Bus driver Linda Christian honored for quick response in accident
By Heather Michon
Correspondent
Fluvanna County Public Schools bus driver Linda Christian was honored for her leadership and professionalism at the start of the School Board meeting on Wednesday night (Sept. 10).
Christian’s bus was struck by a vehicle while she was transporting students.
“None of this was her fault,” said Superintendent Peter Gretz, “but because of the way she conducted herself, the way she managed the bus, calm leadership, and there were actually pedestrians that could have been hit had she not reacted the way she did, we just felt like it was an extraordinary act of courage, and we just wanted to express our gratitude.”
Christian thanked the first responders and school officials who came to her aid in the wake of the accident, adding, “but the real thanks goes to God, because there were so many things that could have happened differently. If I had been 100 feet further up the road and been hit, there were three students standing out at the end of the road.”
She said that she had told Transportation Supervisor Valarie Marsh, “that I would never complain about sitting through the annual training at the beginning of the year, where we have to hear the same thing over and over again, because when it happened, I knew exactly what to do.”
Phone Policy
After deferring a vote at their August meeting, members approved the new student cell phone policy by a vote of 3-1, with interim Fork Union representative Nikki Sheridan abstaining.
Board members have debated at length about the state mandates that require public schools to institute policies that restrict student cellphone usage from the opening bell to the closing bell.
The goal of the “bell-to-bell” policy is to increase student engagement and attention by removing the distraction of phones during instructional time. Some studies show the policy can also reduce social media stress and increase in-person social interaction.
Students with medical requirements or specific individualized education programs (IEPs) will be exempt.
Some members, including the Columbia representative and board chair Andrew Pullen and Palmyra representative James Kelley, have argued that the policy is unnecessary in Fluvanna County schools.
The existing policy allowed students to use their phones in between classes, at lunch, and during other instructional breaks.
The two differ on what to do about it, with Pullen musing during the August meeting about delaying approval until they were called on it, and Kelley arguing that they were required to follow a law, even if they disagreed with it.
Pullen and others on the board said during the meeting that they had received calls from the Virginia Department of Education since that August meeting, as they are one of the few – or perhaps the only – school districts in the state that had yet to approve the policy.
“The conversation went in a direction that I didn’t really appreciate,” said Pullen of the call he received. “It was political. It wasn’t about what’s best for the school. It was about what’s best for this November 25 election. And I didn’t appreciate it. And although I’m a conservative, I’m going to vote against it.”
School Security
Sheriff Eric Hess said staffing shortages throughout his agency have presented challenges in maintaining an adequate number of School Resource Officers (SROs) in county schools.
It would take five SROs to cover all the schools. Right now, there are only two.
Recruiting and retaining staff has been a problem in recent years, as fewer people are applying for law enforcement positions, particularly with a department that offers relatively low pay compared to neighboring jurisdictions.
Hess said only 39 of his 46 positions are currently filled, with four recruits presently working their way through the academy.
SRO positions are challenging to fill because “I can’t hire somebody off the street with no experience and put them in the schools,” he said. At the same time, it is hard to take seasoned officers, “the bread and butter of the agency,” and assign them to schools.
Interim Fork Union representative Nikki Sheridan pressed him on whether the department complied with the guidelines governing two grants that help fund the SROs, “because when I pulled them up, it looked as if it does not allow for splitting an SRO between more than one school.”
She and Hess debated the guidelines, with Hess arguing that the state agency that oversees the grants would almost certainly approve their staffing decisions, and Sheridan saying that they should “be transparent and let them know that we’re seeking to make changes and the time frame for which we want to have it.
Hess said the department was committed to finding a way to provide security to the schools. Members will also look into the possibility of hiring security officers directly through the school system, in partnership with the sheriff’s office.
