THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996 TAG: 9602060277
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE
STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 144 lines
At Independence Middle School, teachers volunteer their time to keep Saturday detention going even though there's no more money for it.
Teachers are so convinced of the disciplinary program's value that two of them staff it each Saturday morning, supervising students who have run into problems the week before.
For their efforts, the teachers get comp time to take during work hours they are not in the classroom. And the students get the message that bad choices have consequences, without missing class time during the week.
In recent months, schools throughout the city have grappled with the kind of issues Independence ran into with Saturday detention. Balancing budget cuts with the desire to provide the same services, principals, teachers and other staff members are often making do. But, while some say they have held their own so far, the beginning of a new semester has left them apprehensive about finishing out a school year different than any they've known before.
And, with the prospect of additional cuts if more money is not found somewhere, the concerns are deepening.
``Overall, the students haven't yet felt the brunt of it,'' said Iva Nash, an art teacher at North Landing Elementary School. But Nash said teachers are increasingly concerned about what comes next. ``The general consensus is things are going to get worse before they get better.''
When school officials first announced they needed to trim $5.3 million from the budget to offset a second potential shortfall, they pledged to try to keep those cuts away from the classroom. Although expenditures have been contained, the revenue picture has worsened and district leaders have conceded they will not be completely successful in shielding those on the front lines, including students, from feeling some impact.
``We've found other ways to do things,'' said Independence Middle principal Edith Eidson. While programs in large part have continued as usual, ``We probably aren't going to have the extras we had before,'' she said.
While decisions about general cuts have been made by district officials, many of the specifics are being decided at the school level. Staffs at the schools are struggling to rearrange less money to continue business as usual.
Among the areas affected:
Field trips - students are taking fewer of them and teachers have to be more selective in choosing them at many schools.
Melody Copper, a teacher at Newtown Road Elementary School, said her classes would normally have taken two trips by now, but haven't taken any. In addition, her students cleaned the beach three times last year as a service project. This year, she expects they'll go once.
``That's a service project we do for the community but we get something out of it, too,'' she said.
Mechanical repairs - teachers throughout the city have complained that equipment breakdowns, particularly copiers and computers, are not being handled as quickly.
Even before the financial crunch, a less expensive type of paper was bought district-wide to offset spiraling paper costs. The new paper jams many of the copiers, teachers say. One solution, running the copier at a slower speed, leaves staff at some schools standing in lines to make copies.
Substitutes - For most non-instructional jobs - such as custodians and nurses - substitutes won't be brought in until the second day that the employee is out. And school officials announced that all central office administrators, unless specifically exempted, will substitute in the classroom for five days this semester.
Diane Rainier, a teacher at Fairfield Elementary School, said some nights her school has only one custodian because of the substitute policy.
``That means basically the halls get mopped and the trash gets emptied,'' she said.
Staff training - The Beach schools have a long history of financing additional classes and training for its teachers, but that has been severely curtailed. Among the reductions, the district's annual citywide special education conference for teachers and administrators has been canceled this year.
Saturday detention - While some schools have found ways to keep the disciplinary program, the cut in funding has ended it at others, a loss teachers lament.
``That worked for us probably better than anything we'd tried in years,'' said Larkspur Middle School teacher Pam Harris.
School accounts - Schools will be getting about 15 percent less than originally budgeted for their individual accounts which include the discretionary money used to cover the ``extras'' that each staff chooses for its students. That will translate into different cutbacks at different schools but is likely to be felt most heavily at schools where parents don't have the resources to make up the difference.
At Kings Grant Elementary School, there may not be enough money for a cart to carry a set of 25 dictionaries shared by all second-grade classes because money available to each grade is being used to pay for field trips for the first time, according to teacher Cindy Merrill.
``Teachers know you're not providing everything you're capable of providing, the riches you've provided in the past,'' said Virginia Beach Education Association president Vickie J. Hendley. ``Anything that could possibly be seen as an extra or a frill has been eliminated.''
Interim superintendent James L. Pughsley has been carefully monitoring the budget with Donald A. Peccia, the associate superintendent for administrative services. Pughsley said he realizes the budget cuts they've devised are starting to be felt in the classroom and he is sympathetic to it.
``We're all anxious for this year to be behind us, but we need to get it behind us without a deficit,'' Pughsley said. ``None of us likes to be in this situation and to have it lingering over us. . . .
``Considering what we're dealing with and the given environment, I think morale is above average. But I understand the concerns.''
Some teachers, primarily at the high school level, say they have yet to feel any of the cuts directly.
``Our school has probably been very lucky in that we've continued teaching the way we've always been teaching,'' said Scott Kroeller, an English teacher at Ocean Lakes High School. ``I personally haven't felt any effect.''
Parents and students say they have felt the cutbacks in small ways or not at all so far.
Donna Mehdi, who has sons at Beach Middle and Cooke Elementary schools, said she hasn't seen any impact.
``Quite frankly, the teachers are doing an outstanding job,'' she said.
John Rieker, who has children at Plaza Middle and Plaza Elementary schools, said his sons have not been getting the certificates and other awards that they received for the same achievements last year.
``You can see where the money's starting to cut,'' he said. ``The teachers are trying as hard as they can, but things are tightening up.''
Kelly Stafford, a seventh-grader at Lynnhaven Middle School, said she hasn't seen a lot of changes.
``Basically it's just we can't go on field trips.''
Her brother, Todd, a sophomore at First Colonial High School, said ``In the classroom, there doesn't seem to be much of a change, but there's just a general feeling that something's about to happen . . . sort of an impending doom thing.''
Indeed, it is the drain on morale that teachers seem to be feeling most sharply.
``In my 23 years of teaching, I've never seen anything like this,'' said Harris, the teacher at Larkspur.
Even when they haven't felt the sting of cutbacks yet, teachers say the anxiety level is high.
``Nobody in this building feels like they've been pinched hard financially,'' said Salem High School graphic arts teacher John Ledgerwood. ``But everyone is waiting for the other shoe to fall.'' ILLUSTRATION: BUDGET CUTS
GRAPHIC
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS BUDGET by CNB