School Board delays superintendent search; approves emergency childcare, other expenses

The Warren County School Board on April 1 temporarily suspended the superintendent search process for the school division in compliance with state and federal stay-at-home orders.

The superintendent search firm, Real Synergy LLC, “stands ready to immediately move forward to the interview phase once orders have been lifted,” according to a statement released Wednesday by the School Board.

Once the search resumes, “eight qualified candidates will be reviewed by the Warren County School Board for an interview,” David Martin, president of Real Synergy, told the Royal Examiner today.

Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) Interim Superintendent Melody Sheppard will continue in her current role until a new superintendent is hired.

The School Board also conducted its regular April 1 meeting via live stream, unanimously approving several action agenda items. Warren County School Board Chairman Arnold Williams Jr., and School Board members Catherine Bower, James Wells, and Kristen Pence were present during the meeting, while School Board member Ralph Rinaldi participated electronically from a remote location.

The board voted unanimously to approve the following action agenda items:

1. Purchase of K-5 English textbooks totaling $462,094.92. Lisa Rudacille, director of elementary instruction for WCPS, requested the additional appropriation and recommended that WCPS adopt and, contingent upon available funds, purchase the Into Reading series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for kindergarten through fifth grade English to be used starting in the 2020-2021 school year. Rudacille told School Board members that it’s been eight years since K-5 students had new reading textbooks based on the state’s textbook adoption process, which follows a seven-year cycle. This is the year in which school divisions are required to adopt English textbooks, she said. The Into Reading series was suggested for purchase based on review of and feedback from kindergarten through fifth-grade teachers, school literacy coaches, and Instructional Resource Team members, said Rudacille.

2. Purchase of the license and subscription for Unified Talent’s Applicant Tracking, Records, and School Spring Job Board system, which includes training and set up fees in the amount of $26,100. George “Bucky” Smith, WCPS director of personnel, said the electronic system is needed by the WCPS Human Resources Department to better serve WCPS employees and future candidates. The system will provide more updated and efficient services, including those to streamline applicant tracking, onboarding of new employees and record retention.

In addition, the system will provide a new platform with School Spring Job Board for online recruiting. “Our current system consists of excel spreadsheets and manual forms and doesn’t lend itself to an efficient process,” Smith told School Board members, likening the system to Monster or Indeed job sites, just tailored to education. Additionally, employee accounts may be set up to basically build portfolios for each person, complete with tasks, scheduled or required trainings or certifications, and needed documentation, among other items. up each staffer’s portfolio. Funding for the system will come from 2019-2020 staff turnover funds, Smith said. School Board Chairman Williams said he thinks “it’s well worth the money to move to an electronic system.”

3. Emergency Child Care Program costing up to $25,700 per month. As part of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s order to close all public and private schools, daycares were asked to prioritize services for children of essential personnel, Sheppard explained. While Northam asked all families to keep their children home if possible, he simultaneously called on communities to provide emergency childcare to young and school-aged children of essential personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

Toward that end, WCPS and the Warren County School Age Care program on April 2 started a free emergency childcare program for local essential personnel, who include first-responders, healthcare workers, grocery employees, criminal justice personnel, certain government employees, shelter operators, pharmacy staff, and others who help maintain the health, safety, and welfare of Warren County residents. The free program is only for potty-trained children ages 3 through 12 years, said Sheppard, and will operate Monday through Friday, 5:45 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. at Hilda J. Barbour Elementary School. Registration was held on March 30.

Program funds are reimbursable as part of the emergency cost recovery process, according to Sheppard, who added that another site will be opening at Leslie Fox Keyser Elementary. Information will be forthcoming. A school nurse is on duty each day and free breakfast and lunch are offered daily at the program. “Hats off to the way this was put together,” Williams said. School Board Vice Chairwoman Bower called the program a “great asset to our community during these hard times.”

4. Correction to fiscal year (FY) 2020 Warren County appropriation and adjustment to FY 2021 proposed increase in Warren County appropriation. Sheppard told School Board members that during conversations with the Warren County staff, it was learned that the current year County appropriation to WCPS is actually $246,492 less than that in the approved WCPS FY 2020 budget.

“This is the amount of savings the schools realized when grounds keeping responsibilities were transferred from the schools to the County,” she explained. “At the time the FY 2020 budget was approved, it was communicated to the schools by the County that even though this cost savings ($246,492) was being realized by the schools, County funding would not be reduced by this amount.”

The County has since realized that this understanding was not reflected in the official County budget that was adopted in April 2019, according to Sheppard, so County funding will be $246,492 less than the amount upon which the FY 2020 WCPS budget is built. On the plus side, though, Sheppard said that due to staff turnover savings, as well as savings from reduced school operations for the final four months of the school year due to the pandemic emergency, the WCPS budget will be able to handle this revenue adjustment for the current school year. However, the adjustment also affects the upcoming FY 2021 proposed budget.

While the total amount of the requested County appropriation remains the same, the amount of the increase in the County appropriation is $246,492 more than previously calculated, said Sheppard, who noted that the revised increase in the County appropriation is $513,692 or 1.9 percent, compared to the original request that was $267,200 or 1 percent. “So we’re going to eat the $246,492?” Williams asked. “We don’t have a choice,” said WCPS Finance Director Robert Ballentine. “The county is aware of it and brought it to our attention. We were led to believe it was included in this year’s budget, but it wasn’t.”

Additionally, Sheppard discussed with the School Board a proposal to increase the cost of school meals for the 2020-2021 school year.

Per the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 federal law, school divisions participating in the National School Lunch Program are required to ensure that sufficient funds are provided to account for meals served to students not eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Schools charging less than an average of $3.09 for paid lunches must adjust the full-meal price to cover the difference, said Sheppard.

WCPS currently charges elementary students $2.10 for lunch and charges middle and high school students $2.20 for lunch. Based on the food services fund balance and the increased cost of food, Sheppard plans to make a recommendation to increase lunch prices by 10 cents for elementary, middle and high school students, and to increase the breakfast price by 10 cents to $1.35.

“This will be the first time the breakfast price has increased since the 2014-2015 school year,” she added.

Because E. Wilson Morrison Elementary School participates in the Community Eligibility Program, there will continue to be no charge for breakfast or lunch at the school, Sheppard said.

No action was necessary on the item, but Sheppard said she will make a recommendation for approval at the School Board’s Wednesday, April 15 meeting.

This video of the live stream provided by the Warren County School Board.