Plug pulled on summer school

By Jane DeGeorge
Eagle Reporter
Published: May 15, 2008

Most summer school students will be forced to make other plans this year.

Due to decreases in state and federal money and rising costs, Madison County school officials announced Monday that they are cutting back summer school, usually open to children in kindergarten through 12th grade during the month of July.

The summer program, which serves approximately 300 students each year, usually includes both “remedial” classes, typically open to students who failed or got a low grade in a school year class or on a state Standards of Learning test, and “enrichment” classes, for students interested in improving their already satisfactory grades. 

For the most part, the school system will not offer its typical programs for students at Madison Primary School, Waverly Yowell Elementary School and Wetsel Middle School this summer, Supervisor of Instruction Renee Honaker told the school board at its meeting earlier this week.
The summer programs that did survive the cut include the system’s “freshmen academy” and state-mandated “remedial” classes for high school students, Honaker said.

The “freshmen academy” is a “transitional” program for approximately 30 rising ninth grade students who “need some extra support before coming to the high school,” according to Honaker.

The required “remedial” classes for high school students will be available for students who failed a state Standards of Learning test, she said.
Madison County middle school students will also still be able to participate in a summer “enrichment” program called SummerQuest – which takes place at a Culpeper County school – however, parents will be responsible for driving students to the program as county buses will not be available to transport students to it this summer, the supervisor of instruction said.

The change in the summer school program will reduce the schools’ overall budget by about $70,000, according to Superintendent Brenda Tanner.
Tanner said the summer school program’s cutback is necessary due to the county’s proposal to provide the schools the same amount of local funding as the current budget year despite decreases in state and federal money and rising costs.

At the board of supervisors regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Supervisors Vice Chairman James Arrington questioned the school board’s decision to reduce its summer school offerings.

“It was a choice between that and reduction of force. As difficult as it is not to have [the typical] summer school [program], we believe it’s more important to have teachers in the classroom,” Tanner told the supervisors.

The school board also intends to eliminate proposed salary increases for teachers, including the system’s standard step increase of about one percent per year, Tanner told the school board at its meeting earlier this week.

Later this month, the schools plan to issue contracts to teachers for the 2008-2009 school year, Tanner said. The contracts will likely offer employees’ their current salaries, she said. (Every year school employees’ contracts note that they are reliant on funding approval from the board of supervisors, according to officials.)

The majority of the school board’s previously requested overall budget increase was for a proposed average salary increase of five percent for all employees. The salary raises – as well as proposed increases of employees’ academic and athletic stipends and master’s supplements – totaled about $400,000 in the school’s proposed 2008-2009 budget.

School officials will only know the exact amount of funding they are set to receive from the board of supervisors once the board votes to approve its overall budget in late June. However, school officials said they cannot wait that late in the fiscal year to plan the county’s summer school program and employees’ salaries so are working on the assumption the schools will receive the same amount of local funding as the current budget year, Tanner told the school board.

The Madison County Board of Supervisors and the Madison County School Board will host a joint budget workshop meeting set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 20 in the library at Wetsel Middle School in Madison. For information, contact Madison County School Board Clerk Liz Patterson at (540) 948-3780.