By Heather Michon
Correspondent
Preliminary data from a Fluvanna County Public Schools staff survey found that while teachers and staff say they have a positive work environment and supportive administrative teams, they have far less favorable views around professional development and training.
Superintendent Peter Gretz shared this preview of staff responses at the monthly School Board meeting on Wednesday (Nov. 13).
Gretz explained that the state had rolled out mandatory training in new curricula and procedures very quickly, “and some of that training has not been great.”
While he believes the state is doing the best it can, it has put a burden on the teaching staff, particularly in the elementary grades.
Teachers are “having to rework curriculum, learn new curriculum, learn new assessments, give new assessments that they are not familiar with, go through training that was not great, and they are really suffering because of it,” he said. “Veteran teachers, exemplary teachers are saying things to me like ‘I feel inadequate, I feel defeated.’”
Gretz said he would present the full survey results at the next meeting and that efforts were ongoing to respond to staff concerns.
Licensing
Gretz and Executive Director Don Stribling briefed board members on the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) One Year Local Eligibility License. This measure allows localities to issue a one-year teaching license to those who hold at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
“The state board is trying to respond to the shortage of people going into teaching,” said Gretz. The one-year license gets people into the classrooms while they are still working on getting their full teaching license.
Stribling said about 90 percent of FCPS teachers hired on this type of provisional license have gone on to finish their professional education and receive their permanent teaching license.
Security
Chair Andrew Pullen (Columbia) raised some concerns about the Paxton Smart Credential system, which allows authorized users to enter secure areas with their smartphones or smartwatches via Bluetooth, rather than a fob or other device.
Pullen said he had received “a lot of correspondence and concerns” from staff uncomfortable with putting the app on their personal phones. “I don’t feel comfortable putting the app on my personal phone.”
Gretz said he was aware of the concerns, and his staff was working on alternatives for those who wanted to avoid using the app. However, “we were advised this was the safer way to do this because most people don’t lose their phones.”
Strategic plan
After 18 months of consulting with experts and holding multiple meetings with both staff and parent advisory groups, FCPS has finalized a Strategic Plan. This document lays out the division’s priorities and goals for the coming years.
“We’ve got a vision, a mission. We have core values that are defined and behaviors associated with each identified goal,” said Gretz. “And it’s an aggressive plan, but I think it’s one that will enable us to meet the expectations of the greater school community, our students, and our families.”
Phones
Regarding Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order 33, which directed schools to develop “bell to bell” policies that reduce or eliminate student smartphone use in the schools, Gretz said he had received feedback from students and staff and had initially intended to present some recommendations to the board.
After consultations with the district’s legal council, Gretz said that “the executive order does not direct school boards to do anything. It directs the Department of Education and the Secretary of Education to create guidelines that school boards can then use to implement policies.”
The General Assembly will likely also discuss the issue when it meets in Richmond in January.
He recommended that “we don’t scramble around to make changes in December” but rather to wait and see what happens in the legislature.
