ISSUES
Citizens For Responsive Government v. School Board of Henry County
Click on the above to see the proposed plan the School Board of Henry County just passed, and why we, Citizens of this county, believe the School Board Members have not done their homework regarding these changes. 1) The enrollment figures do not correspond with their numbers; 2) If money is the problem, there are many other places where it could be found in the overbloated budget; and 3) They want to spent almost $4.Million by 2004 to make these changes while saying they are trying to save money. 4) The contractors who have furnished the estimates for the work have not taken into account accessibility, logistics, parking, and their estimates do not include things like electrical, HVAC, and other essential things which go along with such renovations. This is a bad plan, and we have bad representatives who are ignoring the people. To see specifics about this issue click here-
Resolution 8 passed by the School Board follows:
SCHOOL BOARD OF HENRY COUNTY
RESOLUTION NO. 8
December 14, 2001
WHEREAS, student enrollment has declined by 37% from 1975 to 2001, and is projected to drop by 15% from 1995 to 2006 in Henry County; and
WHEREAS, a decline in student enrollment results in less state financial aid for the school division; and
WHEREAS, there have been over 9,000 jobs lost in the community in the last seven years; and
WHEREAS, the County Administrator has advised the School Board that funding for next school year will be at least $286,280 less than this year, and that local funding is expected to decline by $1,064,200 for the 2003-2004 school year due to one recent industry closing; and
WHEREAS, the sales tax revenue projection, a substantial amount of funding for public education, is expected to be substantially below the amounts projected in the budget for the current school year and the next school year; and
WHEREAS, the School Board refuses to compromise the quality of education for the students in Henry County by operating the schools inefficiently with scarce resources; and
WHEREAS, the School Board is charged by §22.1-79 of the Code of Virginia to "provide for the consolidation of schools . . . or adopt pupil assignment plans whenever such procedure will contribute to the efficiency of the school division"; and
WHEREAS, the School Board does not believe that it is efficient or in the best interests of the school division to continue to incur the expense of rented space for educational purposes; and
WHEREAS, the funding climate is such that building new schools or significantly renovating existing schools is not feasible and there is a significant amount of underutilized space throughout the school division to house the student population, especially in the high school buildings; and
WHEREAS, the School Board is committed to maintaining a reasonable pupil/teacher ratio; and
WHEREAS, the School Board realizes that the vocational/technical opportunities in the four high
schools have not been updated to reflect the needs of the twenty-first century and the special needs of our community in economic crisis, and the Board is dedicated to offering programs to all high school students that provide the skill development that prepares students for a successful future in the workforce and in further educational pursuits; and
WHEREAS, in 1988 the School Board instituted an organizational pattern for its schools that included middle schools and desires to maintain middle schools as the optimal configuration for meeting the needs of early adolescents; and
WHEREAS, the School Board has reviewed that the consolidation of schools has both curricular and financial advantages and has concluded that a consolidated school can offer an expanded curriculum and a more prominent identity in the community while reducing costs through economy of scale; and
WHEREAS, the School Board is committed to achieving equity in program offerings and facilities for students; and
WHEREAS, the Fieldale Elementary School suffers from outdated and overloaded mechanical and electrical systems and structural deterioration; has a dilapidated and leaking roof; has severe site limitations and major accessibility issues; and requires nearby rented space; and
WHEREAS, Spencer-Penn Elementary suffers from declining enrollment, structural deterioration,
unhealthy presence of asbestos tiling, inability to expand on a small site, and insufficient electrical
supply for today's technology; and
WHEREAS, architectural consultants have concluded that John Redd Smith Elementary "has outlived its usefulness" and suffers from the presence of asbestos, poor roof, insufficient electrical supply, dangerous student drop-off and loading areas, and distribution of the academic program over three buildings; and
WHEREAS, it is the desire of the School Board to reassign students to different facilities with as
little disruption as possible and keep classmates together; and
WHEREAS, the School Board has studied these issues for a number of years and solicited and considered citizen input, including an Ad Hoc committee who agreed that the school system could no longer support four high schools and the comments and materials submitted to the School Board at the public hearing on December 11, 2001; and
WHEREAS, the School Board has determined that only two high school facilities have the capacity to accommodate the projected high school enrollment and improved instructional program; and
WHEREAS, the School Board recognizes a decision needs to be made as soon as possible so that students, employees, and parents can move forward with plans for the next school year, including student transition facilitation, personnel staffing, in-service training, bus route revisions, school renovations, financial planning, and other related activities; and
WHEREAS, after considering the aforementioned issues, the written and oral comments and materials received from the public, and the Report to the School Board dated December 6, 2001, the School Board is of the opinion that it must consolidate some schools in order to provide a reasonable program of education for the students of Henry County within the finite resources
available to it and that such consolidation will contribute to the efficiency of the school division.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the School Board orders that, effective with the 2002-2003 school year: Laurel Park High School and Magna Vista High School be consolidated and that the consolidated school be located at the Magna Vista site; Fieldale-Collinsville High School and Bassett High School be consolidated and that the consolidated school be located at the Bassett site; Spencer-Penn Elementary and Fieldale Elementary be closed and that students attending those schools be reassigned to the Carver School site; Carver Middle School students be moved to the facilities currently occupied by the Fieldale-Collinsville High School; Axton Middle School students be moved to the facilities currently occupied by the Laurel Park High School; Mt. Olivet Elementary be reconfigured as a primary school; Axton School be reconfigured as an elementary school; Irisburg Elementary School remain in operation unchanged
temporarily until enrollment in the eastern side of the county becomes somewhat more stabilized; John Redd Smith Elementary be closed and the students reassigned to Figsboro Elementary; and Figsboro Elementary students in the primary grades be assigned to Collinsville Primary.
NEWS RELEASE: After taking a poll of its members and participants and a random poll of citizens of Henry County, the Citizens For Responsive Government, issued a formal request to the Henry County Board of Supervisors to order an audit of the accounting records and systems of Henry County which includes the School Board and any areas where co-mingling of activities and funds occur with the PSA, the Public Service Authority of Henry County. The PSA has been in the news recently due to the embezzlement of approximately $800,000 by Sid Clower who held part-time positions of Administrator for Henry County and Administrator for the PSA. Even though it has been requested before that an audit be conducted of the School Board activities, lack of funds was given as the reason for not conducting an audit. In its request for an audit of the county books, the Citizens For Responsive Government pointed out to the Supervisors several areas from the 2002-03 Henry County Budget whereby the funds could be found to pay for an independent fraud specific audit.
The Citizens For Responsive Government was formed in December, 2001, when the Henry County School Board made an effort to push through a Reconfiguration Plan in which four high schools would be reduced to two, and several elementary schools would be closed using the reasons of low enrollment and no funds. Sue Harris DeBauche, Chairperson of the organization, commented, "The School Board arrogantly and rudely ignored the desires of the people of Henry County who had expressed an overwhelming opposition to their consolidation plans in at least four separate sets of Public Hearings over several years. Analyzing the records and the accounts of the school system, members of the Citizens group proved that the School Board had reached back 26 years to show low enrollment, that they had increased the school budget $15 Million in three years, and that there were reserves of almost $3 Million still in the budget when they were saying there was no money. Further, it came as a surprise to the Board of Supervisors and the personnel of Henry County to learn that they had taken a 10% decrease in their salaries in the year 1999-2000 so that teachers could have raises only to learn that the administration and other staff of the School Board received raises as well." The Citizens For Responsive Government, using petitions against the School Board Members and participation in meetings by Henry County Citizens fought the School Board until the Reconfiguration Plan was withdrawn.
Ms. DeBauche stated, "We are still very much distrustful of our School Board, and we believe they will try again in the near future to change and/or close our community schools. We believe there is tremendous abuse in the spending of our school funds, and we know there has been tremendous neglect particularly of our elementary schools. Now, with the embezzlement of funds of the PSA, of which Mr. Clower was the Administrator, and the hesitance of the Board of Supervisors to ensure that no such activities occurred within the county monies where Mr. Clower was the County Administrator, have only helped create more distrust among the people. An audit would expose any illegal act and anyone with unclean hands. Also, any new person coming into the system would enter knowing that there is nothing questionable they would inherit from past." The Citizens For Responsive Government Website can be found by typing in http://www.citizens.tripod.com in the address line of an Internet search engine.
Grievance Petition To Court To Stop Consolidation and closing of our community schools - August 2003
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