Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990 TAG: 9004041335
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
With members Kimberly Helms and James Hassall dissenting, the board approved the recommendations of Superintendent Harold Dodge. His report included a recommendation not to renew the contract of T.O. Williams, personnel director for three years.
Williams sued Dodge on Tuesday, alleging that the superintendent fired him without cause.
James Sellers, principal at Prices Fork Elementary for nearly four years, will become Blacksburg Middle School principal. He has worked for the school system for 15 years.
Sellers' salary will increase from $40,104 to $49,430. The raise reflects his advancement and a 7.2 percent salary raise for principals effective July 1.
The School Board adopted the new salary scale Tuesday night.
Richard Ballengee, Christiansburg Middle School principal for 16 years, will become a director in the central office. His salary will increase from $44,745 to $47,530.
Board Chairwoman Virginia Kennedy said that she could not say what Ballengee's responsibilities will be.
Ballengee has worked for the school system 27 years as a teacher, high school assistant principal, elementary principal and middle school principal.
Waide Robinson, assistant principal at Auburn High School, will become principal at Christiansburg Middle School. His salary will increase from $42,479 to $51,624.
Before coming to Montgomery County last fall, Robinson was principal of a middle school in Petersburg for a year. Before that, he was an assistant principal in Henrico County for nine years.
Belva Collins - assistant principal at Christiansburg Elementary School for two years and a teacher for 14 years before that - will be Bethel Elementary's new principal, replacing Bruce Johnson, who resigned three weeks ago.
Collins' salary will increase from $34,753 to $42,259.
Carole Kivlighan, principal at Margaret Beeks Elementary, was transferred to Prices Fork Elementary, a school with nearly half the enrollment. Her salary will not change.
Margaret Beeks Elementary's principal will be Paula C. Ely, who has been a teacher and principal in Norfolk and Norton.
Ely, who holds a master's degree from the College of William and Mary and a doctorate from Virginia Tech, has been an elementary principal for 13 years.
The board also changed the job status of Fran Weiss, a guidance counselor at Shawsville High School for 12 years, reducing her contract from 11 months to 10 months.
Weiss had said Tuesday night that Dodge explained to her that the change would mean she was being reassigned as a classroom teacher. She said she has not taught for nearly 25 years.
All of the changes will take effect July 1.
For the most part, board members did not want to comment Wednesday on the reasons for their vote on Williams.
"I don't think you'd want your [job evaluation] to be discussed publicly," Mildred Gordon said.
Board Chairwoman Virginia Kennedy said, "I don't think it's my place to" say why Williams was fired.
Helms said she voted against Dodge's recommendation "because I felt the information I was given I could not approve."
Because Williams is suing, she said, she was told not to say anything about his termination.
Williams filed suit in Circuit Court, alleging that Dodge terminated him without cause.
Hassall said he voted no because "there were personnel matters that I thought were not justified." He said he did not want to get into specifics.
"In my mind there's a gross disparity between the public perception of his job performance and the representation of his job performance to the board," Hassall said.
Hassall said Williams' expertise is widely known. Williams, a former Air Force commander, is an "extremely competent professional, yet we're being told that his job performance is unsatisfactory," Hassall said.
Williams' job evaluation, which Dodge presented to the board Tuesday night, "does not jibe with what I'm seeing in the system," Hassall said.
by CNB