Board Still Working Its Way
Through Improvement Plans
ItY SUSAN USHKR
Plans by the Brunswick County
Board of Education to complete its
review of individual school perfor
mance plans by early April were
stymied last week.
Board members spent much of a
two-hour meeting Friday evening
set aside to discuss the plans instead
revisiting their own ideas of how to
achieve system-wide goals.
However, the board did approve
plans from the three county high
schools with only minor revisions,
and subject to availability of funds
to carry out the strategies outlined.
Revisions include requesting a waiv
er from the state to exclude trainable
and educablc mentally handicapped
students when calculating the per
centage of those receiving high
school diplomas.
The board will meet again Mon
day, April 19, at 5 p.m. at Bolivia
Elementary School to consider the
remaining plans, and also will meet
Thursday, April 22, at 6:30 p.m. at
the central office.
Plans for each school, the central
office and school system are re
quired for participation in the state's
Performance Based Accountability
Program. Achievement goals in the
plan arc tied to 52 indicators set by
the State Board of Education and
covered on the system's annual "re
port card." These include student
performance on standardized tests,
attendance, drop-out rates and simi
lar items.
Each plan details student achieve
ment goals, requests to the state for
waivers from certain rules, and a
plan for providing teachers differen
tiated pay.
A key element of the county plan
that has drawn criticism within the
system calls for using 10 lead teach
ers to help coach peers to improved
teaching in subject areas where
Bruns. County students arc weakest.
The school board also thought it
had sent a message to school em
ployees that it expected extra pay for
teachers and other certified staff to
be linked directly to reaching stu
dent achievement goals. However,
most schools submitted plans simi
lar to their previous ones, or with
only minor changes after being
asked to redo plans.
A third concern arose that some
schools had set achievement goals
lower than the county's, which isn't
allowed.
At Friday's meeting with mem
bers of a countywide committee of
educators that had already helped
develop the county plan and review
the individual plans for consistency,
discussion was lively regarding all
three issues.
Committee member Debbie Le
mon pointed out that some schools
cannol possibly make sufficient
gains in one year's lime to achieve
the county's minimum level of
achievement
As for lead teachers, the commit
tee first proposed pulling exemplary
teachers from their classrooms for a
one-year appointment. Then it de
cided to pull the teachers out of their
own classrooms on an as-needed ba
sis during the year, paying a substi
tute.
Either way, the proposal didn't
please all concerned, sparking pro
fessional jealousy on the part of
some teachers and concerns from
principals as well. Superintendent
Ralph Johnston said some principals
objected to having their best teach
ers pulled from the classroom.
School board members reached no
decision Friday on w hat to do.
"If we're going to be so profes
sionally jealous we're not going to
improve our performance," cau
tioned Gloria Tallcy, staff develop
ment director and chairman of the
countywidc accountability plan pan
el. "We've got to get beyond that
"There's no right or wrong way to
do it; we're just looking for a tem
plate."
Disappointment with pay plan
specifics was evident on the part of
some committee members and some
board members. Bill Fairlcy said his
original idea about differentiated
pay was to test students at the start
of the year and at the end of the
year, then calculatc the average per
centile of improvement for the class
as a whole.
"It seemed reasonable for plans to
be tied to that kind of improved per
formance," said Fairlcy. "But none
of the plans I've seen do that."
He noted part of the blame was
the school board's because the
school system hasn't selected or de
signed the tools it will use for prc
and post-testing.
Given lack of an evaluation sys
tem, said commiuee member May
Moore, schools could choose to use
the money for staff development,
which the staff at her school. South
Brunswick Middle, "was not ready
to do" or for "things the teachers be
lieve will help improve student per
formance."
Some committee members and
board members questioned plans
that rewarded teachers extra pay for
certain behaviors, such as good at
tendance or scheduling conferences
with parents.
"I thought that was part of the
job," said member Polly Russ.
However, Talley urged the board
not to make drastic changes in the
plans this year, in pari to show sup
port few the schools' first efforts at
site-based management. In review
ing the plans, she said, the county
commitlce "was very careful to rc
spcci site-based management."
"We've got to have the teachers
help us get there," she said. "This is
where we have to trust the integrity
of the school administration and the
staff. I predict we will see different
plans next year, more tied to student
achievement, more willing to take
risks, knowing that the board is seri
ous."
Typical examples were of "extra
duty for extra pay" serving as a lead
teacher, mentor or department chair
man: tutoring students after school
without pay; participating in a profes
sional book club; earning credit to
ward an advanced diploma or certifi
cate renewal; attending professional
workshops; serving on committees;
sponsoring student activities; and not
using all available sick leave.
An incentive not to take unneces
sary sick leave already exists, said
Finance Officer Rudi Fallon. North
Carolina allows teachers to credit
unused sick leave towards retire
ment up to a year early.
Tallcy said the county schools ex
pected no problem in obtaining an
extension for submitting its plan to
the state, if needed, because of the
change of administration during the
school term and its subsequent late
start, after Superintendent Johnston's
arrival, in developing a county plan.
i
Trustees Meeting
Tonight At BCC
Brunswick Community College
trustees will meet today (Thursday)
instead of Wednesday, April 21.
The meeting will begin at 7:30
p.m. in the board room, which is lo
cated on the second floor of the ALS
Building on the main campus north
of Supply on U.S. 17 Business. The
meeting is open to the public.
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BCC PHOTO BY ANNfc MARIfc BELLAMY
Community Drive Launched
Brunswick Community College Foundation board members, community and business leaders and
BCC faculty and staff kicked off the foundation's annual Community Fund Drive with a breakfast
meeting April 8. Under the leadership of Foundation Vice President and Fund Drive Chairman Dr.
Lee IKingston (left) three teams will visit individuals and businesses throughout the county with the
goal of raising $40,000for the BCC Fund for Academic Excellence. Also pictured reviewing the South
Brunswick Islands team area are (from second left) BCC Vice President for Administrative Services
Ben DeBlois and BCC Foundation board members and team co-captains Marshall Woodard and
Sheila Mclxtmb.
School Would Begin August 30
Under Proposed '93-94 Calendar
Students would begin school Aug. 30 under a pro- days.
posed calendar for the 1993-94 school year being con- Students would also be out during teachers' work
sidered by the Brunswick County Board of Education. days Sept. 17, Nov. 5, Dec. 20, Jan. 28 and March 4.
After a Sept. 6 Labor Day holiday, all students Additional teacher workdays are scheduled before and
would participate in two days of prc-tcsting, to establish after the start of classes.
base lines for determining improvement by the end of . .......
the year. Post-testing would be conducted June 7 and 8. ProP0^ each high school could set us own
Additional holidays would be scheduled Nov. 11, graduation date from three options. June 10,11 or 12.
Veterans Day; Nov. 25-26, Thanksgiving; Dec. 18-31, The calendar includes 180 instructional days, 10 hoi
Christmas and New Year's Day; Jan. 17, Martin Luther idays, 10 annual leave days for eligible teachers and 17
King Jr.; April 4-8, Easter; and May 30, Memorial Day. teachcr workdays. Teachers arc not required to work
Students would attend a full day of school Dec. 17 and seven of the workdays; the others may be taken off as
April 1 before the start of the Christmas and Easter holi- annual leave time.
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