Haley asks for audit for alleged bullying of teachers
The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors had plenty of questions for school superintendent Merv Daugherty on July 22 after the school board voted 4-1 for a virtual reopening of schools on Sept. 8 and 9.
Daugherty noted that the county’s health officer, Alexander Samuel, projected that a spike in coronavirus cases will occur in September. Daugherty said he didn’t want to reopen schools and then have to close them and go to 100-percent virtual learning.
During his presentation to the school board on July 20, deputy superintendent Thomas Taylor said some $15 million to $20 million was needed to implement health and safety recommendations, along with over $10 million in additional costs for technology and counselors.
Bermuda supervisor Jim Ingle questioned Daugherty about those millions of dollars that the school district may need to reopen schools. Daugherty said he had the schools’ chief financial officer, Robert Meister, come up with some numbers in preparation for the General Assembly reconvening Aug. 19.
Matoaca supervisor Kevin Carroll said, “No one contacted us for additional monies. If you would’ve told us you needed $21 million to open tomorrow, we would’ve found $21 million. We’ll still find money to get the kids in schools because that’s what the parents want.”
Daugherty said a parent survey that was hosted from June 18 to July 12 went out to “God and country” and was posted on a statewide Facebook page calling for students to return to school. However, he added that a “high majority” of responses came from parents of students at five schools. “We’ve changed our entire format to more secure services,” he said, referring to how parent surveys will be conducted in the future. On July 20, Taylor said the district changed its survey method because the last time it conducted a survey, about 25 percent of parents would not provide an ID to a third party (vendor).
As far as technology is concerned, Clover Hill supervisor Chris Winslow said he was surprised the county’s server is still working. “There are so many e-mails that continue to come in from parents across the county,” he said.
Daugherty previously said the district plans to have those without Internet access use Comcast services through “hot spots,” which were funded privately. “An Internet hot spot is not going to work in many parts of Matoaca,” Carroll said. “I just got Comcast last year. How are we going to provide (virtual) instruction for kids who live in the country?”
Daugherty said his team, including technology director Brian Jones, have 300 hot spots operating currently for 300 summer school students. Daugherty noted that Hopewell and Colonial Heights school districts place a hot spot on a school bus in an area for students who need it.
Carroll questioned whether such hot spots would work when multiple users log on at the same time. Daugherty noted that the school district has upgraded its bandwidth from 8.5 GB per second to 10.5 GB per second.
The supervisors also questioned Daugherty about if and when the county’s risk management department was involved when the school district considered six options for reopening schools. Daugherty said risk management was contacted, but didn’t have an exact date when risk management director David Johnson got involved. He said the school district did not come up with a mitigation plan for each of the six options that were suggested by the Virginia Department of Education.
Bullying?
“We had teachers bring it to our attention … that there was bullying … going on by members of your department and the CEA,” Midlothian supervisor Leslie Haley said, something she called “very troubling. I think we owe it to our entire population to ensure and conduct an internal audit.”
Daugherty said,“I support you 100 percent in that issue. There is no way that should ever happen.”
Ingle questioned Daugherty about the Chesterfield Education Association putting CEA stickers in schools for teachers who are members. Ingle implied that non-CEA teachers could feel bullied by the stickers. Daugherty said he doesn’t control the CEA but called it “extremely important. We will look into that issue.”
PPT extension
The supervisors agreed to extend the deadline for paying personal property taxes another 30 days to Aug. 31. They had earlier extended it from June 5 to July 31. During a work session on July 22, deputy county administrator Matt Harris said the county can’t legally extend the deadline any farther than Aug. 31.
Map amendment
The supervisors also approved a zoning map amendment for a property at 1600 Ashton Park Drive for the applicant, trustee Carrie E. Coyner.
The amendment comes with six conditions, including a reduction from 200 feet to 100 feet for a setback off Ruffin Mill Road.
The Goodrich River Trust plans to build a 10,000-square-foot construction office/storage building with a storage yard.
A study last year by Arcadis Consulting of Richmond recommended a property in the Ashton Creek Business Center for a water treatment plant that could be used in conjunction with a fourth water source for the county (Appomattox River).
Owners of the Goodrich River Trust are George P. Emerson Jr., along with Gopinath R. Jadhav of Richmond, P. Jagan Reddy of Petersburg, and Sidney M. Harrison and Raymond N. Harrison, the latter two of Chester.
