School Board sets 2022 grad date; approves higher substitute nurses pay rate, GT plan

The Warren County School Board chose a May 28, 2022, graduation date for high schools in Warren County and unanimously approved the education plan for gifted students in Warren County Public Schools (WCPS), as well as an increased pay rate for substitute nurses.

School Board member Kristen Pence, who chaired the board’s Wednesday, October 20 meeting and work session, along with board members Ralph Rinaldi and Melanie Salins attended the meeting, while School Board Vice Chair Catherine Bower and member James Wells were absent. Wells arrived later and joined the work session portion of the meeting.

High school graduation for both Skyline High School and Warren County High School will be held on Saturday, May 28, 2022, which is Memorial Day weekend. Skyline High School students will graduate at 8 a.m.; Warren County High School students will graduate at 10 a.m. on the same day.

In another action agenda item, the board approved the WCPS Local Plan for the Education of the Gifted for school years 2021 through 2027. New items in the local plan include the addition of an online cognitive abilities test, also known as the CogAT, and the addition of two full-time gifted and talented (GT) resource teachers, “which will really increase our gifted offense this year at the elementary level,” WCPS Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Alan Fox told School Board members.

Both GT teachers, Faith Falkenstein, who teaches at A.S. Rhodes Elementary School, and Justyne Louk, who teaches at Ressie Jeffries Elementary School, provided a presentation to the School Board and shared some of the student work examples. They said they have also started an afterschool math club for students.

In other action, WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger also received unanimous approval from the School Board to request that the Warren County Board of Supervisors increase the School Board’s fiscal year 2021-2022 Operating Fund Budget by $4,062,240. The money would be distributed to cover instruction ($2,907,875); operations and maintenance ($9,721); facilities ($1,042,644); and technology ($102,000).

According to Ballenger, since the original fiscal year 2022 operating budget was adopted on May 5, there has been $4,062,240 in federal and state grants awarded to WCPS. To receive and spend this unbudgeted revenue — which resulted from the receipt of federal pandemic relief grants and several state grants — an additional appropriation must be received from the Board of Supervisors, he said.

On another item, School Board action was postponed following a lengthy discussion on the Virginia School Screening Testing for Assurance (ViSSTA) program, which is being launched by a partnership between the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and the Virginia Department of Education.

The ViSSTA program is a new, free COVID-19 screening testing program for Virginia public and private K-12 students, teachers, and staff for the 2021-2022 school year, according to the VDH website, which said that while it “strongly encourages schools to participate” in the ViSSTA program, it is optional.

Under ViSSTA, public and private schools in the state can be matched with vendors who will conduct pooled screening testing in schools, VDH said. Public schools can also receive funding for needed supplies and/or to hire local school staff to support the program, such as school division testing coordinators, school nurses, or mitigation specialists. There is no cost to schools to conduct screening testing in schools and schools may have to assign certain duties to the existing staff to help support the program and liaise with the vendor and school community to help make the program successful, VDH said.

WCPS Director of Special Services Michael Hirsch sought to have the board approve three new positions as part of WCPS joining the program — a COVID response coordinator and two clinical support specialists — who would support the school division’s ongoing COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

The new hires would “have no fiscal impact on the school system,” Hirsch said, and the additional supports also would help implement voluntary pool screening, support building-level administrators and school nurses, and the division coordination of its COVID response.

“Our nurses and my department have been really, really bogged down… with the [pandemic] on an hourly and minute-by-minute basis throughout the last 18 months,” said Hirsch. “This will alleviate the stress on our nursing system so that they can focus on their clinics” and would allow them to get back to pre-pandemic “business as usual,” he added.

Nevertheless, because more information on ViSSTA is expected to be forthcoming from VDH and the state education department, the three present board members voted to postpone action on the item until the School Board’s November 3 meeting.

Speaking of nurses: “I can’t find nurses so I’m here to ask you for an increase in the substitute nurse daily rate,” which currently falls below the daily rate for substitute teachers, WCPS Personnel Director Shane Goodwin told School Board members on Wednesday night.

WCPS Personnel Director Shane Goodwin said that increasing the pay rate for substitute nurses would help WCPS build a solid pool of substitute nurses, which are in high demand across Virginia due to the ongoing pandemic. The board approved an increase from $90 a day to $100 per day for substitute nurses and a long-term substitute nurses’ pay rate to be set at $120 per day effective through June 2022.

Work Session
Several WCPS central office staff provided the School Board with updates on numerous items, including on Facilities, Child Nutrition, and Transportation operations, the WCPS Comprehensive Long-Range Plan for 2021-2026, as well as the WCPS Special Education Advisory Committee 2020-2021 annual report.

Other items under discussion included the advisability, scope, frequency, and method of discipline and incident reporting to the School Board, as well as possible revisions to board policy regarding Public Participation at School Board Meetings.

Watch the exclusive Royal Examiner video of the meeting and work session in its entirety, click here