THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605030484
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Superintendent Timothy R. Jenney has notified all principals that the Virginia Beach Education Association can use school buildings for political activity only if they rent the space and leave the meeting open to all.
The memo, which cites a city attorney's opinion on School Board policy and bylaw, was sent out Tuesday.
The memo was prompted by three complaints received by Jenney last week that the VBEA, which represents 3,900 teachers, teacher assistants, custodians and other employees, was holding closed, political meetings at some schools.
Jenney said he was unable to confirm the complaints, but sent out the memo as a reminder. He also said that he had contacted the VBEA's leadership and that they had agreed that any further activity would conform to the policy.
``Whenever we use the building, we'll be renting it. There's no problem,'' said Jamie Chapman, a director for the VBEA.
``As soon as we got the memo, we said we'd comply with it 100 percent.''
Chapman said the VBEA had been working under a different interpretation of the policy when it showed a video in some schools to its members and held discussions about the election.
The video encourages teachers to vote in the upcoming election and introduces them to the candidates the organization recommends they vote for.
Thursday morning, before the school day began, the VBEA rented the library of Hermitage Elementary as required by policy to hand out copies of the tape to members. by CNB