February 2010 Comcast Interview — Community Service

Question
Education is more than what happens in the classroom, and every day students in our schools are reaching beyond the classroom to help other people.

This is the 10th anniversary of the core values of Chesterfield County Public Schools and living those values means looking beyond yourself to see how you can be of service.

Question
Sometimes, students are helping other students in Chesterfield schools.

For many years, our high school students have returned to middle schools and elementary schools to mentor or tutor younger students. And we have several examples of middle school students going back to their elementary schools to serve as reading buddies for elementary students.

In the past few years, we’ve seen some of our schools “adopt” other Chesterfield schools that might need extra support. For example, art students from Cosby High provided a lot of art supplies for one of our elementary schools. And several of our schools have reached out to other Chesterfield schools to provide books or warm clothing or holiday food baskets on an ongoing basis.

Question
Other community service efforts are more global. For example, students at many Chesterfield schools support U.S. military men and women by collecting helpful items for them or by writing letters.

Yes. Students bring in books and snacks, video games and blankets, and much more to send to military personnel who are stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan or somewhere else overseas.

Sometimes, the schools don’t know exactly who will receive the items, but sometimes the schools have a specific soldier they know about through a student or a staff member, and they send things to his or her unit.

For example, Woolridge Elementary just recently collected items to send to Peter Fritz, who has been deployed overseas. This was a personal connection for Woolridge because he was one of the first students to attend Woolridge and some of his teachers are still teaching there today. Woolridge Elementary’s mascot is the Wildcats, so the school said this outreach was “from one Wildcat to another.”

Question
I believe that many schools are helping raise money and personal items to help Haiti.

This is such a good example of how Chesterfield students are part of a larger world. Our students reacted quickly to the terrible earthquake that devastated Haiti earlier this year. They have been holding coin drives and other fund-raisers help the survivors in Haiti. Several of our schools have held Hats for Haiti days – students and staff members make a contribution of a dollar or more for the privilege of wearing a hat during school and the money goes to help Haiti.

Another time that Chesterfield schools quickly reacted to a major disaster was just a few years ago when our students did the same types of things to help Hurricane Katrina survivors in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Question
How does community service prepare Chesterfield students for their futures?

By encouraging our students to engage in strong community service, we are preparing them to become good citizens. This will enable them to be empathetic to others and help them create a strong community foundation for themselves and others around them. Being a good and caring individual is the basis of democracy in our country.

FY2011 Financial Plan

We have great students and great employees who deserve the best support available, even in a bad economy. On Jan. 26, I presented the Superintendent’s Proposed FY 2011 Financial Plan. The plan was the result of recommendations from the Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Committee, which included business, parent, teacher and county representatives.

Over the past month, we have received comments and recommendations from the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors/School Board Budget Advisory Committee, school officials, teachers, parents and citizens. We have carefully considered all input and tonight I propose a revised plan that minimizes the impact of cuts on our students and on our employees.

In a difficult economy, the school division will endure its fair share of pain. However, I do not believe that cuts of $40-50 million, in addition to approximately $40 million in cuts and changes to the current budget, are fair or in the best interest of our children or community. Therefore, I am still presenting an FY 2011 operating budget that makes $26 million in cuts.

Changes in this revised proposal are aimed at

• lessening the financial burden placed on employees
• decreasing the number of positions eliminated

This proposal helps accomplish those goals by

• delaying some capital projects to lower the amount paid toward debt service
• reducing non-school division personnel costs such as grounds maintenance and reducing travel expenditures
• consolidating services through efficient use of space and resources
• increasing revenue through higher fees

There remains a need for additional funding, as the proposal’s expenditures still exceed the revenue projected to be available. We continue to seek additional resources from Chesterfield County and the Virginia General Assembly. We appreciate the commitment to public education demonstrated by our local and state government and remain hopeful that they will continue to provide adequate resources for public education as required by the Constitution of Virginia.

While these revisions save 105 jobs from the Jan. 26 proposal, we still must eliminate 200 positions (in addition to the approximately 250 positions eliminated in the FY 2010 budget). Our workforce, with growing demands, will be asked to work with fewer resources and for less pay.

We have worked hard to get where we are today. Now, we are at a crossroads. Do we want to seek continuous improvement, increased student achievement and a school division that benefits everyone in the community or will our community accept a cookie-cutter school division that offers much less for children? The choice is clear.

A very exceptional report

Chesterfield County Public Schools recently received a glowing exit interview from a team of auditors who visited the school division to review its exceptional education efforts. The review was for compliance with federal regulations and procedures. The visiting team of auditors held conferences, reviewed data and discussed 14 special education indicators from the commonwealth.

While a formal written report likely won’t be available until March, the exit interview yielded a great deal more positive comments than recommendations or findings. The team members noted that there is generally a limit on positive comments allowed in the report, so they would have to be selective and include the ones that were most powerful.

Among the comments

• The climates in all 10 schools visited was engaging and very inclusive.
• Inclusion was excellent throughout the school division.
• There was excellent organization in documentation and files.
• There were many outstanding programs ongoing within schools.

o Tomahawk Creek Middle’s Lunch and Learning
o Gates Elementary’s co-teaching and co-planning
o Bird and Manchester high schools’ transition focus

Overall, the review was excellent. This is extremely encouraging, as Dr. Kalkofen noted, considering the unusual amount of scrutiny from several parties in recent months.