.
L.P. Cox Co. of Sanford, Inc., re
ceived the S3.79 million general con
tract. Other contractors arc Reagan
Elcctrical Contractors, Inc., Wilm
ington, electrical, $483,120; Braxton
Britt Plumbing Inc., Wilson, plumb
ing, S25 1,700; and Southern Piping
Company, Wilson, mechanical,
5706,295.
Initially plans called for an
80,000-square-foot facility, but the
board later increased the size of a
group of regular classrooms and of
the exceptional children's program
area.
"We think students have the
right to go to school in a
smoke -free environment."
? Donna Baxter, Chairman
Board of Education
"Wc think students have the right
to go to school in a smoke-free en
vironment," she said. "Some are
getting sick on it I get more calls
about parents regarding this..."
Furthermore, she said, employees
should realize that they are role
models for students.
It would be up to the principal of
the school, with the aid of the assis
tant superintendent of operations, to
designate what Ms. Baxter termed a
"discrete" place outdoors as a staff
smoking area.
The policy doesn't address en
forcement or any proposed penalty
for violation of the policy.
Hold Line On Pay
Another proposed policy would
help hold down the local money
needed to continue paying salaries
of tenured supervisors and princi
pals who have been shifted involun
tarily to lower paying positions, but
not demoted.
Presently they continue at their
old rate of pay, receiving any
across-the-board pay increases or
supplement increases provided oth
er employees.
However, the state pays only the
portion of the salary represented by
the state schedule figure for the cur
rent position. Local money must be
used to make up the difference.
"We have about 10 employees
that come under this," Chairman
Donna Baxter said after a 5 1/2
hour school board meeting at South
Brunswick High School Monday.
"You'd be surprised how much it is
costing us."
The proposed policy calls for
maintaining the same total annual
compensation for such persons until
the compensation for the new posi
tion reaches or exceeds that of the
final year in the previous position.
Only then would they begin receiv
ing any cost-of-living or other in
creases. Months of employment
would remain the same.
Annual salary for certified staff
who have been transferred or reas
signed involuntarily before the poli
cy is approved will be determined at
the time the policy goes into effect.
Then it will remain the same until
changed under the policy.
When a certified staff member
asks for and receives a change in as
signment he or she will be paid
based on the state salary schedule
and local supplement for the new
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Policies Get First Reading
Four other policies also received
first reading Monday night and arc
expected to come up for second
reading and a vote at the board's
regular meeting in June:
These are as follows:
?Drug testing for drivers: Staff
members are refining a proposed
policy that would make any driver?
who operate county vehicles trans
porting students subject to drug test
ing and the potential loss of their
job if results of both the test and
confirmation test came up positive
Use of controlled substances or
illegal drugs could endanger the
lives of student passengers, Chair
man Donna Baxter pointed out as
the impetus for the policy. "We
don't want this to be held up. We
know we need this one now," she
said, because existing policies don't
cover this gray area.
Still to be determined are the tim
ing and frequency of the tests, which
would cost approximately S64 each
excluding start-up expenses and pay
for a medical review officer.
Ms. Baxter said drivers who were
approached on the topic by Assist
ant Superintendent William Turner
thought it a good idea ? an altitude
she said should ideally be that of by
all drivers.
?Student athlete insurance: All
students participating in interschol
astic athletics ? as athletes, manag
ers, cheerleaders ? will be required
to purchase school insurance. Parti
cipation is defined to include prac
tice. Insurance costs S10 a year and
may go to $12; each school would
decide how to handle the expense
for any student who not afford in
surance.
?Travel review: The board propos
es to amend its travel policy to pro
vide for all administrative staff travel
plans to be reviewed and approved in
advance by the superintendent, while
the board would review and approve
travel requests from school board
members or the superintendent Re
imbursement would be at the rate for
the least expensive mode of travel.
The existing policy allows the super
intendent to approve adminstrative
staff trips only up to a $350 total cost
limit.
?Second meeting: The board pro
poses to help a second regular meet
ing each month, at 7:30 a.m. on the
third Monday, unless that date falls
on a legal holiday, in which case an
other date would be set The board
will continue meeting the first Mon
day of each month at 6:30 p.m.
Personnel Discussed
Monday's meeting was continued
until Monday, May 13, at 6:30 p.m.
at the board of education office in
Southport. The board's next regular
meeting is June 3 at South Bruns
wick Middle School.
Next Monday night the board is
expected to continue discussing var
ious personnel and attorney-client
matters, including review of em
ployees under consideration for ten
ure and assignments and contracts
for the 1991-92 school year.
Unspecified personnel and attor
ney-client matters were the topic of
one 45-minutc executive session
called near the start of Monday's
meeting and part of another two
hour session later in the board meet
ing, which ended shortly after 11:30
p.m. Also, while behind closed
doors, the board discussed indepen
dent contractors as it related to an
irregular bid submitted for the Sup
ply Elementary School construction
project.
Appeal Dropped
The county school system has
dropped efforts to have North
Brunswick High School reclassified
as a 1-A school as soon as possible
for purposes of athletic competition.
At the school's request the Bruns
wick County Board of Education
had sought a hearing on the matter
before the North Carolina High
School Athletic Association.
That hearing was granted, said
Assistant Superintendent William
Harrison, but would have served no
purpose.
The notification letter, he said,
made it clear that the county request
did not fall within the reasons for
which exceptions are granted.
Rather than drive 3 1/2 miles for
a 15-minute hearing, he said, the
appeal was dropped with the
school's consent.
Retreat Praised
Speaking for the board. Chairman
Donna Baxter described the boards
first retreat "enlightening." She said
it was helpful in defining working
relationships among members and
their roles as members of a policy
making board.
The board would like such a re
treat again in the fall, she said.
Other Business
In other business, the board heard
a report on school food services and
eclarcd May National Better Speech
and Hearing Month and the week
National Teacher Appreciation
Week.
Special events during the week in
honor of teachers was to include
early dismissal of classes Wednes
day, May 8, at 1 p.m., said Tom
Simmons, NCAE chapter president,
as well as in-school activities.
Parents and others in the commu
nity will be invited to local schools
fro free screening clinics sometime
this month as part of the school sys
tem's observance of speech and
hearing month, said Lorene Wil
liams, director of support services.
Also, parents and community agen
cies will be encouraged to refer stu
dents with special needs to the
schools for assistance.
NCAE Joins In
Thirty-five members of the coun
ty chapter of the North Carolina As
sociation of Educators (NCAE)
traveled to Raleigh last week to lob
by against severe cuts in the state's
education budget.
The trip comes on the heels of an
other visit to the capital, led in April
by Superintendent P.R. Hankins, of
nine school system employees and a
former school board member to
Raleigh on a similar mission.
Said Simmons, "We know there
will be cuts but we hoped to gener
Lobbying Effort
ate awareness that those cuts don't
have to be made to the bone.
"We told them it's okay to have
four-lane roads but that we've got to
have educated people to drive those
highways."
At a school board meeting Mon
day night. Chairman Donna Baxter
was marshalling forces to send at
least one board representative to
Raleigh May 16 on yet another bud
get lobbying mission, this one by
the North Carolina School Boards
Association.
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