School Board E-mail December 8, 1997

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Subj: School Board Newsletter
Date: 97-12-08 15:52:53 EST
From: James.C.Klagge@bev.net (James C. Klagge)
To: "School Issues List"@vt.edu

Dear Friends,

I. Introduction (for those new to this list; others may skip to Section II): For almost two years, since I have been on the Montgomery County school board, I have been sharing my perspective on school issues in a sort of newsletter format with many people by e-mail. There are now over 400 addresses on my mailing list, and it has gotten mention in 2 national publications. It is NOT a list-serve, or a discussion group. You will not receive other people's comments on my mailings. But you may respond directly to me with questions or comments, and I will respond as appropriate. If you do not want to be on this list, please let me know and I'll be happy to delete you. I generally send out mailings about once a month, depending on what's happening. BEV did a study of my recipients last year, and there was an overwhelmingly positive response. If you know others who would like to be on this list, send me their e-mail addresses and I'm happy to add them. The list has grown by about 100 addresses since it began!

II. BMS Again? As I warned you in my last letter, the School Board will be reconsidering the BMS issue (for what one hopes is the last time) at our December 16th meeting. Largely because of new large growth projections for the Blacksburg area it seems prudent to reconsider whether we want only one (very) large middle school, and whether the growth projections for the high school don't merit serious consideration as well. With this issue in mind the administration has reconvened the Blacksburg FUSS committee, and augmented it with a number of additional people from the Blacksburg area to see if we can get a recommendation in light of all the new facts. This souped-up committee will be meeting Wednesday evening, December 10th, from 7pm to 9:30pm at Harding Ave. Elementary School (if necessary, a 2nd meeting will be held the following evening). There will be helpful presentations at the meeting to orient the group as well as others concerning our understanding of the situation. All interested people are invited to this meeting. Though it is not intended as a public hearing, you may want to attend, and/or you may want to pass along your views to someone on the new committee. The following is a list of people on the committee in case you wish to contact someone you know. (Otherwise skip right over this):

Original FUSS members: Gary McCoy, Martha Olsen, Susan DiSalvo, Lynn Bustle, Nancy Dowling, Wanda Chalmers, Suzan Mauney, Chris Wakely.

PTA Rep's: Leo Piilonen, Kelly Pleasant, Dawn LaPuasa, Beth Brown, Sharon Troy.

School Administrators: Paula Ely, Belva Collins, Dollie Cottrill, Ray Van Dyke, Rob Duckworth, Alfred Smith.

Teachers: Posey Jones, Warren Murphy

Central Office Administrators: Fred Morton, Jim Sellers

Other New Additions: Ron Secrist, Mark Verniel, William Brown, Roger Hedgepeth, Curtis Gray, Bill Ellenbogen, Ron Rordam, Wayne Worner, Judi Reemsnyder, Beth Obenshain.

Given that we can't do everything at once, it is a large and important issue for this community where to start. This is really one step in what should become an on-going process of keeping the FUSS plans up-to-date not only in terms of the current state of our facilities, but also in terms of the growth of the community, and the desires of the community concerning how to deal with the needs.

III. Charter Schools. It seems quite likely the state legislature will approve the option of charter schools in Virginia this session. In light of this I think it is important to work with this process to insure a good deal of local oversight of this process in ways that will not damage the overall prospects for public education. I think this can work in positive ways if it is done right. (It is not going to be any sort of voucher system.) If you have views on this issue, this is a good time to contact your delegate (Jim Shuler, for most of the county; Morgan Griffith, for the southern part of the county) and your senator (Madison Marye).

Thanks for your interest in public school issues,

Sincerely,

Jim Klagge
School Board Member
District F.

email: admin@gisone.com