Yesterday I posted an article claiming that the school division intended to build pools in the next 3 high schools it builds. The article, 6 pools in 3 schools, generated some degree of controversy. Two school board members, Mr Trenum and Chairman Johns, addressed the allegations from that article in their board comments last night.
Several months ago I addressed the PWC School Board about their plans to build a pool in the 12th high school. I asked how the annual cost of the pool could be justified when our classes are jammed to the gills, our schools are overcrowded, and our teachers are underpaid. Over the past several months I’ve acknowledged that there is a need for addition year round indoor pool facilities in our county – that the facilities at Chinn, Dale City, and The Freedom Center are simply inadequate for a community of our size. As I’ve explained multiple times to anyone willing to listen, I’m not opposed to a pool in the school, just to having the school division manage and pay for it. To me, pools, and the programs in them like Mom and Me swimming classes or aquatic aerobics, are the responsibility of the Park Authority and not the school division.
I’ve changed my mind.
I don’t think the school division should build pools in the 12th, 13th, and 14th high schools, no mater who manages them or pays for them.
Parents refusing to allow their children to be tested on state exams has been a hot topic of late across the nation. The Washington Post recently ran several stories about the issue focusing on the statutes in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC. One article stated that Students in the DC area can’t opt out state standardized tests. The article quoted Charles Pyle, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education, as stating, “all students in tested grade levels and courses are expected to participate in Virginia’s SOL assessment program, unless specifically exempted by state or federal law or by Board of Education regulations.”
While Mr Pyle is correct that there is no opt out provision in state law, as is often the case with education bureaucrats, he omitted a few things. While there is no opt out provision in state law, there is no law, policy, or regulation that prohibits parents from refusing to allow their children to be tested. Your child will receive a zero as their SOL exam scores, but he / she will not be forced to take any exam that you as a parent have refused to allow him / her to take.
For the past year I’ve been providing reports on what is discussed at school board meetings. At the start of each meeting the school board certifies in open session that nothing was discussed in closed session that ought to have been discussed in public session. Several people have asked about this recently, so I wanted to explain this a bit. My source for this explanation is the Digital Media Law Project’s page on Open Meeting Laws in Virginia.
School Board Report for May 1, 2013.
UPDATE: Please be advised that comments are not verbatim.
School Board Report for April 17, 2013.
Ms Jessie (Occoquan District) and Dr Otiaigbe (Coles District) were absent. All other members were present.
Loudoun County awarded a bid to build their next high school for $64 million. Stafford County awarded a bid to build their next high school for $59 million. PWCS projects that it will cost $100 million, excluding the pool, to build their next high school. The schools will house approximately the same number of students and the bids were awarded or will be awarded within 5 months of one another.
Why is PWCS projecting nearly $40 million more for a high school than Loudoun and Stafford’s actual cost?
