THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 3, 1996 TAG: 9601030465
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
The School Board could vote as early as Thursday on a contract for the district's next superintendent.
The board agreed almost two weeks ago to offer Timothy R. Jenney the position, with the details to be negotiated. Board Chairwoman June T. Kernutt said Tuesday that Jenney's attorney and representatives of the City Attorney's office have been at work on an agreement.
Jenney, superintendent of the Greenville (Co.) South Carolina schools, will not be here for the vote. His starting date with the 77,000-student Beach schools will be negotiated in the contract, Kernutt said. Jenney has said he might be able to join the state's second-largest school district as early as February or March.
Approval of Jenney's contract would bring closure to one of the issues that has hung over the district for months. Although admired for its academic strengths, the district has faced a series of crises. School leaders have battled ongoing budget problems, including a $12.1 million budget shortfall at the end of the last fiscal year which prompted an ongoing special grand jury probe of the district's finances. Spending restrictions are beginning to be felt in the classroom, such as in reductions in field trips. Relations between the board and City Council have been strained, and employees have reported declining morale.
School officials launched a nationwide search to find a replacement for former superintendent Sidney L. Faucette, who left this summer, after four years, to head a school district in Georgia. A field of 39 applicants was ultimately trimmed to three finalists - Jenney, interim superintendent James L. Pughsley and Bob Bowers, superintendent of the 18,000-student South-Western City School District in Grove City, Ohio.
Late in the search, Pughsley and Bowers withdrew their names from consideration. On Dec. 22, the board voted 7-2, with two members absent, to offer Jenney a contract.
For the past 17 months, Jenney has headed South Carolina's largest school district. Fifty-six thousand students are enrolled in the geographically sprawling Greenville school system. Before going there, Jenney, 43, led districts in Oklahoma and Michigan. The board here has not yet discussed bringing Jenney to the Beach before he officially begins his tenure, but Kernutt said she hopes that can be arranged to ease his transition into the district.
Jenney is known as a sound financial manager who works well with business and the community. Parents in Greenville applauded a magnet school program started there to invigorate flagging inner-city schools.
Kernutt said she expected Pughsley will stay on as interim and that she planned to meet with him today to discuss it. Pughsley has been out of town during the holiday break and could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Timothy R. Jenney
by CNB