Official Publication of the Alabama Association of School Boards
FALL 2006
SUPPORT AMENDMENT 2: 10 Absolute Mills Help Level Playing Field FACE TO FACE: Gov. Bob Riley & Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley MAKING AYP: A Short Distance on the Student Progress Ruler NSBA/Southern Region a Huge Success
How’s the Atmosphere in Your Schools? Are teachers and students eager to arrive and excited about learning? Or, are far too many just dragging themselves around, waiting for the school day to end? School climate is sometimes dismissed as the touchy-feely side of education. But it actually strikes at the heart of your mission: raising achievement for every child. Schools that act and feel like good places to learn and work achieve at higher levels even when demographics and other risk factors are working against them. Whether your schools’ climates are toxic or just anemic, this Alabama Association of School Boards Academy conference can help you: ■ Create a culture of high expectations ■ Find and use the tools for assessing your current climate ■ Learn what the world’s greatest managers do differently ■ Identify the climate & performance indicators that really matter Sunday, October 22 1:30 p.m. Registration Opens 4:15 p.m. WHERE WE LEARN: TOOLS FOR ASSESSING YOUR CLIMATE Dr. Brian Perkins Chair, Council of Urban Boards of Education Chair, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Southern Connecticut State University 5:45 p.m. Break 6:05 p.m. WHERE WE LEARN (continued) 7:15 p.m. Recess Dinner on your own Monday, October 23 7:00 a.m. Registration Opens 7:00 a.m. Breakfast Buffet 8:00 a.m. POTENT LEADERSHIP TEAM STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING A POWERFUL SCHOOL CULTURE Winton Goodrich, Associate Director, Vermont School Boards Association 9:45 a.m. Break 10:00 a.m. POTENT LEADERSHIP TEAM STRATEGIES (continued) 11:45 a.m. Adjourn
Alabama Association of School Boards Academy October 22-23, 2006 The Wyndrey Hotel • Birmingham
Academy Credit School board members will earn six hours’ credit in AASB’s School Board Member Academy and satisfy the Academy’s core curriculum requirement for Leadership to Create the Optimal Learning Environment. While all school board members earn credit for attending, you will not receive the Optimal Learning Environment core credit if you earned it at an earlier conference. Superintendents also may earn professional development credit toward certificate renewal.
“EARLY BIRD” WORKSHOP ROLES & RELATIONSHIPS: LEADERSHIP II (A) CORE COURSE Part of AASB’s Orientation for New Board Members and Superintendents Sunday, October 22, 2006 • 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
OFFICERS Jim Methvin . . . . . . . . . . . . . President Alabama School of Fine Arts Sue Helms . . . . . . . . . . President-Elect Madison City Florence Bellamy . . . . . Vice President Phenix City Tommy McDaniel . . . . . Past President Cherokee County STAFF Sandra Sims-deGraffenried, Ed.D. Executive Director Sally Brewer Howell, J.D. Assistant Executive Director Denise L. Berkhalter Director of Public Relations Editor, Alabama School Boards Susan Rountree Salter Director of Membership Services Lissa Astilla Tucker Director of Governmental Relations Debora Hendricks Administrative Assistant Donna Norris Administrative Assistant Kay Shaw Bookkeeper Lashana Summerlin Receptionist Tammy Wright Executive Assistant Aeryca Ezell Clerical Assistant BOARD OF DIRECTORS Patsy Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . District 1 Monroe County Steven Foster . . . . . . . . . . . . District 2 Lowndes County Jeff Bailey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . District 3 Covington County Katy S. Campbell . . . . . . . . . District 4 Macon County Jennifer Parsons . . . . . . . . . . District 5 Jefferson County Sue Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . District 6 Jacksonville Susan Harris . . . . . . . . . . . . . District 7 Winfield Dr. Charles Elliott . . . . . . . . . District 8 Decatur Laura Casey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . District 9 Albertville Sandra Ray . . . . . . . . . . . . State Board Tuscaloosa Robert A. Lane.. NSBA Board of Directors Lowndes County
Fall 2006 Vol. 27, No. 4
IN THIS ISSUE COVER STORY
Pandemic Flu Nothing to Sneeze At . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 National health experts say it’s just a matter of time before a novel virus spans the globe with high rates of illness and death. The pandemic flu of 1918 killed 675,000 in the United States and millions of people worldwide without the benefit of air travel and crowded public transportation. The threat of widespread and sustained transmission of bird flu from human to human is a reminder that Mother Nature’s fury tends to come in cycles. Are school systems and local communities prepared for a pandemic? FEATURES
Face to Face with Gov. Bob Riley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Face to Face with Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Urban Kids Say School Climate Needs Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Making AYP: A Short Distance on the Student Progress Ruler . . . 25 NSBA/Southern Region 2006 Conference a Huge Success . . . . . . . 26 DEPARTMENTS
Alabama Education News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Education & the Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Executive Director’s Perspective Support Amendment 2: 10 Absolute Mills Help Level Playing Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 At the Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Potpourri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 PUBLICATION POLICY Alabama School Boards is published by the Alabama Association of School Boards as a service to its member school boards. The articles published in each issue represent the ideas or beliefs of the writers and are not necessarily the views of the Alabama Association of School Boards. Subscriptions sent to members of school boards are included in membership dues, and complimentary copies are sent to public school principals throughout the state. Additional subscriptions can be obtained by contacting AASB. Entered as third-class mail at Montgomery, AL. Permit No. 34. Alabama School Boards is designed by J. Durham Design, L.L.C., Montgomery, AL. Address all editorial and advertising inquiries to: Alabama School Boards, Editor, P.O. Drawer 230488, Montgomery, AL 36123-0488. Phone: 334/277-9700. Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 3
Alabama Education News Voters Say No to School Tax Renewal Voters in Escambia County chose not to renew a total of 4 mills in ad valorem taxes benefiting county schools in September special elections. The 1-mill countywide tax and 3-mill district tax had been in place for more than eight decades and were last renewed by voters more than 30 years ago, according to the Brewton Standard. Had voters approved the taxes, they would have been extended for another 28 years. Escambia County and Brewton school systems were depending on the property tax dollars to continue school improvements. Though Escambia County schools lost 4 mills, including the 1 mill it shared with Brewton schools, voters in Brewton renewed a 3-mill tax that goes to three schools within the city limits. Brewton’s loss amounts to about $70,000, but Escambia County’s new Superintendent
William Hines said the voters’ rejection means $1.2 million will have to be trimmed from the system’s budget by Oct. 1, 2007. Hines became superintendent July 1.
Optimal Learning Environment Focus of Oct. 22-23 AASB Conference
Selma and Dallas County School Taxes Renewed
The Alabama Association of School Boards training conference at The Wynfrey Hotel features the theme “Climate Control: Making Schools Great Places to Learn and Work.” Attendees will learn strategies for measuring student and staff morale and how those and other intangibles affect student achievement. The conference goal is to help participants learn how to transform schools into good places to learn and work in order to raise achievement for every child.
Voters renewed a countywide and district taxes for Dallas County and Selma City Schools in August special elections. The voters continued a 3.5-mill and a 5mill countywide tax that are shared by Selma and Dallas County schools. Voters also renewed Dallas County schools’ 3mill district tax and Selma schools’ 3-mill district tax. Dallas County Superintendent Dr. Fannie Major-McKenzie told the Selma Times-Journal county schools get about $1.2 million from the countywide taxes and about $400,000 from the district tax.
October is Statewide Parent Visitation Month Thomas Falkner, a student at Susan Moore Elementary School in Blount County, had a vision. That vision became a poster, and now his artwork graces billboards around the state. Falkner is the winner of the state Department of Education’s 2006 Family Poster Contest. His poster now symbolizes the heart of Statewide Parent Visitation Month celebrated throughout October. This year’s theme is “Children Are the Future: Share the Vision.” School boards across the state will invite and welcome parents to their schools in an effort to increase parental involvement. Parents are encouraged through a variety of programs, events and communications to come to their children’s schools and learn more about parent-school partnerships and what key role parents play in their children’s education. For more information on Statewide Parent Visitation Month, visit www.alsde. edu and click on Hot Topics or contact Judy Bohannon at 334/242-8199.
4 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
Perkins
Goodrich
On the roster of speakers are Dr. Brian K. Perkins, chair of the Council of Urban Boards of Education and of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Southern Connecticut State University, and Winton Goodrich, assistant director of the Vermont School Boards Association. Perkins, author of a recently-released study of school climate for CUBE, will talk about “Where We Learn: Tools for Assessing Your Climate,” and Goodrich will discuss “Potent Leadership Team Strategies for Building a Powerful School Culture.” Also, on Oct. 22, the AASB School Board Member Academy will offer a workshop titled “Roles and Relationships: Leadership II(A)” at the Wynfrey. The 2-4 p.m. workshop is the second installment of AASB’s four-part orientation track, and relatively new school board members and superintendents attending the workshop will learn how to work effectively with the school board attorney and each other. Workshop attendees will also learn tips for
cultivating a strong working relationship between the board and superintendent. The conference is sponsored by AASB in conjunction with its School Board Member Academy. Established in 1986, the academy is an ongoing school for school board members designed to improve skills and knowledge in all areas of boardmanship. For conference information, contact AASB at 334/277-9700, toll free in-state at 800/562-0601 or visit www.theaasb.org.
Awards Seek Alabama’s Top Youth Volunteers Encourage young Alabama volunteers to compete for $1,000 and a paid trip to the nation’s capital for outstanding service they’ve given to their communities. The 12th annual Prudential Spirit of Community Awards will honor students in grades 5-12 who exemplify community spirit for outstanding acts of volunteerism. Students must submit completed applications by Oct. 31. The 2007 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards application is available online at www.prudential.com/spirit or by calling toll-free 888/450-9961. Application forms also are available from middle and high schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H agents, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs and member Volunteer Centers of the Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Center National Network. In February 2007, Alabama’s top two candidates — one middle school and one
Registration Open for 2007 NSBA Conference Early registration discounts are available through Dec. 27 for the National School Boards Association’s April 14-17, 2007 conference in San Francisco. All who register by Oct. 13 will have their confirmation identification numbers in time to register for housing, which opens Oct. 20. Confirmed speakers include Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice, and Golden Globe winning actress and best-selling children’s book author Jamie Lee Curtis. Early bird workshops planned for Friday, April 13, include training on such topics as school security and emergency planning, positive board leadership in a standards-based environment, middle school reform and many others. NSBA Conference 2007 also features a mentor program for first-time attendees who may be traveling alone to the conference. Interested mentees or veteran conference-goers who wish to be mentors may sign up for the program at the conference Web site. To register or find out more, visit www.nsba.org/conference or call 800/950-6722.
high school student — will be named state honorees. Each state honoree receives a $1,000 cash award, an engraved silver medallion and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian on May 5-8, 2007. All state honorees are eligible to become one of 10 national honorees, who will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations and $5,000 grants from the Prudential Foundation for nonprofit, charitable organizations of their choice. Sponsored nationwide by Prudential Financial, Inc., in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards have honored more than 70,000 youth volunteers at the local, state and national levels since 1995.
by mail to the National Student/Parent Mock Election, P.O. Box 36653, Tucson, AZ 85704; by fax to 520/742-3553; or by phone 520/877-VOTE (8683). Free curriculum materials, for grades K-12, are also on the Web site. The National Student/Parent Mock Election is the nation’s largest and most successful voter education project. Students and parents in American schools around the globe cast 4,044,885 votes. Since the program began 26 years ago, almost 50 million students and parents have participated in the project. (Continued on page 7)
Nov. 2 is National Mock Election Day America’s largest voter education program, the National Student/Parent Mock Election, now in its 26th year, is staging its 2006 Mock Election on Nov. 2, five days before the congressional elections. Votes will be cast by students, parents, teachers and participants in all 50 states and in American schools around the world on state and national issues and candidates. To participate, educators and parents can enroll at www.nationalmockelection.org, Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 5
Education&the Law Contracting with Chief School Financial Officers By J. R. Brooks, Attorney, Lanier, Ford, Shaver & Payne
T
he new School Fiscal Accountability Act requires school boards
to hire a chief school financial officer. The CSFO works under the direct supervision of the superintendent Brooks
(even though he is neither appointed nor removed by the superintendent) and has a fiduciary responsibility to the board. The CSFO Must: • Verify the receipt of all funds to which the board is entitled; • Verify the payment of funds upon the written order of the superintendent; • Keep an accurate record of receipts and expenditures and provide such information to the superintendent and board; • Make reports required by law by the board and by the state board; • Personally notify in writing each board member and the superintendent of any transaction which the CSFO deems to be non-routine, unusual, without legal authorization or not in compliance with the fiscal management policies of the board. The president of the board must see that this notification is recorded in the minutes; and • Be bonded in the amount determined by the state Board of Education. Chief school financial officers — who must meet minimum job qualifications established by the local and state boards of education — are appointed by the local board of education in consultation 6 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
with the superintendent. If the CSFO position remains vacant for 30 days and the local board is not actively seeking to fill the position, the state superintendent of education designates the CSFO. Unless the CSFO has been put in place by the state superintendent under provisions of the law, a majority vote of the school board could remove the CSFO without superintendent recommendation. While the statute makes no reference to contracts between the board and CSFOs, it will be very difficult to obtain qualified CSFOs if the position remains solely an employee-at-will of the board with no job protection. Further legislation is needed to clarify contracting issues, but here are some thoughts for developing a contract: • The board enters into a contract with CSFO setting a probationary period of approximately one year and during this time the CSFO is an at-will employee of the board, giving the board the authority to unilaterally remove the CSFO upon payment of minimal compensation (perhaps one month).
• After the probationary period, the CSFO and board enter a contract with a set term (perhaps three years) requiring the board to pay a lump sum of salary to the CSFO upon termination earlier than the contract period if the board exercises its statutory authority to unilaterally remove the CSFO for any reason other than cause. (The lump sum payment could be, for example, the lesser of one year’s salary or the compensation due for the remainder of the term of the contract). • CSFOs who have already earned non-probationary status should not be offered contracts unless the CSFO voluntarily relinquishes his or her non-probationary status in return for a contract for a set term that provides for lump sum compensation, should the board, for reason other than cause, exercise it unilateral authority to remove the CSFO. Still, whether such a contract is lawful, remains a serious issue. • The contract with the CSFO could provide that the CSFO voluntarily relinquishes any non-probationary status he or she may earn for duties outside the statutorily defined duties of a CSFO in return for the right, upon premature termination of the contract by unilateral action of the board for reason other than cause, a payment of a lump sum payment. This raises questions, however, regarding the ability of an employee to waive substantive rights under the Fair Dismissal Act. There is longstanding authority in Alabama that substantive tenure rights may not be waived.
Issues Raised by the New Act 1. The status of CSFOs who became non-probationary prior to June 1, 2006: Possible answers: • CSFOs retain non-probationary status. But, the school board now may unilaterally relieve the CSFO of his or her statutory CFSO duties. If that happens, the former CSFO may very well retain the same level of pay for whatever remaining duties he or she has unless the board initiates partial termination proceedings to reduce a CSFO’s pay or transfers him or her. The CSFO would have the right to contest both the partial termination and the transfer under the Fair Dismissal Act. • CSFOs hired after June 1, 2006, and those who did not earn nonprobationary status before June 1, 2006, cannot earn non-probationary status as a CSFO. However, many CSFOs have additional duties beyond those outlined in the statute and probably can earn non-probationary status in regard to those duties beyond the scope of the statutorily defined duties of a CSFO. 2. Whether the law requires local school boards to take additional action to appoint a CSFO if the board already has designated or appointed a CSFO prior to June 1, 2006. Probable Answers: • The law does not require additional action as long as the earlier appointment is reflected in school board minutes. • As soon as possible, local superintendents should recommend to the board and the board should act to change the CSFO title of any employee performing the duties of a CSFO, and the CSFO’s job description should be changed so it accords with the act. ▲
Alabama Education News... Continued from page 5
Alabama Students Outscore National SAT Averages Reading, writing and math are areas in which Alabama’s college-bound SAT takers have once again excelled past the national average. Results released recently by The College Board indicate Alabama high school students taking the 2006 SAT Reasoning Test college entrance exam scored above the national average for the 15th consecutive year. Students scored above the national average in each minority group. Overall, Alabama students earned a critical reading average score of 565 compared to the national average of 503; a math average of 561 compared to 518 nationally, and a writing average of 565 compared to the nation’s 497. Collectively, the 3,879 graduating Alabama seniors taking this year’s SAT had a total score of 1,691 (up from 1,126 last year) compared to the national average of 1,518 (up from 1,028 last year). Of the graduating Alabama seniors who took the SAT, the percentage of female students was 54 percent, up slightly from last year at 52 percent. The findings indicate 23 percent of minority students took the SAT, which is even with last year’s numbers but up three percent from 2002. The number of Alabama students taking Advanced Placement (AP) exams increased a significant 7.8 percent from last year, with 7,774 students taking the test. SAT 2006 data indicates the three most popular intended college majors for Alabama’s college-bound females are health/allied services, business and commerce, and social sciences and history. For college bound males, the popular majors are engineering and engineering technologies, health professionals and allied services, and business and commerce. For more information, visit www. collegeboard.com
Replica of Model Solar System Available to Schools/Communities In 2001, the Voyage scale model of the solar system was permanently installed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education is now making replicas of the exhibition available for permanent installation in communities across the United States. The Voyage program was designed to take an entire community to the frontiers of exploration. Undertaken in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution and NASA, Voyage portrays the sun, planets and largest moons at one ten-billionth actual size. Complementing the exhibit are activity guides promoting use of the exhibition as a Solar System laboratory; grades K-13 lessons on solar system science; workshops for educators; and programs for students, families and the public. Voyage can be installed at a cost on campus, providing outreach opportunities to the community. For more information, visit www.voyagesolarsystem.org or contact Stacy Hamel at 202/689-1295 or by e-mail at shamel@usra.edu. ▲
Class Size Data Available Online If you’re getting questions from the public about class sizes, direct them to the new Class Size Analysis Reports section of the state Department of Education’s Web site. The site publicly displays class size enrollment data by system, school, teacher and grade for each Alabama public school. Available at www.alsde.edu/ ClassSizeAnalysis/default.aspx, the Web page uses data reported from school systems to the SDE. For more information, call 334/242-9755.
Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 7
FACE TO F ACE with Gov. Bob Riley Jim Methvin, president of the Alabama Association of School Boards and Alabama School of Fine Arts school board vice chairman, met with Gov. Bob Riley at the state Capitol in August for the latest installment in a series of features recapping conversations between state leaders and school board members serving as part of AASB's grassroots Leader to Leader program. A trusted resource to lawmakers and government officials on education policy and issues, Leader to Leader also furthers school board members' role as a voice for schoolchildren and public education. ▲ Methvin: Where did you grow up, and where did you go to
school? ■ Riley: I grew up and lived all my life in a little town called Ash-
land in Clay County. I went to elementary and high school in Clay County and all my kids did, too. We’ve been there now 26 years. We have a farm that we raise cattle on now, and the first pastor of the little church right at the foot of the hill was my great, great grandfather in the 1840s. My family actually goes back six generations in Clay County. ▲ Methvin: When you made the transition from Congress to
governor, was that an easy transition for you? ■ Riley: It hasn’t been as much an easy transition as it is so com-
pletely different from what I did in Washington. In Washington, you’re one of 535 people, 536 counting the President. Everything there is very slow and very deliberative. In Congress, you have to build a consensus to get anything through. You’re a part of moving something forward. Here in the governor’s office, it is day-to-day direct contact with people who honestly can change the way this state operates. When I started to run for governor, I went and talked to Tom Ridge (the first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and a former congressman who served as Pennsylvania’s governor from 1995 to 2001). Tom Ridge had served in Congress on the same committees that I served on before he ran for governor, and I asked him what the transition was like and if I should do it. He said, ‘Do it because the first week you’re in office as governor you’ll make more decisions than you did all the time that you were in Congress.’ And he was right. It’s a totally different job. 8 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
▲ Methvin: As you know, school boards stay focused on K-12
public education throughout the year. We know you are a most strong supporter of K-12. Can you tell us a little bit about when you first started as governor and the difference you see now and four years ago in your support or your interest in K-12? ■ Riley: We have pockets of excellence in this state. We had the best school in the United States up in Irondale last year (Jefferson County IB High School as ranked in Newsweek’s “Best 100 High Schools” edition), and it was second best this year. If you go into certain sections of Alabama, I would put our schools up against any anywhere in the nation. But, it has always bothered me that we have habitually ranked 48th, 49th and 50th with our national test scores. It’s been that way all of my life, and I have never understood why. Well, after I became governor, we really began to look at it and found good and bad news. The bad news is we were always last, and the good news is we knew how to fix it. This is evident when you have a program like the Alabama Reading Initiative and you see the phenomenal results they’re getting with it in schools. Calcedeaver Elementary School down in Mobile is an example. It’s nearly all Native American with 100 percent of the kids on free and reduced lunch. Put the reading program in, and they were ranked No. 3 in reading throughout the entire state last year. We’ve made the stereotypical excuses that kids don’t succeed because they don’t have the social structure, the environment or the parental support others have. Put the reading program in place, and with the same parents, same (Continued on page 10)
FACE TO F ACE with Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley AASB Vice President Florence Bellamy recently spoke with Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, the Democratic candidate for governor. The Phenix City school board member interviewed Alabama's first female lieutenant governor as part of the AASB Leader to Leader program's Face to Face series. The interviews for Alabama School Boards magazine facilitate communication between grassroots education advocates and government leaders. ▲ Bellamy: We’re so happy you’ve allowed us to interview you.
I’d like to start by asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself. ■ Baxley: I grew up in the very southeastern part of the state on a farm in Pansey, Ala., and attended Houston County public schools. It was in Pansey that I learned to lean on my faith to get me through difficult times. My faith and simple rural upbringing shaped the values I maintain today. I started my career in public service in city government. I also worked in real estate in 1993 in Birmingham and was the No. 1 agent with a company with 400 agents. Later in my career, I really did some soul searching and asked myself, ‘Can you just follow your heart and do what you want to do?’ I served for eight years as Alabama’s Treasurer. In 2002, I became the first female ever elected lieutenant governor of the state of Alabama. Now, I’m the Democratic nominee for governor. In every step of my career, I’ve really worked hard to see how far I could go. I am in state government because I like to be in a position to help people and do things for my state. The position from which I can do that the best is governor. It’s a natural climb in my career. ▲ Bellamy: I live in Phenix City, Ala., which is just across the
bridge from Columbus, Ga. I was surprised to hear you have some Columbus, Ga., ties. ■ Baxley: (Laughs) Let me tell you, the only time I’ve ever lived outside of Alabama in my life is the two years after I got married very young and moved to Columbus, Ga. I was a kid fresh off the farm. I got a job at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer as a
switchboard operator and later transferred to the accounting department. From there I went to work for the city of Columbus, Ga. That was the first time I ever worked in the public sector. I absolutely loved working for the city, and I loved public service. Very shortly thereafter, I moved back home to Dothan. ▲ Bellamy: Was the realtor-to-political-leader transition an easy
one for you? ■ Baxley: I found my work as a realtor to be a great benefit to me
in the political arena. One of the necessary traits of a successful realtor is the ability to really listen to determine the needs of your customer and then working to fulfill those needs based on what is available and what they can afford. Those same skills — listening closely to your constituents and working to find solutions to their needs — have proven invaluable to me as I moved into political leadership. ▲ Bellamy: Do you think determining a start date for schools is
a state issue or a local issue? ■ Baxley: My basic feeling is that things that can be handled on
a local level ought to be. Let people decide their own business as much as they possibly can. I don’t know all the arguments for the state decreeing when you can start school. I have been given the economic reason about vacations, summer camps and about more tourism and lodging business and so forth. I need to delve into this more because I don’t know the difference in dollars it means to the General Fund. But, I lean toward letting the people on a local level decide what they are going to do and what’s best for them. (Continued on page 11) Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 9
Face to Face: Gov. Bob Riley...
▲ Methvin: You have the infrastructure. You have several state
Continued from page 8
Board of Education initiatives — the four-by-four curriculum (fours years of mandatory English, mathematics, social studies and science), ARI, the math, science and technology initiative. You have statewide school board members’ interest. It’s all there. It’s just a matter of pulling it all together. ■ Riley: You’ve got to convince the people of Alabama that it’s not only possible, but we really can move the numbers dramatically. Go into any school where a parent has a kid who couldn’t read but is now reading above grade level and try to take ARI out. They’ll fight you for it. Same thing is true with math and science, but we’ve got to push it. If not, it’s not going to go into the classroom. It’s kind of like ACCESS. With $45 million we could put ACCESS in every high school in this state. It’s a distance learning concept that works. I was up in Madison recently, and there was a teacher teaching Latin to her class in Tuscumbia, two classes in Madison and one at Alma Bryant in Mobile all at one time. What was so significant about the whole experience is that none of those kids would’ve been able to take Latin if it hadn’t been for the distance learning program.
community, same building and same teachers, these kids can start tying more affluent schools in reading scores. We knew how to solve the problem, but you had to fund it. We can do the same with math and science that we’re doing with reading. ▲ Methvin: How do you address the disparities? ■ Riley: There is still such a disparity of opportunity in the
rural areas. In Mountain Brook, you can take 20 advanced placement courses, but in Clay County you take maybe one. Lineville doesn’t offer any. It’s the same thing in much of the Black Belt. We have kids who are going to these schools and who are as bright, as capable and talented as any kids in the country. But, they will never know if they have a natural affinity for a foreign language, because foreign language or other courses are not offered. This is why you have to make strategic comprehensive investments in programs, such as ACCESS Distance Learning (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students Statewide) that you know affect results. It has been a real learning experience for me, but I told people that in the last four years we built a new economic model, and today we’re leading the country. If we build a new education model based on data-driven results, I honestly believe Alabama’s can be one of the most effective education systems in America. If you keep doing things the way you used to do it, you never will.
About Gov. Bob Riley Alabama’s 52nd governor was sworn into office in January 2003 after serving three terms in Congress from 1996-2002 representing Alabama’s third district. Underpinning his campaign was a promise to fight for better education. Prior to launching his political career, Riley was a businessman and operated a trucking company, a car dealership, a real estate company, a grocery store and a small pharmacy. In 2003, Governing magazine named Riley “Public Official of the Year,” and Time magazine described him as one of the nation’s “most courageous politicians.” This year during Riley’s tenure, the heralded Alabama Reading Initiative received enough funding to expand into every K-3 classroom in the state. He also strongly supports the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative and ACCESS, a new distance learning program. The Clay County native raises cattle and lives on a small farm in Ashland where he was born and raised. Riley and his wife, Patsy, have four children and five grandchildren.
▲ Methvin: How does your role as governor and your interac-
tion with the legislature impact education? ■ Riley: It has a tremendous impact. I think we’ve brought
more reform to education in the last four years than any time in the last 20 or 30. I really do believe that we have changed the whole education model in the state of Alabama. We’re doing today what they did in North Carolina 12 or 15 years ago and what Texas did 10 or 11 years ago. We’re late getting there, but the reason we could do it and get it through the legislature in this last session is that we had the ability and revenues necessary to give teacher raises, keep benefits in place and expand effective education programs at the same time. There will come a time when you have to make a decision whether you’re going to continue to fund these programs even when it’s more difficult to do so. The legislature has to not only understand the need to continue these programs, but they’ve got to become advocates for it. ▲ Methvin: What do you feel are other key issues in education?
You’ve mentioned ACCESS, ARI and AMSTI (the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative). ■ Riley: Two other things. We started a state congress on school leadership. Go into any school, and by the time you walk into the door you can tell how effective the principal is. Too often we’ve just taken people out of the classroom and moved them into administration. If somebody wants to be in administration, we should give them a clear career path, and every time they progress and move up through the levels, you increase their pay and reward them for the extra work they do and the results they get. There needs to be a career path that leads you to the point of becoming a master principal. At that level, principals (Continued on page 12)
10 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
Face to Face: Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley... Continued from page 9 ▲ Bellamy: You’ve made it quite clear that one of the things
you would think about as governor would be to repeal the annual reappraisals. ■ Baxley: That’s correct. I am on record stating emphatically that I will revoke Gov. Riley’s executive order for annual reappraisals, and let me tell you why. I feel Gov. Riley operated outside his authority — and contrary to law — when he unilaterally ordered annual reappraisals. He bypassed the voters, whom I believe should be the ones making the final decisions on ad valorem taxation in Alabama. The people of this state feel betrayed by the fact that one individual by a stroke of the pen can change taxes and cause taxes for them to be higher. It is the way that it is done that I disapprove of. ▲ Bellamy: School systems now are using those resources to
try to meet the needs of schoolchildren and to provide teachers with the resources they need. ■ Baxley: I understand that. It does not make it OK, in my opinion, to put a tax on the people without them agreeing to it. ▲ Bellamy: If you are elected governor and are successful in
getting the reappraisals done every four or five years, what are you going to tell local school systems once those monies are gone? Where can they make up those losses? ■ Baxley: That is something that will have to be resolved. I believe we can address the funding needs of local schools through existing revenues in the Education Trust Fund with-
About Lucy Baxley Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, the Democratic candidate for governor, grew up on a farm in Houston County, where she attended public schools. In 1994, Baxley made her first run for office, serving for eight years as Alabama’s treasurer. In 2002, Baxley became the first woman ever elected to serve as Alabama's lieutenant governor. During her term, she fought off raids of Alabama’s Education Trust Fund and earned the Friend of Education award from the Alabama Education Association, their highest honor. As lieutenant governor, Baxley serves as the presiding officer for the Alabama Senate and serves on more than 30 state boards and authorities. Baxley has worked at the city, county and state levels of government and in the offices of a probate judge and a district attorney. She served as executive assistant to the attorney general of Alabama for six years, in an administrative position for the state Department of Transportation and in a real estate career in Birmingham before running for office.
out continuing this ill-conceived mandate. Again, it is the way annual reappraisals got there that I find wrong. We have many, many needs in this state, not just in the Education Trust Fund but in the General Fund. But, those needs should be filled by the people saying I agree to do it and not by somebody saying you will do it without having a say in it. ▲ Bellamy: The 10-mill issue will soon come before voters in
the fall. What’s your position on having 10 absolute mills of property tax in every school system go toward funding education in Alabama? ■ Baxley: Before we can ever begin to move Alabama’s public schools toward the top of national rankings, we must persuade our citizens that the first step to improving local schools is by assuming local responsibility for those schools. A 10-mill minimum is, by all definitions, minimal local support. We can all look at those Alabama school systems deemed to be our best and see that those communities support their schools at a level well above the 10 mills before the voters in November; however, I believe that it must be left up to the voters — for this and all other similar proposals — as to whether taxes are to be increased. When the voters are convinced of the need to assume local responsibility for their schools, I am confident they will make the right decisions. ▲ Bellamy: Do you think the public is ready to support the 10-
mill issue this fall? ■ Baxley: We won’t know until that vote is cast. It is a matter of persuading people that this is an elevation of quality that you want enough to part with some of your money for. ▲ Bellamy: Indeed we do have many needs in education. Give
me a sense of what your spending priorities for the education budget would be. ■ Baxley: We have to address the conditions in the classroom and the discouraging issues teachers must deal with to be able to teach. Let’s address discipline and parental support and get them the supplies, materials, equipment and continuing education they need. How do we address the learning environment and the conditions in the classroom? We need dedicated teachers who are in the profession for the right reasons out of a passion to be in the field. We need to require high standards. I’m not saying this does not exist, but the school administration must create an environment that is supportive and encouraging to the teaching staff in the schools. I’ve visited several schools, but I was deeply influenced by Mae Eanes Middle School in the poorest section of Mobile. I went into the reading lab where the teacher’s room was colorfully painted and pretty. I complimented her, and she said she and her husband painted it. She had computers and programs she used to teach reading at this school that starts at 6th grade. She said, ‘I get kids in here who come in reading on a 1.5 grade level, and in one quarter, I can have them reading on grade level.’ I said to her how rewarding it must be to real(Continued on page 13) Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 11
Face to Face: Governor Bob Riley...
▲ Methvin: Do you think annual property reappraisals, rather
Continued from page 10
than reappraising property every four years, are good for education? ■ Riley: I’m probably going to surprise you with this answer. There are certain areas annual reappraisals are going to help. There are certain areas in which it will have absolutely no effect. In Clay County, for example, where property values really haven’t changed that much through the years, it’s not going to make that much of a difference. As far as the state budget, it is irrelevant if you look at the small percent of additional dollars that come in from reappraisals every year — about $6 million on a $6 billion budget. We’re doing it because the law says to do it. Overall, the first year or two of it (annual reappraisals) may make a difference, but in the long term rather than seeing it go up 10 percent of the time it may go up 1 or 2 percent of the time. In certain areas, that’ll make a difference, and in other areas it won’t. As far as state funding, it will have absolutely no effect.
should make more, should benefit from continuing education and should be judged and rewarded based on merit and results. If you do that, you create a reservoir of talent out there, so you don’t have to just pick people who have never had the type of institutional training that allows them to become great in their field.
If school board members in the state of Alabama ever understood how powerful they were, you could almost dominate the conversation here. I don’t know many school boards that don’t have the leaders of the community serving on their boards. If they ever can get to the point that you can agree locally and in a statewide issue and effectively lobby your legislator, your senator, your representative down here, you can pass anything. — Gov. Bob Riley ▲ Methvin: I and others from AASB, including Dr. Sandra
Sims deGraffenried, were on the Governor’s Congress on School Leadership. We’re glad to see it coming into fruition. ■ Riley: My second point is that we must also do the same thing with teachers. It concerns me when somebody tells me that after five years, half of our teachers leave for other fields. Well, if within a few years you’ve pretty well capped out in what you can do with your profession, there isn’t a lot of incentive left to stay in it. Everyone knows that there are excellent teachers in our education system — as good as you’ll find anywhere. The reality is, however, that we have some who are very good teachers and we have some who aren’t. We need to award excellence at every opportunity. So, we need that same type of career path for teachers, one with gradations that lead teachers to become mentors and eventually master teachers. (2003 National Teacher of the Year) Dr. Betsy Rogers is heading up the Governor’s Commission on Quality Teaching to try to develop the same type of program for teachers — a program that rewards excellence and hard work and gives teachers the opportunity through ACCESS to continue their education with less difficulty. 12 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
▲ Methvin: We see that it allows county governments and school
systems to plan better and know what to expect instead of waiting every four years. So, it’s a positive aspect that the school boards association thinks is valuable. The next question I have for you is related to the ballot in November, and that’s the 10 mill issue that provides a minimum tax base for all of our systems. Do you think the voters are going to support that? ■ Riley: Unless you get the counties to buy into it — unless they’re a participant in it — I just don’t believe you could ever coerce somebody into doing something they don’t want to do and be effective. There are not but 25 or 30 systems that don’t have it (10 absolute mills) now. For the more affluent counties to come in and say we’re going to make you do it whether you want to or not, well I think sometimes it may even be counterproductive. I think the best thing we could probably do is get a group together and go into the counties and sit there and talk it through. Again, most of the counties that have that low rate — even if you did go to 10 mills — it’s not really going to mean any significant amount of dollars going into those systems. I still believe in local control. I believe in local leadership and local initiatives if it’s self-generated, if it’s something that they propose and support and push. I just think that’s so much more effective. The other way may give them a little more money, but that’s not what we need. We need people to do it for all the right reasons. I think that begins with a different mindset in each one of these counties that says, ‘We want to do it because we want a better life for our kids.’You go in and you explain to them, ‘If you do this, I can get you another reading coach. If you do this, we can get somebody to come in and help with your discipline. If you’ll do this, we’ll try to cut your dropout rate in half.’ To have a tangible result for doing something is probably going to be the most successful approach in the long run. (Continued on page 14)
Face to Face: Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley... Continued from page 11
ize the difference she’s making in those children’s lives. She said, ‘No, actually, it’s very sad. We only reach a fraction of them, and I know the others could be helped.’ So, what’s happening to those kids when we don’t rescue them and get them on the right path? We really want these children to get out of school and be productive citizens. We certainly don’t want them to be a burden to the state and the penal system, but it concerns me that we don’t understand now is the time when we can head that off. ▲ Bellamy: During your tenure as lieutenant governor, what edu-
cation issue has been your greatest challenge and what education accomplishment has been your greatest joy? ■ Baxley: The greatest challenge was overcoming the effects of proration. The greatest joy was seeing the legislature this year pass a fiscally responsible budget that repaid the Rainy Day funds, budgeted more resources for school nurses, physical education and special education — all of which were undercut in the governor’s proposal — and boosted education employee salaries. ▲ Bellamy: You’re Alabama’s lieutenant governor and by virtue
of your office, you are the president and presiding officer of the Alabama Senate. Tell us a little about your responsibilities and what impact you have and have had on education in this state. ■ Baxley: As you stated, I serve as the presiding officer of the Senate, and as such I am precluded from actively participating in debate on the issues. I do, however, vote in the case of a tie on any matter before the Senate. I have been able to build and utilize my professional relationships with members of the Senate to influence votes and debate on public education. Through my position, I have been able to take an active role in discussing issues facing education with members and lobbying for positive action to protect education funding and direct our resources toward the greatest needs in the classroom. ▲ Bellamy: As a key leader in Alabama government and a can-
didate for governor, what K-12 education issues are you standing behind or are not in favor of? ■ Baxley: One of the most important issues surrounding our schools is the decline of discipline in our classrooms. We must raise standards of discipline for students in the classroom, so teachers can control their classrooms and prevent disruptive students from stealing education from those who want to learn. If we expect to hold our teachers accountable for student performance, we must also hold students accountable for their behavior. As governor, I will require that we fund high school programs to offer advance placement courses in the core curriculum by 2010; propose state funding for advance placement exam fees for low-income students; offer incentives for school systems whose students have high scores on examina-
tions; and increase participation in dual enrollments for high school students to permit simultaneous coursework at postsecondary institutions. One of the accomplishments I’m most proud of during my time as state treasurer was expanding enrollment and solidifying the financial condition of Alabama’s Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Program. As lieutenant governor, I have consistently stood up against efforts to rob the Education Trust Fund to bankroll tax cuts for the rich this spring.
I am very eager to sit with the personnel in the school, whether it be the administration or the teachers, and ask them what measures we can bring in to encourage parental involvement. The people right there working in the schools know more about where the missing links are. I can also tell you, that when I’m elected governor I will attend the meetings of the board of education and keep up with what’s going on. — Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley
▲ Bellamy: You promise, as governor, to “protect the Education
Trust Fund from greedy politicians,” attract teachers with higher salaries and recruit retirees to work at at-risk schools. How would you do these things? ■ Baxley: I will serve as a bridge builder to bring together legislators and officials from the various education factions to work toward our common goal: providing our children with a worldclass education system. I will work to end the diversion of education money to all non-education projects currently funded from the ETF. I advocated fully repaying rainy day funds. I will work to put retired teachers in at-risk schools to use their expertise in schools that could most benefit from their experience. We have many teachers now who have taken retirement in Alabama and begun teaching in surrounding states. In critical needs areas, like math and science, in at-risk schools, we need to keep those teachers here in Alabama. They would retain their retirement benefits — without earning any additional creditable service — and draw a salary. ▲ Bellamy: Now look ahead to the next legislative session and
what some of the spending priorities for the education budget should be. (Continued on page 15) Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 13
Face to Face: Governor Bob Riley... Continued from page 12
Methvin: Let me ask you about the Education Trust Fund. We know it’s going to face its ups and downs. What do you foresee, in the near future, using the ETF for to meet critical needs at the schools? We still have unmet needs. Riley: There are a lot of unmet needs out there. I know it always seems like I relate everything back to Clay County, but I guess the reason is that I do. But our high school is 98 years old this year. Now, a lot of people say well we’ve got buildings that were built in the ’50s and ’60s. We have a high school that was built at the turn of the century. We have to be able to go in and meet some of these needs. We have areas that are growing so fast now — Baldwin County, Shelby County, Madison County. You can’t keep up, so we have to prioritize. We have to say what our priorities are. In the past, far too many times we didn’t do that. ▲ Methvin: On the spending priorities for this coming year, what
do you see as the top priority? ■ Riley: If I’m re-elected, the first thing I’ll do is push for
another capital program. I think we can do it with a bond issue. We’ve got the ARI now in every kindergarten through third grade. We need to expand AMSTI, and we need to do it this year. Over the next two or three years I want to make sure that every high school in this state has a distance learning lab that at least offers advanced placement courses in math and science and English. That’s where you get to the point that you no longer accept mediocrity, and you start building on a level of excellence. The more we do it and the more success we have, the easier it is to get funding. Because people know the reading program works, they are willing to fund it. Again, one of these days we’re going to have to make a tough choice. But we’ve invested so much in training teachers today that if you ever cut back, it will be like starting over again. And that’s what we can’t let happen. ▲ Methvin: Thinking about the recently issued school report
cards, what grade do you give state government overall and their support of K-12 public education? ■ Riley: Someone made a statement the other day, and I thought then it was a pretty good indication. They were comparing Alabama to Virginia. They said Alabama gets a grade of B- on performance with a D in funding. They said Virginia gets a Bon performance and I think an A for funding. So, for the amount of money we’re putting into it, I think we get a pretty good grade. Again, it’s the disparity that really causes me the problem. It’s not just in the Black Belt Region, but if you go over into the eastern part of the state, we have exactly the same thing over there in places like Coosa County, Randolph County, Clay County, Chambers County. We have the technology today to give these kids a great world class education if we will fund it. Even if it is in an old building — as long as it doesn’t leak, as long as it’s warm in the winter and 14 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
somewhat cool in the summer — you can make do. But we have to use programs that move numbers and programs that energize kids. I’ll never forget the time that I saw a kid with an AMSTI program studying electrical circuitry. The students built flash lights and had 13 related vocabulary words. When they finished the project, they knew what an insulator was because they had to insulate the wire, and they understood what conductivity was because they knew they couldn’t conduct electricity through a toothpick. When they got through, they knew exactly what those words were. In Huntsville, a teacher was teaching geometry by playing baseball in the classroom. Literally there was a first, second and third base, and it was all based on geometric angles. I’m being redundant now, but we absolutely know how to teach these kids.
I still contend that local school boards will normally do what most of their communities want. Local school boards talk to the parents. They talk to the kids. They understand what’s going on in that community. — Gov. Bob Riley ▲ Methvin: We’ll be hearing about the issue of local school cal-
endars this coming legislative session. We wonder what your thoughts are regarding a uniform start date for all schools. ■ Riley: I can understand the debate, but it’s much like the debate we had on the additional five days. There is going to be opposition to anything you do. I still contend that local school boards will normally do what most of their communities want. I’ve just never have been a believer that because you have an office in Montgomery that you know more than the local school boards. Local school boards talk to the parents. They talk to the kids. They understand what’s going on in that community. I still contend that we ought to leave it up to the local school boards. ▲ Methvin: Your statements are pretty important for school
board members and speak to your support of school board members and what roles they play. ■ Riley: I’ve watched school board members for no pay go through pure Hades ... because they wanted to help their communities. How do you go in and start telling these people, ‘We’re going to take the decision making power away from you?’ They live it every day. They have to go to church with the parents of these kids. I’m sure there are some exceptions, but most of the time these board members are going to make the right decision for the local community. (Continued on page 30)
Face to Face: Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley... Continued from page 13 ■ Baxley: The legislature likely will look at boosting the pro-
gram to get more of our teachers board certified. This is a direct indication of our improving teacher work force. I think we’ll try to boost education employee salaries close to the Southeast average, and we need to put together a well-thought-out capital improvements program by identifying where our biggest needs are. ▲ Bellamy: You serve on the advisory board of the Children’s
Literacy Guild of Alabama. What do you think should be done in the public school arena to improve literacy in our state? ■ Baxley: The Alabama Reading Initiative offers reading specialists to assist classroom teachers with students needing extra help in developing their reading skills to a proficient level. We must continue this program to ensure that K-5 children get the attention they need. As governor, I will increase funding for the Alabama Reading Initiative. I am also of the opinion that, by in large, the teachers are doing the best they can with the time they have to spend with the child — with all the testing, the number of kids in the classrooms, instances of problems with discipline in the classroom and a lack of parental support.
How well our state goes depends to a great extent on how strong our public education system is. Public education is a tremendous economic factor. It’s about quality of life. — Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley One way we enhance that effort is through partners like the Children’s Literacy Guild and other private sector and civic organization programs that can be used to supplement classroom teaching. Say, ‘Look, here’s a chance to be a part of helping develop good citizens out of these children.’ Yesterday, I was invited to read to children at a pediatrician’s office through the Pediatrics Association’s Reach Out and Read program. It’s wonderful. At the same time the physician is treating the physical needs of children, this program works with children and parents to encourage them to read together. We have many people out there who are concerned, but they need to know how to help supplement what’s being done in the actual classroom.
ask them what measures we can bring in to encourage parental involvement. The people right there working in the schools know more about where the missing links are. I can also tell you, that when I’m elected governor I will attend the meetings of the board of education and keep up with what’s going on. ▲ Bellamy: How will you work through political obstacles to
get things done? ■ Baxley: My experience presiding over the Senate and devel-
oping a rapport with them is certainly a helpful thing. I specifically know in minute detail how the Senate operates and how you get things done over there. The majority in the House and Senate are Democrats, and I am a Democrat. I know the system. I know how state government works. I expect to be totally open and receptive to other ideas to see what we can thrash out. I have always believed that the way you accomplish things is by pulling people together and by coalitions. ▲ Bellamy: What can school boards do in the state government
and legislative arenas to move school boards’ education agenda forward? ■ Baxley: My advice would be to coalesce when possible with the other elements of the education family and seek compromise on those areas where there is disagreement. My intent as governor will be to bring together the different factions of education to find common ground, so public education would benefit from concerted effort by the various stakeholders. Too often, the school boards’ agenda gets lost in the shuffle, the result of the differing sides becoming too firmly entrenched in their particular position and losing sight of the overall objective, mainly, the improvement of our education system. When I’m governor, I will go over my agenda with all of the legislators and sit down with them to explain where I’m coming from. I will welcome the school boards and your representatives to share your part of this total picture. You are the experts I need to hear the specifics from because you are dealing with it every day. ▲ Bellamy: It seems that there are some seniors and persons
■ Baxley: I am very eager to sit with the personnel in the
without children in the system who do not support our public schools or even taxes to improve our schools. What are your thoughts about this? ■ Baxley: When I was selling real estate in Vestavia Hills, which had an excellent school system, the residents were well aware that the value of their property was determined in part by the quality of the school system. How well our state goes depends to a great extent on how strong our public education system is. Public education is a tremendous economic factor. It’s about quality of life. Just like you might not drive a car, you still have to pay for the highways. You pay taxes for services of all kinds to improve quality of life. Some of them you might not use.
school, whether it be the administration or the teachers, and
(Continued on page 30)
▲ Bellamy: Going back to a point you raised earlier, how can
we increase parental support?
Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 15
By Denise L. Berkhalter
Millions may die or fall ill. Social and economic devastation is possible. Schools and businesses could shut down. Already taxed hospitals would burst at the seams.
S
ounds exaggerated, but national health experts say it’s just a matter of time before a novel virus spans the globe with high rates of illness and death. The pandemic flu of 1918 killed 675,000 in the United States and millions of people worldwide without the benefit of air travel and crowded public transportation. The last pandemic was 38 years ago and not as deadly, but recent outbreaks of avian influenza A (bird flu) in poultry and wild birds in Asia are red flags. Right now, bird flu is primarily contagious in birds and does not easily transmit from person to person. It can be carried by migratory birds but has yet to reach North America. A strain of the avian H5N1 virus has, however, been confirmed in animals in 53 countries. Some 228 people have been infected and half have died, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Experts fear the virus may become unrelenting and begin to more efficiently infect humans.
The threat of widespread and sustained transmission of bird flu from human to human is a reminder that Mother Nature’s fury tends to come in cycles. “With viruses, it’s their nature to evolve and mutate, so they can live longer,” said Pandemic Influenza Coordinator Cindy Lesinger of the state Department of Public Health’s Center for Emergency Preparedness. “A pandemic is a natural phenomenon, and it occurs on average every 30 to 50 years.” But, are school systems and local communities prepared for the next pandemic? Lesinger and Gov. Bob Riley worry that too few people can say they are. “We are not here today to panic or alarm people, but we want Alabama and its citizens to be prepared for whatever may happen,” cautioned Riley at this year’s Pandemic Planning Summit at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Riley and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt signed a joint planning agreement worth $1.6 million. The federal funds go toward collaborations between the state Department of Education, other state, national and local agencies to plan for a pandemic event. (Continued on page 18)
PANDEMIC ALERT The state Department of Education assigned colors to signal the status of a pandemic event.
Blue - Readiness Green - Alert Yellow - Eminent Orange - Pandemic Red - Full Pandemic Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 17
At a July state Board of Education work session, the state Department of Education presented a draft of the Pandemic Preparedness Response Plan. Once complete, the plan could be used as a model for local school systems, state Superintendent of Education Dr. Joe Morton said. “Our plans are going to extend even to the worst scenario, which is none of us can come to work and that we have sick people at home,” Deputy Superintendent Dr. Ruth Ash told the board. “This is really a work in progress, but each area has overview and specific responsibilities.” Maybe the preparation plan will go unused, but Ash said it is still a worthy effort. “During World War I, there were 21 million troops lost in 4 years,” she explained, “and in the 1918 flu pandemic, 21 million people or more lost their lives.
We are hoping nothing ever happens, but if anything does happen, we’ll be prepared this time.” Morton agreed, saying he was struck by Health and Human Services Secretary Leavitt’s vow to keep his children home from school if a pandemic flu hits. “That really struck me. We have to plan how we can continue some form of education. With the expansion of the distance learning capability, the utilization of public television and those kinds of mechanisms, there are ways we can work through the department and the local systems to deliver ... lessons to some number of people if they’re all at home,” he said.
DID YOU KNOW? ▲ There will be global susceptibility to the virus. Humans will not be immune to it, and availability of vaccinations will be limited. ▲ About 30 percent of the overall population will become ill. ▲ Illness rates will be highest among school-age children, reaching about 40 percent. ▲ Among working adults, an average of 20 percent will become infected. In the peak weeks of a pandemic, absenteeism could reach 40 percent. ▲ The typical incubation period (time between initial infection and onset of illness) will be about two days. ▲ Those infected will “shed” (or spread) the virus and transmit infection for a half- to full-day before the onset of illness. Viral shedding and the risk for transmission will be greatest during the first two days of illness. ▲ Children will play a major role in transmission of infection. They will shed the greatest amount of virus and therefore pose the greatest risk for transmission. ▲ Each infected person will transmit infection to approximately two other people. In a severe pandemic, there could be about three secondary infections per primary case. ▲ In an affected community, a pandemic outbreak will last about six to eight weeks. At least two pandemic disease waves are likely. Excerpt from the Washington State School Directors’ Association’s August 2006 “Hot Topics.”
18 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
Health and Human Services’ national five-priority plan includes coordinating federal, state and local preparation, as well as monitoring disease spread; developing vaccines and vaccine production capacity; stockpiling antivirals and other countermeasures; and enhancing outreach and communications planning. As of late June, the federal agency had invested more than $1 billion in advancing cellbased vaccine technology, planned to stockpile 26 million antiviral drug courses by year’s end and will spend $162 million on essential medical supplies such as surgical masks and respirators. Congress has allocated $100 million to states to identify preparedness gaps, and states can apply for another $250 million to prioritize gaps, plan antiviral distribution and design a pandemic response exercise. Lesinger said the departments of education and public health used $220,000 in federal money to purchase awareness kits that drive home the preparation message to teachers, students and parents. “The final project should be in all public and private schools in the next month or two and will teach what a pandemic is, how to prepare for one and mention basic homecare. It’s a huge price tag, but if we don’t go ahead and put in dollars now, we’re going to lose them on the back end plus some,” she said. Lesinger also said the two departments have discussed using schools closed due to a lack of teachers as alternate health care sites or storage sites. School buses, she said, could possibly transport sick persons without at-home caregivers. It’s all just a piece of a complex puzzle, alludes Leavitt in his June 29 “Pandemic Planning Update II.” “State and local preparedness is crucial to pandemic readiness. Every level of our communities must be prepared to be selfsufficient in the event of a pandemic outbreak,” Leavitt said. “We are in a race, a race against a fast-moving, highly pathogenic avian H5N1 flu virus; a race to prepare in every possible way against a potential human flu pandemic.” ▲
What is the Role of School Boards? Well-developed policy is key to coping with any crisis. The strength of a pandemic plan hinges upon a school system’s policies for preventing and controlling infection, maintaining core operations, continuing student productivity and communicating with the public.
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s a governance team, a school board has a responsibility to ensure its school system is equipped with policies to deal with a crisis situation, including an influenza outbreak. It is not the board’s responsibility to build an operational pandemic plan for the school system. Rather, planning is developed and presented to the board. The board, therefore, will be more active in approving the plan than in authoring it. To best facilitate this process, board members should know the important policy questions to ask. Following these key steps should lead to those questions. ✔ Step 1: Find out if the school system has a pandemic plan. As a starting point, review your existing policies for emergency situations and dealing with infectious diseases, assessing if and how those policies address the challenges that would occur during a pandemic. If no such policies exist, this is an ideal time to develop them. If they do exist, review the policies and determine if the procedures offer a sufficient response to a pandemic. ✔ Step 2: If there is no pandemic policy, strategically begin the process of developing one. Initiate the process by directing the superintendent to form a pandemic planning team that includes
one or two board members. Policy development should occur in collaboration with community partners, especially the local health department. ✔ Step 3: Establish a team. Preparedness is a team effort. Form a team of key stakeholders and medical professionals to help identify priorities and oversee the development of the operational plan. In addition to system administrators and school board members, the team should include several individuals from across the system: emergency response agents, local public health experts, school health and mental health professionals, teachers, food services and transportation directors and parent representatives. ✔ Step 4: Know the government’s role. Before the team begins to focus on planning, it should understand the roles that the federal, state and local government would play in an epidemic. In May 2006, President George W. Bush released the Implementation Plan for the National Strategy (www. whitehouse.gov/homeland/nspi_ implementation.pdf), which translates the national strategy for pandemic influenza into more than 300 actions for federal agencies and sets expectations for state and local governments. “The implementation plan is like a road map,” explains Brenda Greene, director of school health programs for the National School Boards Association. “It shows where to go, but it doesn’t say how to get there. The ‘how-to’s’ have to be figured out at the local level in partnership with other key agencies.” States play a critical
role in helping local governments determine the “how-to’s” of the federal plan. As local health departments begin partnering with community-based organizations — including hospitals, health care providers, elected officials, service agencies and businesses — it is essential that school systems become a part of this network by establishing a partnership with their local health department. ✔ Step 5: Develop a checklist. (See sample on page 20.) A checklist will help the school system’s team address the critical issues. The School District (K-12) Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist, a comprehensive list developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (online at www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/school checklist.html), focuses on four main aspects of preparation: planning and coordination; continuity of student learning and core operations; infection control policies and procedures; and communication planning. ✔ Step 6: Build Awareness. After the pandemic preparation plan is complete, you must ensure that the staff, students and community are aware of the policies and the operational plan. As more school systems address the pandemic threat, a statewide support network has begun to grow. Many school systems are willing to share advice based on their own experiences with pandemic planning. School boards that join this conversation, on either the giving or receiving end, help the education community at large. In a pandemic situation, one well-prepared school system — or ill-prepared one — can make all the difference in the community’s ability ▲ to sustain itself. Adapted from the Washington State School Directors’ Association’s August 2006 “Hot Topics.” Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 19
School District (K-12) Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist Local school boards and the school system administration play an integral role in protecting the health and safety of the system’s staff, students and their families. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed the following checklist to assist school systems in developing and/or improving plans to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic. The key planning activities in this checklist build upon existing contingency plans recommended for school systems by the U.S. Department of Education in the “Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide For Schools and Communities.” For more information, visit www.pandemicflu.gov.
1. Planning and Coordination Task: Identify the authority responsible for declaring a public health emergency at the state and local levels and for officially activating the school system’s pandemic influenza response plan. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Identify for all stakeholders the legal authorities responsible for executing the community operational plan, especially those authorities responsible for case identification, isolation, quarantine, movement restriction, health care services, emergency care, and mutual aid. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: As part of the school system’s crisis management plan, address pandemic influenza preparedness, involving all relevant stakeholders in the school system (e.g., lead emergency response agency, school system administrators, local public health representatives, school health and mental health professionals, teachers, food services director, and parent representatives). This committee is accountable for articulating strategic priorities and overseeing the development of the school system’s operational pandemic plan ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Work with local and/or state health departments and other community partners to establish organizational structures, such as the Incident Command System, to manage the execution of the school system’s pandemic flu plan. An Incident Command System, or ICS, is a standardized organization structure that establishes a line of authority and common terminology and procedures to be followed in response to an incident. Ensure compatibility between the school system’s established ICS and the local/state health department’s and state education department’s ICS. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Delineate accountability and responsibility as well as resources for key stakeholders engaged in planning and executing specific components of the operational plan. Assure that the plan includes timelines, deliverables, and performance measures. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Work with your local and/or state health department and state education agencies to coordinate with their pandemic plans. Assure that pandemic planning is coordinated with 20 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
the community’s pandemic plan as well as the state department of education’s plan. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Test the linkages between the school system’s Incident Command System and the local/state health department’s and state education department’s Incident Command System. ❍ Not Started
❍ In Progress
❍ Completed
Task: Contribute to the local health department’s operational plan for surge capacity of health care and other services to meet the needs of the community (e.g., schools designated as contingency hospitals, schools feeding vulnerable populations, community utilizing school system’s health care and mental health staff). In an affected community, at least two pandemic disease waves (about 6-8 weeks each) are likely over several months. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Incorporate into the pandemic influenza plan the requirements of students with special needs (e.g., low income students who rely on the school food service for daily meals), those in special facilities (e.g., juvenile justice facilities) as well as those who do not speak English as their first language. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Participate in exercises of the community’s pandemic plan. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Work with the local health department to address provision of psychosocial support services for the staff, students and their families during and after a pandemic. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Consider developing in concert with the local health department a surveillance system that would alert the local health department to a substantial increase in absenteeism among students. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Implement an exercise/drill to test your pandemic plan and revise it periodically ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Share what you have learned from developing your preparedness and response plan with other school systems as well as private schools within the community to improve community response efforts. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed
2. Continuity of Student Learning and Core Operations: Task: Develop scenarios describing the potential impact of a pandemic on student learning (e.g., student and staff absences), school closings, and extracurricular activities based on having various levels of illness among students and staff. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Develop alternative procedures to assure continuity of instruction (e.g., web-based distance instruction, telephone trees, mailed lessons and assignments, instruction via local radio or television stations) in the event of system school closures. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Develop a continuity of operations plan for essential central office functions including payroll and ongoing communication with students and parents. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed
3. Infection Control Policies and Procedures: Task: Work with the local health department to implement effective infection prevention policies and procedures that help limit the spread of influenza at schools in the school system (e.g. promotion of hand hygiene, cough/sneeze etiquette). Make good hygiene a habit now in order to help protect children from many infectious diseases such as flu. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Provide sufficient and accessible infection prevention supplies (e.g., soap, alcohol-based/waterless hand hygiene products, tissues and receptacles for their disposal). ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Establish policies and procedures for students and staff sick leave absences unique to a pandemic influenza (e.g., nonpunitive, liberal leave). ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Establish sick leave policies for staff and students suspected to be ill or who become ill at school. Staff and students with known or suspected pandemic influenza should not remain at school and should return only after their symptoms resolve and they are physically ready to return to school. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Establish policies for transporting ill students. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Assure that the school system’s pandemic plan for schoolbased health facilities conforms to those recommended for health care settings (Refer to www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/ plan/sup4.html). ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed
4. Communications Planning: Task: Assess readiness to meet communication needs in preparation for an influenza pandemic, including regular review, testing, and updating of communication plans. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Develop a dissemination plan for communication with staff, students, and families, including lead spokespersons and links to other communication networks. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Ensure language, culture and reading level appropriateness in communications by including community leaders representing different language and/or ethnic groups on the planning committee, asking for their participation both in document planning and the dissemination of public health messages within their communities. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Develop and test platforms (e.g., hotlines, telephone trees, dedicated websites, and local radio or TV stations) for communicating pandemic status and actions to school system staff, students, and families. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Develop and maintain up-to-date communications contacts of key public health and education stakeholders and use the network to provide regular updates as the influenza pandemic unfolds. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Assure the provision of redundant communication systems/channels that allow for the expedited transmission and receipt of information. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Advise school system staff, students and families where to find up-to-date and reliable pandemic information from federal, state and local public health sources. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Disseminate information about the school system’s pandemic influenza preparedness and response plan (e.g., continuity of instruction, community containment measures). ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Disseminate information from public health sources covering routine infection control (e.g., hand hygiene, cough/sneeze etiquette), pandemic influenza fundamentals (e.g., signs and symptoms of influenza, modes of transmission) as well as personal and family protection and response strategies (e.g., guidance for the at-home care of ill students and family members). ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Task: Anticipate the potential fear and anxiety of staff, students, and families as a result of rumors and misinformation and plan communications accordingly. ❍ Not Started ❍ In Progress ❍ Completed Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control
▲
Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 21
Urban Kids Say School Climate Needs Adjustment By Linda Embrey, National School Boards Association
Almost one of four students say they are unsure of their safety at school, according to the recently released “Where We Learn” survey. In addition, more than half of all students surveyed by the National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education say they see children being bullied at least once per month.
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he survey on urban school climate conducted by the council, also known as CUBE, found that a majority of students feel safe in their school, an indicator that experts say improves academic achievement. “The findings are generally positive, but there are certain results that raise concerns for students, teachers and parents,” said Brian Perkins, the study’s principal investigator. Perkins is chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Southern Connecticut State University and president of the New Haven, Conn., Board of Education. He is also the chair of CUBE. “Where We Learn” surveyed nearly 32,000 students from 15 urban school districts in 13 states, including Alabama. Students indicated their climate perceptions in the areas of school safety and bullying, among others. The survey was completed during the 2004-05 school year. In the area of school safety, almost 63 percent of urban students report feeling safe at school. However, nearly 20 percent of students believe that other students carry weapons in school. Students in grades 9-12 expressed even more concern over weapons, with more than 40 percent not sure if others came to school armed. “When students do not feel safe at school, they are more likely to become truant, distracted from school work, and experience lower levels of achievement,” Perkins noted. 22 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
In terms of fighting, about half of respondents in grades 4-6 and 9-12 say there is a lot of fighting in their school. That number increases for students in grades 7-8, where 60 percent say that there is a lot of fighting at their school. Bullying is a top concern as well, according to Perkins, due to its effect on student performance. He noted that both male and female students feel much the same about bullying and that there is no difference in observance of this behavior by girls and boys.
However, younger students report more bullying. More than twice as many students in grades 4-6 as students in grades 9-12 say they are bullied regularly, according to the survey. More than 50 percent of all survey respondents say they see children being bullied at least once per month. And, almost 40 percents of students say they do not believe that teachers can stop the bullying. As the students get older there is even less confidence that the school can prevent bullying. Almost half of high school students say they do not believe that teachers can stop bullying. “Climate is especially important in urban schools, which enroll almost 25 percent of public school students,” said Dr. Anne L. Bryant, NSBA executive director. “A safe school environment is critical in making sure our students succeed academically.”
Improving School Climate School climate is often overlooked in the race to enhance student learning, but it is a key element in improving student achievement. The Council of Urban Boards of Education researchers made the following recommendations to refocus attention on school climate: • School systems should include a school climate assessment in their annual evaluation processes. • Schools should identify one or more key areas on the basis of these assessment findings and implement strategies to improve these conditions and students’ perceptions of them. • Parents should be encouraged to participate in the discussion, development and implementation of strategies to improve school climate. • Students should engage with their peers, teachers and administrators to address school climate issues and contribute to a healthy school climate. • School officials should engage members of the community about the ways they can participate in and support the creation and development of healthy school climate. • Boards of education should establish clear policies to create a positive school climate and clarify expectations for teachers and administrators around their responsibilities to carry out these policies.
What You Should Know About Bullies • Peer rejection — Rejected children are actively disliked by many of their peers and well liked by few of their peers. They show high rates of conflict, aggression, and immature play, and they have trouble taking the perspective of another person. • Popularity — Although bullies tend to have difficulty making friends, they do gain a certain level of popularity and peer status for their actions.
What bullying is: Bullying can range from teasing, to stealing lunch money, to a group of students physically abusing a classmate. Even though bullying is very similar to other forms of aggression, there can be some distinctive features: • The intention of bullying behavior is purposeful, rather than accidental • The goal is to actually gain control over another child through physical or verbal aggression. • Usually bullies make their attack without any real reason, other than they see their victim as an easy target. • Bullies are usually more popular with their peers than children who are simply aggressive. Why bullies bully: • Boys will be boys — Bullying behavior, especially among boys, can often be considered normal behavior. • Parental relationship — Bullies tend to come from families that are characterized as having little warmth or affection. Sometimes parents of bullies have very punitive and rigid discipline styles, with physical punishment being very common. • Bullies are usually not model students. Very often they are not doing well in school and do not have good connections with their teachers.
Indications that a child might be a victim of bullying: • Acts moody, sullen or withdraws from family interaction • Becomes depressed • Loses interest in school work or grades drop • Loses appetite or has difficulty getting to sleep • Waits to use the bathroom at home • Arrives home with torn clothes, unexplained bruises • Asks for extra money for school lunch or supplies, extra allowance • Refuses to go to school (15 percent of all school absenteeism is directly related to fears of being bullied at school) • Wants to carry a protection item, such as a knife Tips for students who are bullied or see bullying: • Find a trusted adult at school with whom you can talk about what you see. • Be assertive rather than aggressive or violent when confronted by a bully. • Never get physical or bully back. • Stand up for friends or peers who are being bullied. • If there is no formal policy against bullying at your school, get involved to start one. Top tips for parents include: • Practice role playing with your child so he or she can be prepared to react appropriately to bullies or unsafe situations. • Keep an open dialogue with your child by asking specific questions about what happens during their day and take concerns seriously.
• Keep written records if you suspect your child is being bullied. • Empower your children to tell adults if they see bullying. • Reinforce the child’s positive behaviors and model appropriate behavior yourself. What schools can do: • Get an accurate assessment of the problem. An anonymous survey is a very effective way to learn about the true nature of a problem at a particular school. • Maintain higher visibility. Most schools report that most of their bullying problems disappear when playgrounds, bathrooms, etc., are properly monitored. Supervising recess is especially important. • Have students develop class rules about bullying that are then consistently reinforced. It is important to start this in very early grades to gain a handle on this problem before it gets out of control. • Conduct inservice training for both teachers and parents. Stress that bullying is not just boys being boys or high spirited behavior but potentially damaging for both victims and bullies. Bullying is not something that people grow out of, but one of the first signs of more serious problems. It is also important to remember that verbal harassment can be just as scary and intimidating as physical attacks. • Have serious talks with bullies and make them realize that you are aware of their behavior and are not going to tolerate it. It is also important to develop ways to help them learn more positive social skills. ▲ Sources: National School Boards Association; North Dakota State University Extension Service’s “Bullies” publication by Dr. Laura DeHaan, assistant professor of child development (For copies, call 701/231-7881).
ON THE WEB: For the full report, Where We Learn, visit www.nsba.org/cube/ WhereWeLearn.
Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 23
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S By Sandra Sims-deGraffenried, Ed.D.
Perspective
Support Amendment 2 Nov. 7:
10 Absolute Mills Help Level Playing Field he Alabama Association of School Boards fought hard to give voters a right to choose 10 absolute mills for schools statewide in an effort to help level the Sims-deGraffenried playing field and relieve financial distress for 30 school systems. On Nov. 7, voters will decide the fate of Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that requires every school system in the state to levy and collect at least 10 mills of local property tax to support their schoolchildren and schools. It’s a matter of pennies on the dollar. One mill is equal to 10 cents on each $100 of taxable property. When the 1995 Foundation Program was established, to receive state funding, school systems had to contribute 10 mills of property tax or its tax-based equivalent. Currently, 30 systems that don’t collect 10 mills generally use local dollars, such as sales taxes, to make up the difference and meet the participation requirement. Those local dollars then become part of the state’s Foundation Program and are not available to meet other local needs. As property values increase, the “equivalent amount” also increases, putting these 30 systems in financial distress. More and more local sales tax dollars are needed to meet the equivalent requirement. The loss of local dollars is causing a crisis for a few of these 30 school systems and others are close behind. Amendment 2 eliminates the need for an equivalency allowance. It requires every school system to levy at least 10 mills of property tax and allows the other locally collected taxes to be used for local education needs. A statewide requirement
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24 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
will free up local dollars in communities where schoolchildren are in great need of those education dollars. In addition, property values vary widely but when everyone pays the same 10-mill
WHO DOES IT HELP? These 30 school systems do not collect 10 absolute mills of property tax. Autauga County Barbour County Bibb County Blount County Chilton County Conecuh County Covington County Crenshaw County Cullman County Dale County Elmore County Fayette County Hale County Houston County Jackson County Lamar County Lawrence County Limestone County Marengo County Marion County Montgomery County Pike County Tuscaloosa County Walker County Andalusia City Arab City Athens City Daleville City Dothan City Linden City
rate, everyone is doing their part to fund their schools. The statewide referendum is necessary to ensure that all Alabama public schoolchildren have at least the minimum level of financial support from their community. This constitutional amendment requires a minimum level of local funding for every child in every school — something that 101 local communities already do. The 101 school systems already collecting at least 10 mills of property tax to support their local schoolchildren won’t be affected by Amendment 2, but they can encourage voters in their communities to require the remaining 30 systems to reach 10 absolute mills of property tax. Speak out and write letters to the editor demanding these 30 systems meet the minimum 10-mill property tax funding requirements to receive state funding. Why should you care if your community is already collecting the minimum 10 mills? The stakes are high now. The federal No Child Left Behind law measures the state’s success by the victories and failures of each and every public school. We are only as strong as the weakest among us. All of Alabama’s schoolchildren deserve a fair shot at success, and they ought to have at least the minimum level of local support from a stable funding source — their local property taxes. If you live in one of the 30 school systems not collecting 10 mills, please do your part to inform your community of how much better off your schoolchildren and schools will be if local sales taxes stay in the community to meet your local student and school needs. It is important for each of us to educate our community and urge every voter to go to the polls on Nov. 7 and vote “yes” on Amendment 2. ▲
MAKING AYP:
A Short Distance on the Student Progress Ruler By Jim Methvin, AASB President
On Aug. 7, the Alabama Yearly Progress Report was released with impressive results. We can all take pride in the accomplishments of our students. The state's goal of having 100 percent schools at AYP is only 13 percent, or 170 schools and 73 systems, away from its reality assuming the current 1,194 schools maintain their AYP status. Every school that showed academic progress for even one child should be congratulated in the news releases. These successes must be communicated in our communities and to our representatives. his leads me to the issue on how we respond to the release of the AYP results. In Alabama, AYP is a comparison of yearto-year student achievement on the Alabama Reading and Math Test, portions of the SAT-10 test, the Alabama High School Graduation Exam and the Alabama Alternate Assessment. However, these test results represent only a short distance on the student progress ruler. During the school year there are at least four additional tests required by the state, but all eight tests are not given to every student and at every grade level. My point is this: Data documenting our students’ achievements is available to school boards throughout the calendar year. We all know there are other inches on the student progress ruler. These include the percentage of students successfully completing their semester work, the percentages of students passing AP classes, ACT and SAT results, and important — to me — communication among the teachers, principals and their superintendent that successful progress in student learning is taking place. We need to ask our superintendents throughout the year for reports on students’ academic progress in all schools, whether our system has five or 50 schools. NCLB has intensified school board focus on student achievement, and board members should be asking tough questions such as:
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▲ What are the strengths and weaknesses in our instructional programs? ▲ What would raise achievement for poorly performing students? ▲ What additional training does the faculty need? ▲ How are we addressing AYP issues? ▲ How should spending and budget priorities change in order to raise achievement? Wanting, requesting and needing this information makes the board members’ focus on achievement clear to the superintendent and the community. Conveying this focus and promoting our successes will certainly contribute to “the positive culture of learning” in our schools. ▲
Looking for Guidance? AASB has written an information and communication guide for school board members, which was distributed at the spring 2006 district meetings. For a copy of the No Child Left Behind: Do You Know Where Your Schools Are? guide, call 800/562-0601 or 334/277-9700 or e-mail susan@theaasb.org.
Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 25
NSBA/Southern Region 2006 Conference a Huge Success By Denise L. Berkhalter
About 900 school board members and school leaders from across the South attended the recent National School Boards Association/Southern Region Conference hosted by the Alabama Association of School Boards.
Alabama Actress Tonea Stewart poses with Southern Region Conference attendees following her moving account of her wise, blind grandfather she knew as Papa Dallas.
very state in the region — which includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia — was represented at the July 23-26 event at the Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort in Destin, Fla. Attendees networked with school boards across the South and heard educational presentations from experts in education and related fields. The conference featured NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley and a slate of other famous Alabama natives. Those speakers included acclaimed actress Dr. Tonea Stewart, known for her starring role in the “In the Heat of the Night” television drama; renowned author and Southern folklore storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham; and motivational speaker Lanny Thomas of Gadsden. National School Boards Association President Jane Gallucci also addressed the conference participants. She reminded them that “education is the cornerstone of America” and to “speak with one voice.” “Imagine, all of us saying the same thing. ‘One Message, One Voice. Success!’ You represent your constituency,” Gallucci said. “Together, we represent the American people. Most importantly, we represent the smallest and most vulnerable citizens, our children. To be powerful, we must speak with a unified voice. Never
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26 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
question the power of unity ... the power of each and every one of you joined by many.” Stewart’s ode to the man she affectionately called Papa Dallas moved many audience members to tears, as she explained how even one motivating influence in a child’s life can inspire him or her to greatness. Her grandfather, she said, foretold her career as a spokesman, and there she was before hundreds of education leaders, using her grandfather’s words to encourage educators to continue producing productive, educated citizens. Windham also drew on her childhood to wow the audience, recalling lazy summer days when a treat from a Mom and Pop store, a hard day’s work and a nice nap were valued. She asked the audience to love, respect and cherish the students in their care and said for some students that would be enough to encourage academic success. She recounted the days when students were so
NBA and former Auburn University star Charles Barkley autographs basketballs for a silent auction during the July 2006 Southern Region Conference.
Folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham, shown with NSBA’s board of directors, inspired school board members and education leaders from 12 Southeastern states to take children under their wings and encourage them to succeed.
eager to please their teachers that being chosen to dust off the erasers was indeed an honor. “I remember running home to tell Daddy, ‘Guess what happened in school today?’” Windham said. “I told him, ‘I got to dust off the erasers.’ You see, that was important. Daddy told me, ‘No matter what you do, do a good job.’ He also used to tell me, ‘God gave you two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk.’” Barkley pleaded the educators to “stay on these kids” and don’t give up on them. “Tell them they only get one life, so they need to make sure it’s the way they want it to be,” Barkley said. “Right now, they’ve got a choice and can dictate in the future how their lives are going to turn out. They have to get an education. Without an education, this is a cruel world.” A highlight of the conference was when AASB Immediate Past President Tommy McDaniel was saluted for his 2005-06 chairmanship of the region. The region’s Resolutions and Bylaws Committee passed a resolution commending McDaniel for serving “with pride as chair of the National School Boards Association/Southern Region 2006 Conference.” McDaniel served as master of ceremonies for the 2006 conference’s general sessions and otherwise worked diligently with AASB, which hosted the highly successful event in Florida due to hurricane damage and construction delays in Mobile. AASB President Jim Methvin presented an emotional McDaniel with a basketball autographed by Barkley, a former Auburn University basketball standout, and the framed resolution.
McDaniel expressed his heartfelt appreciation to the region and AASB and encouraged those following in his footsteps to “dedicate yourselves to doing all you can to serve schoolchildren well.” McDaniel was also lauded for serving with the region “with the same hospitality, volunteer spirit, integrity and dedication he has shown in his numerous positions of leadership at the Alabama Association of School Boards.” President and a member of the Cherokee County Board of Education for more than a decade, McDaniel served two terms as AASB president and has been a mainstay on the AASB Board of Directors, leading for two terms each as first and second vice president. Another AASB Board of Directors member, Methvin, was elected at the conference to represent school boards throughout the southeastern United States on the National School Boards Association Policies and Resolutions Committee. The committee recommends resolutions and amendments to the national association’s delegate assembly, which establishes the national education policies advanced by NSBA throughout the year. Methvin of Homewood currently serves as vice chairman of the Alabama School of Fine Arts Board of Education in Birmingham. The Alabama Council of School Board Attorneys, a component of the Alabama Association of School Boards, also gathered in Destin, Fla., in July for their annual meeting and to elect officers. ACSBA provides professional development opportunities for more than 100 attorneys who represent Alabama’s local school boards. Gadsden attorney R. Kent Henslee of the Henslee, Robertson, Strawn and Sullivan law firm was elected president of the council. Elected to the ACSBA Board of Directors were: Richard F. Calhoun of Troy, Darnell Coley of Montgomery, Pete Hamilton of Greenville, Dave Ryan of Tuscaloosa and Woody Sanderson of Huntsville. The council’s vice president is Whit Colvin of Birmingham. AASB Executive Director Dr. Sandra Sims-deGraffenried serves ▲ as ACSBA secretary/treasurer.
AASB President Jim Methvin, chosen to represent the Southern Region on the National School Boards Association Policies and Resolutions Committee, presents AASB Immediate Past President Tommy McDaniel with a resolution honoring his service as 2006 chairman of the National School Boards Association/Southern Region. Photos: Denise L. Berkhalter
Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 27
Alabama Association of School Boards
Professional Sustaining Members
AASB appreciates these professional members for supporting association activities and you all year long. Exford Architects Birmingham, Alabama 205/314-3411
Paul B. Krebs & Associates, Inc. Birmingham, Alabama 205/987-7411
Alabama Beverage Association Montgomery, Alabama 334/263-6621
Fuqua & Partners Architects PC Huntsville, Alabama 256/534-3516
Lathan Associates Architects PC Birmingham, Alabama 205/879-9110
Alabama Gas Corporation Birmingham, Alabama 205/326-8425
Gallet & Associates Inc. Birmingham, Alabama 205/942-1289
McCauley Associates Inc. Birmingham, Alabama 205/969-0303
Alabama Supercomputer Authority Montgomery, Alabama 334/832-2405
Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood Inc. Montgomery, Alabama 334/271-3200 Birmingham, Alabama 205/879-4462 Mobile 251/460-4006
McKee & Associates Architecture and Design Montgomery, Alabama 334/834-9933
Barganier Davis Sims Architects Montgomery, Alabama 334/834-2038 BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama Birmingham, Alabama 205/220-5771 Christian Testing Labs Montgomery, Alabama 334/264-4422 Council of Alabama Coca-Cola Bottlers, Inc. Birmingham, Alabama 205/841-2653 Davis Architects Inc. Birmingham, Alabama 205/322-7482 28 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
Hoar Construction Birmingham, Alabama 205/803-2121 Jenkins Munroe Jenkins Architecture Anniston, Alabama 256/820-6844 JH Partners Architecture/Interiors Huntsville, Alabama 256/539-0764 KHAFRA Engineers, Architects and Construction Managers Birmingham, Alabama 205/252-8353
Payne & Associates Architects Montgomery, Alabama 334/272-2180 PH&J Architects Inc. Montgomery, Alabama 334/265-8781 Sain Associates Birmingham, Alabama 205/940-6420 Sherlock Smith & Adams Inc. Montgomery, Alabama 334/263-6481 Evan Terry Associates PC Birmingham, Alabama 205/972-9100 Volkert & Associates Inc. Mobile, Alabama 251/432-6735
At the Table Lisa Lindsey School Board Sheffield City Board of Education
October
Hometown Sheffield
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District 3 Academy Program Abbeville High School, Abbeville
A Board Member for 12 years. I'm in my third term.
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District 4 Academy Program Tuskegee University Kellogg Conference Center, Tuskegee
Books at Bedside Let's see, I have my Bible here and “Hinds' Feet on High Places” by Hannah Hurnard, which is a classic. You can count on me having a Mary Higgins Clark mystery at my bedside, and the novel I have now is “Nighttime Is My Time.”
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AASB Academy Programs
Inspiration My father, Travis Turberville, served on the Sheffield school board 15 years before I did. He was very civic-minded as far as the school board is concerned. He is a big inspiration for me. My sons, Travis and Thomas, are a great inspiration to me, in addition to my father.
December
Motto as a Board Member Poverty and being poorly educated do not need to go hand in hand.
6-7 AASB Leadership I Core Workshop Birmingham
Walter Mitty Fantasy I would love for the world to be a place where there is no poverty, no abuse, no hate and no prejudice.
7-9 AASB Annual State Convention Wynfrey Hotel, Birmingham
Advice to New Board Members To forget everything they thought they knew about being a board member and to learn what it really means to be a board member. I highly recommend AASB's new board member training (Leadership I and Leadership II). Greatest Accomplishment as a Board Member Selecting a superintendent is a very big undertaking and is, I think, the most important thing a school board does. In my second term, we conducted a very successful superintendent search, and I think we found a wonderful one. Pet Peeve as a Board Member The underfunding of special education. Reason I Like Being an AASB Member It's an invaluable source of information. Not only does AASB give me the training I need on current issues, but it has also been a wonderful educational tool. AASB also helps me feel connected to other school board members across the state. My Epitaph She loved because He first loved her.
AASB Leadership II(A) Core Workshop “Roles & Relationships” Birmingham 22- Academy Core 23 Conference “Climate Control: Making Schools Great Places to Learn and Work” Birmingham
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AASB Leadership II(B) Core Workshop Birmingham
January 29February 27, 2007 Academy District Programs
March 2007 9
AASB Leadership II(C) Core Workshop & “Early Bird” Workshop Birmingham 9-10 AASB Core Conference Birmingham
April 2007 14- NSBA Annual Conference 17 and Exposition San Francisco, California
▲ Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 29
Face to Face: Governor Bob Riley...
Face to Face: Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley...
Continued from page 14
Continued from page 15
▲ Methvin: One role the association plays — one we’re
really proud of — is being both a resource for you and a resource for the legislature. How do you think school boards can make their voices heard better in the legislative process this year and in future years? ■ Riley: If school board members in the state of Alabama ever understood how powerful they were, you could almost dominate the conversation here. I don’t know many school boards that don’t have the leaders of the community serving on their boards. If they ever can get to the point that you can agree locally and in a statewide issue and effectively lobby your legislator, your senator, your representative down here, you can pass anything. The problem is you don’t believe it. A guy down in Clay County says, ‘I can’t go down there to Montgomery and lobby.’ These are the business leaders. These are the community leaders. All of the school board should come down here and talk to their senator and their legislator and sit down and say: ‘You’ve got to do this and this is the reason why and if you don’t, we’re going to go and explain to the people back home that you couldn’t support us. You supported another group in Montgomery over what’s best for us.’ Game over. Now, how you get them to do that, I don’t know. ▲ Methvin: That brings to mind two things. One is effec-
tive leadership and convincing school board members they are leaders. The second thing is to get them to be major role players in student achievement. Know what their role is and go after it and show interest in it. ■ Riley: If you get four or five phone calls in a day, all of a sudden that becomes the No. 1 issue to anyone across the street (in the state Legislature) when it comes time to vote. Imagine what would happen if you had a united school board come down here and say, ‘We need you to stand up for our interests and for the schools’ interests.’ Before the legislative session even starts, you guys need to call your senator and your representative before the school board in an open session and say: ‘Here are our priorities, and we want to know publicly tonight if you’re going to support these.’ If your school board is really active and they stand up and say you’ve got to support this, at least they don’t get a free ride. ▲ Methvin: Thank you. I really appreciate the advice on
how we can approve and how we can go forth. ■ Riley: Well, we have some of the greatest teachers in
the world. If you talk to the secretary of education (Margaret Spellings) in D.C. today, she will tell you that Alabama is doing more for education than any ▲ state in the union. 30 Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006
By and large, however, I believe most of our senior citizens are no different than the average voter regardless of age. They see the problems facing public schools and understand the challenges educators face in finding solutions. What, in my opinion, is a definite factor in losing senior support for public education is the failure on the part of the local education community to adequately explain to the public what the local system’s problems are and how they are proposing to solve those problems. ▲ Bellamy: Well, Lt. Gov. Baxley, on behalf of AASB, I want to
thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to allow me to interview you. I would like to conclude the interview by asking you to tell me what you do for fun. ■ Baxley: Oh, I love to have fun. I love to fish and cook. Thank you. I enjoyed our conversation. ▲
HELP!
Q
How do I earn Master School Board Member status?
AASB's School Board Member Academy educates school board members on a variety of school system governance issues and equips school board members with the skills and resources they need to be effective leaders. Academy participants earn credits and eventually reach one of four achievement levels for attending conferences and workshops in eight key areas: roles and responsibilities; policy and planning; financial accountability; the optimal learning environment; academic achievement; staff development; board meetings and school law; and community engagement. Master School Board Members have completed all four academy levels and earned over 100 hours of credit.
A
— Denise L. Berkhalter
Potpourri PEOPLE ▲ A pat on the back to the new appointees to the Board of Trustees for the Alabama Risk Management for Schools. Ron Glover, Montgomery Public Schools’ assistant superintendent for finance, and Midfield Board of Education Superintendent Donnie E. Breaseale were both appointed to ARMS recently. Cullman County school board member Steve Freeman was re-appointed to the Trust. ▲ Welcome aboard Linda Robinson. The Montgomery Public Schools chief of staff is now the interim superintendent. She has served the school board for more than 30 years as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and in the central office. She succeeds Dr. Carlinda Purcell, who resigned.
Helms
▲ Congratulations to Madison City
Board of Education President and AASB President-elect Sue Helms, Curriculum Specialist Sue Hall and ACCESS (distance learning) Coordinator Dr. Anne Davidson. They have been invited to present “Going the Distance for Learning” as part of the National School Boards Association’s “Share the Success” program during NSBA’s national conference in San Francisco in April. ▲ Congratulations to Dr. Cynthia S. Elsberry, Talladega County Board of Education superintendent, who
was the only Alabamian chosen for the 2006 Keizai Koho Center Fellowship. Elsberry traveled to Japan for a two-week tour that allowed educators to learn first-hand about contemporary Japanese society to enhance their classroom teaching of global perspectives.
Elliott
▲ Hats off to AASB District 8 Direc-
Jones
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▲ A nod to AASB District 6 Director
and Jacksonville board member Sue Jones, director of the statewide FOCUS initiative that is led by students and addresses HIV/AIDS, STDs and other issues facing teens. Jones, the state Department of Education and the state Department of Public Health will sponsor the annual Statewide Youth Council for HIV Education and Prevention Conference in October. ▲ Best wishes to Russell County Interim Superintendent Lillian Baker, who temporarily replaces Dr. Rebecca Lee. Lee resigned effective Oct. 10, and Baker, formerly assistant superintendent, plans to retire this year. ▲ Good job to Kacey J. Vardaman, the 10th-grade and advanced placement U.S. history teacher at Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School in Montgomery County. Vardaman is one of only 50 recipients nationwide of the 2006 James Madison Fellowship, which supports the graduate study of American history by aspiring and experienced secondary school teachers.
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tor and Decatur school board member Dr. Charles Elliott, who traveled to Washington, D.C. Sept. 28 for the “National Academy of Sciences: Rising Above the Gathering Storm” conference. Sympathies to the family of former Morgan County Board of Education member Tyrus “T.P.” Turney, who died at age 70 in July. Turney served two terms on the board and first joined the board in November 1976. Compassion goes to the family of the late Osbie “Hot” Linville, who served five terms as Lauderdale County superintendent of education. His service began in 1968, and he retired in 1994. Linville died in July at age 72. Condolences to the family of former Albertville school superintendent James “Jim” Pratt, who passed away. Compassion for the family of Carl Rodney Walters, who served since 1988 on the Phenix City Board of Education. He passed away in June after an extended illness. Condolences to the family of Guy Howell, a Calhoun County Board of Education member, who passed away in June. Howell, the recipient of AASB’s prestigious All-State Board Member award for 19992000, served on the board for 12 ▲ years.
Alabama School Boards • Fall 2006 31
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