DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170008

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial

                                            LENGTH:   83 lines

BEACH SCHOOLS WISE INACTION

The Virginia Beach School Board did the right thing Tuesday night when it refused to meddle in the transfer of teachers within the school system. But the situations that precipitated complaints to the board highlight the need for the school administration to address problems within the system.

The School Board is elected mainly to set policy, oversee curriculum and make important budgetary decisions. It is not there to second-guess its school superintendent on specific personnel decisions.

To do so, especially in this case, would have constituted micromanagement of the school system and would have seriously undermined the authority of the chief administrator.

Early summer is traditionally a time of flux in the schools as hundreds of teachers and administrators are shifted around the district for a variety of reasons. Many do not want to leave their current schools, but most understand that they are not guaranteed tenure in a particular building, no matter how well they perform their jobs.

Effective management of a large organization requires some people to make unpopular decisions and others to accept them.

This year's situation was more explosive than usual because more than a dozen teachers from two elementary schools claimed they were being transferred solely because they had been vocal opponents of their principals.

School Superintendent Timothy R. Jenney denies this. He says many teachers have freely expressed concerns about their principals and other administrators without suffering repercussions.

School administrators say some of those being ``involuntarily transferred'' to other schools had formed small power blocks in their former schools, which would make it difficult for new administrators to move in and make a fresh start.

These teachers are not being dismissed or demoted or having their pay cut. They are merely being moved.

That is not to say the administration is blameless in this matter. Clearly the transfers were clumsily handled, leaving the transferees feeling that they had been blindsided as they were notified of their transfers on the eve of a long holiday weekend.

The awkward handling of the transfers, coupled with a lack of strong assurances that dissent and free speech will be protected in the schools, has left many in the system with a belief that teachers who speak their minds in the Virginia Beach public schools do so at their own peril. Jenney and his assistants insist this isn't so. But they must quickly find a way to assure the system's 6,500 teachers that their freedom of speech will be protected.

Schools are special places, but they are still workplaces. Employees must be free to express their views and to collaborate in the daily operation of the enterprise. But when decisions not to their liking are made, they must also cooperate. There are boundaries governing criticism and dissent in any organization. It is Jenney's job to foster openness but also to impose limits. He needs to do a better job of communicating both.

Our discussions with aggrieved teachers and their supporters reveal an astonishing lack of information about how they should have pursued their complaints against superiors in the schools. Had a clearly defined mechanism been in place, many of the teachers who supposedly formed power blocks might have been thwarted in their attempts to do so.

Before school starts in September, the administration ought to adopt a formal method for teachers to air concerns about superiors. The procedure ought to be published and in the hands of every teacher by opening day. A system that expects employees to complain about immediate superiors to these same superiors is flawed.

To his credit, Jenney has instituted annual reviews of principals - something his predecessors did only sporadically. The superintendent says he wants to increase accountability throughout the system, eventually weeding out bad principals and teachers. We wholeheartedly support this effort.

Teacher feedback can be a powerful instrument for identifying poor administrators. It would be a pity if Jenney's administration, out of teachers' fear, were deprived of this tool.

This year, despite a fuzzy definition of what should be done, the grievance process worked to some extent. Teachers were unhappy with several principals and by year's end those administrators were either demoted or moved to schools where they are expected to be more successful.

It is crucial that teachers and administrators who have been moved put their discontent behind them. It is equally critical that the administration reflect on the events of the past several weeks and find ways to prevent this scenario from repeating itself.

The children will be arriving for a new school year in about six weeks. It's time for a fresh start. And it's time to focus on providing a quality education for these children.

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