school board irons out budget to prepare for tuesday night vote _ loudountimes

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Monday, Apr. 23, 2012 by Laura Peters | 21 comments | Email this story

After five work sessions, Loudoun County School Board members may be coming to anagreement over the final figures in their fiscal 2013 budget.

During a work session April 23, Superintendent Dr. Edgar Hatrick informed members thatLoudoun County would be receiving more than $7.9 million from the state, leaving $331,000

yet to be restored into the budget.

Compensation plan and add-backs

Bill Fox’s (Leesburg) compensation plan, which passed April 16, would offer a $1,500increase for all scales, with the top step treated as a one-time bonus. It would also giveclassified positions a 50 cent per hour raise with a cost savings of $805,000 in fiscal 2013.Classified positions are positions that don’t require state certifications.

“This is a way to give a bonus to the top and give everybody a fair increase without acorresponding increase we have to cut from another program,” Fox said.

From the money being saved with Fox’s plan, it’s now possible to add back into the budget anassistant athletic director, guidance counselor, secretary, guidance secretary and a study hallteaching assistant position for Champe High School, totaling $282,779.

“These positions are absolutely needed. If we opened John Champe without these positions

we are doing a complete disservice to the school,” Jennifer Bergel (Catoctin) said.

Health care

Fox decided not to move forward on the health care plan he’d previously put forward. Hishealth care plan would have made LCPS cap the contribution to employees and pay them thesame, no matter which plan they decided to choose.

“At this point I think it’s definitely an issue that needs to be addressed and it’s a problem thatneeds to be fixed,” Fox said a fter discussing his plan with other School Board members andteachers. “Perhaps this is not the best venue in which to address that problem. I have becomeconvinced that this is more appropriate for a committee.”

Fox pointed out that almost 95 percent of employees are on one plan. It’s costing not only families more, but “millions and millions of dollars a year for LCPS,” Fox said.

“This is something that affects a lot of people and I am aware that it affects a lot of people. AsI’ve said before, one of the people it affects is me. I’m on the same health care plan. There’snothing I’m suggesting or proposing I’m not willing to go through with [for] my own family,”Fox said. “The reason why I’m pushing forward on this we are subsidizing one of two healthcare plans significantly more than the other plan. In the case of family level coverage we areactually subsidizing one plan $150 more than the other plan, which creates a disparity of therelative values of the plan.”

“I think the plan I put out there is a good faith effort to try and make health care asinexpensive as possible for LCPS employees and their families, while at the same timemaking it affordable for LCPS to be able to offer these fine health care plans for theiremployees,” he added.

The board voted unanimously for the health care plan to be further considered by the personalcommittee, then the finance committee.

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School Board irons out budget to prepare for Tuesday night vote





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Interactive white boards

Debbie Rose (Algonkian) motioned to not put 10 Promethean boards in teacher lounges orsmall specialized services classrooms in the new Frederick Douglass Elementary School andJohn Champe High School for a savings of $20,000. The smaller classrooms are mainly used for speech therapy or resource classes meant for fewer students.

Hatrick also pointed out that this savings would not affect the operating budget because themoney was from the bid to build the school and are specifically there due to the school’srequest.

“Just because we don’t install them there doesn’t mean that they won’t be available for their

services. I know it’s a small amount, but I think it’s important to be efficient with all of themoney,” Rose said.

Board members asked if providing the school with portable Promethean boards instead of installing them to a specific room would allow them to be used more. According to LCPS staff,movable boards don’t have the same quality and also have the risk of being broken by students or staff if bumped into.

Bergel brought up that many schools in the Leesburg area do not get enough technology support because they are older buildings. She also asked if the boards have been purchased -

which they have.

Rose withdrew her motion.

Further reductions

Hornberger motioned to cut $200,000 out of school board and operation, administration building wireless microphones and staff-wide part-time and overtime payments for a 5percent reduction.

Wireless microphones can be purchased with end of the year funds. Wireless microphones would also cut costs for LCPS and act as replacements for current units.

The motion carried with Bergel dissenting and Tom Reed (At-Large) abstaining.

The School Board has made $531,401 in reductions for their fiscal 2013 budget. Hornbergersuggested adding the savings back into the employee compensation plan - making sureclassified positions would receive another 10 cents. Staff will examine the proposal for the

board’s April 24 meeting.

The board was scheduled to address the much-debated cut of the Foreign Language inElementary Schools program and math facilitators during their regularly scheduled April 24

meeting. Follow ing those decisions, the board was expected to vote on reconciliations they’vemade during previous work sessions. These votes were scheduled for after the Times-Mirror’sdeadline.

Comments

Sun, Apr 29 at 07:16 AM by Ed | Report this comment

I think s pecial ed teachers according to this comment section belong in theclass not teaching it.

Wed, Apr 25 at 09:09 AM by dalandlord | Report this comment

piss on property values!

Tue, Apr 24 at 10:23 PM by Stumped | Report this comment

Teachers lounge? We don’t even have such a thing at Broad Run High School.

Tue, Apr 24 at 10:17 PM by Loudoun Education Association Alert | Report this comment

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Help! They’ve found out about the lounges! Go on there and comment and say it isn’t so!

Tue, Apr 24 at 08:33 PM by Satchmo | Report this comment

What ha ppened to the stern letter from the BOS saying that the State funds were not to be assumed usable by the SB?

Tue, Apr 24 at 07:58 PM by native loudouner | Report this comment

raises should be based on performance!!! look at the central office in Ashburn.The majority of the staff there start at 8am and I think its safe to say 70% of the staff average 15-20 minutes late every day and do hardly any work and just

visit and chitchat… Do they really deserve a rais e?

Tue, Apr 24 at 07:28 PM by John-Ashburn | Report this comment

@Creative uses. Please post the name of the school that was using thePromethean Board as a virtual fireplace in the lounge.

Tue, Apr 24 at 07:19 PM by WesternLoudoun | Report this comment

I know that many of the ignorant comments on here are meant to just stirthings up, but it saddens me that people who don’t know any better will readthe comments and believe they are truth.

The Promethean board bashing is getting really old. Actually, thePromethean boards are not in the teacher’s “lounge”, the teachers just eatlunch in a room with a Promethean board. Some teachers are really lucky andget to eat lunch in the hall because the “lounge” is a classroom (with aPromethean board) that is used by a cla ss.

Tue, Apr 24 at 06:50 PM by tired teacher | Report this comment

My special education classroom is too small when I need to have all thestudents on my caseload for a lesson or review. We use the teacher lounge andthe promethian board. We also use it for meetings. People need to stop

rushing to judgement.

Tue, Apr 24 at 03:51 PM by Creative uses | Report this comment

Promethan boards are used in teacher lounges to show a flickering fireplace(including the crackling sound effects) in order to provide a relaxingenvironment for teachers during their lunch break prior to returning to hecticclassrooms. End result is a benefit to students. Think out of the box folks! Nolie .. I’ve seen it!

These boards are installed all over the place in schools! I can ha rdly believeRose withdrew her motion. I remember the day Hatrick said he would like toknow about any boards that are not installed in classes (ie. they better not bein teacher lounges!) .. And, he suggested, there would be some explaining to

do if these were brought to his attention. Hmmm .. Wh ere is that webcast…

Tue, Apr 24 at 02:56 PM by John-Ashburn | Report this comment

The teacher’s lounge is used during the day for staff development. Similar totraining rooms at corporations. Additionally, the teacher’s lounge is slated fora classroom at many of the large elementary schools which is another reasonto equip the lounge with a board.

Tue, Apr 24 at 10:11 AM by Loudoun County | Report this comment

“why are promethean boards put in the teacher lounge?”

Because they double as big screen TVs





Tue, Apr 24 at 08:43 AM by The other "option" | Report this comment

@Shawn Pickerell -You forgot another option: Choose to support throughlocal taxation the continued high quality education of the children in thefastest growing county in VA (and sometimes in the entire USA) that is alsoalways in the top three for household income in the entire USA. Thereby,promoting our local workforce and economy and preserving our local property

values. Priorities, priorities.

Tue, Apr 24 at 08:22 AM by bowie | Report this comment

What ha ppened to cuts?

Tue, Apr 24 at 08:03 AM by Ronald Reagan | Report this comment

The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan.

Tue, Apr 24 at 07:58 AM by Shawn Pickrell | Report this comment

At some point, folks, you’re going to have to stop this penny-ante stuff anddecide if you’re okay with larger class es or lower teacher salaries.

Tue, Apr 24 at 07:54 AM by just doesn't make sense | Report this comment

why are promethean boards put in the teacher lounge? Will these boards beput in all the bathrooms too?

Tue, Apr 24 at 06:37 AM by Profe | Report this comment

You’re blaming Promethean boards? Have you seen the central office??

Tue, Apr 24 at 04:45 AM by West Bus | Report this comment

O.K., that was funny! Sad, but funny!

Tue, Apr 24 at 04:32 AM by Let it ride | Report this comment

In other news, shares of Promethean (PRW) have plummeted from over 72 to54. Chalkboards flying off the shelves.

Mon, Apr 23 at 10:23 PM by Ridiculous | Report this comment

The whiteboards are the poster child for the bloated spending of LCPS. No wonder my property taxes a re so high .

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school board irons out budget to prepare for tuesday night vote _ loudountimes

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