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By lceaprez, April 14, 2011 6:56 pm

By now, most of you have heard that the School Board has chosen to cut our proposed bonus in half. IF we are lucky, we will recieve $300 next school year. Anyone that leaves the employ of LCPS by the end of this school year will not recieve this bonus, but any new hires will.

If you disagree with any or all of ths, I urge you to contact your School Board member and your Supervisor. Not a resident of the county? Don’t worry, you can have your say as well. Just contact the person for the district that your school is in.

Here is the contact information for all School Board members:
Stephen C. Harris – Cuckoo District
P.O. Box 486
Louisa, VA 23093
Phone: (540) 967-2327
Email: harrissc@lcps.k12.va.us

Billy A. Seay – Louisa District
4558 Davis Hwy.
Louisa, VA 23093
Phone: (540) 967-2191
Email: seaywa@lcps.k12.va.us

Gail O. Proffitt – Mountain Road District
556 Merry Oak Lane
Mineral, VA 23117
Phone: (804)556-4160
Email: proffigo@lcps.k12.va.us

Sherman T. Shifflett – Mineral District
161 White Walnut Road
Louisa, VA 23093
Phone: (540) 894-5842
Email: shifflst@lcps.k12.va.us

Gregory V. Strickland – Patrick Henry District – Chairman
293 Byrd Mill Road
Louisa, VA 23093
Phone: (540) 967-2648 (home); (540)223-0836 (cell)
Email: strickgv@lcps.k12.va.us

Brian M. Huffman – Green Springs District – Vice Chairman
2289 James Madison Hwy.
Gordonsville, VA 22942
Phone:(540) 832 – 5869
Fax: (434) 589 – 3301
E-mail: huffmanbm@lcps.k12.va.us

Allen B. Jennings – Jackson District
17965 Jefferson Highway
Montpelier, VA 23192
Phone: (540) 872-3052 (h) (540) 967-2258 (o)
Email: jenninab@lcps.k12.va.us

Here is the contact information for the Supervisors:

Willie Gentry, Chairman 540-894-4751 (home)
Cuckoo District 540-894-6437 (cell)
LCBS_CD@louisa.org

Richard Havasy, Vice Chairman 540-967-2393 (home)
Green Springs District 540-894-1023 (cell)
LCBS_GSD@louisa.org

Fitzgerald Barnes 434-244-3131 (work)
Patrick Henry District 540-967-1967 (home)
434-996-8534 (cell)
LCBS_PHD@louisa.org

Dan Byers 540-872-3539 (home)
Jackson District 804-687-1143 (cell)
LCBS_JD@louisa.org

Willie Harper 540-894-4763 (home)
Mineral District 540-894-6877 (cell)
LCBS_MD@louisa.org

P.T. Spencer 540-967-2575 (home)
Louisa District 540-872-6193 (cell)
LCBS_LD@louisa.org

Tommy Barlow 804-556-4656 (home)
Mountain Road District 804-310-4130 (cell)
804-556-4666 (work)
LCBS_MRD@louisa.org

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By lceaprez, April 12, 2011 9:37 am

Lily Eskelsen, NEA’s Vice President, writes a weekly blog called Lily’s Blackboard. This week’s entry is about the experiential differences that our students face even before they enter into the classroom. We, as education professionals, are accutely aware of these differences, but Lily has a way of saying things that really inspires all education professionals. Here is the link to this week’s blog entry:

http://lilysblackboard.org/2011/04/can-you-explain-your-sudden-objection-to-going-potty/#more-825

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By lceaprez, February 4, 2011 1:07 pm

Good evening,

Louisa county educators are passionately dedicated to our students.  We work tirelessly to ensure that our students are given every opportunity to succeed now and in the future.  Our educators work long hours at school and sacrifice many evenings at home to ensure that they are prepared each morning to meet our children’s needs.  Because of this dedication, our students are meeting and often surpassing the ever-rising State and Federal standards.  Our high school graduation rate exceeds the state average and Jouett Elementary was just awarded the Competence to Excellence award for their test scores.  Every school has worked hard to close the achievement gap, and we are exceeding the results of many of our neighboring school systems.  Unfortunately, despite our successes in the classroom, we are falling behind our neighbors when it comes to compensation for our Educators.  Respectfully, it is now time for the Board to close that pay gap.

Last school year, the starting salaries in Albemarle, Charlottesville, and Fluvanna exceeded Louisa’s.  And a comparison of the regional salary scales shows that Louisa’s experienced teachers fare even worse than the rookies.  A Louisa County teacher with 10 years of experience earns less than a teacher with the same experience in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Albemarle, Charlottesville, and Fluvanna.  For teachers with 20 years of experience, we can add Caroline, King George, and Richmond City to the list of areas that compensate better than we do.  Things are even worse for our educators with advanced degrees.

Over the lifetime of their careers, Louisa County Educators will earn thousands of dollars less than their contemporaries in neighboring communities.  And this is compounded by the reduced earnings that Louisa County educators will receive from VRS following their retirements. 

Fluvanna County recently gave its educators a well-deserved bonus, and many school divisions, including Albemarle and Charlottesville, are proposing pay increases for their educators for next school year.  Meanwhile, Louisa’s educators’ salaries have been frozen since 2007, while at the same time our heath care premiums have increased each year, resulting in a substantial decrease in our take-home pay.  And because of inflation, the money we do take home buys less each year.  In short, for each of the past four years, despite increasing work-loads, and high performance, our Educators have taken an effective pay cut.  Our educators are being forced to do more with less, not only in the classroom, but in our personal lives as well. 

We have closed the achievement gap, now it is time for you to close the pay gap.

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By lceaprez, June 1, 2010 8:13 pm

At tonight’s school board meeting, the new principal for Trevilians was announced. Congratulations to Kerry Alday. Another highlight of the meeting was Mr. Harris and Mr. Seay making a motion to ammend the school calendar. They wanted to reduce the 3 summer workdays to one. Unfortunately, they were the only ones who voted for it. Please write to your school board member and let them know how you feel about their vote this evening.

Stephen C. Harris – Cuckoo District
P.O. Box 486
Louisa, VA 23093
Phone: (540) 967-2327
Email: harrissc@lcps.k12.va.us

Billy A. Seay – Louisa District
4558 Davis Hwy.
Louisa, VA 23093
Phone: (540) 967-2191
Email: seaywa@lcps.k12.va.us

Gail O. Proffitt – Mountain Road District
556 Merry Oak Lane
Mineral, VA 23117
Phone: (804)556-4160
Email: proffigo@lcps.k12.va.us

Sherman T. Shifflett – Mineral District
161 White Walnut Road
Louisa, VA 23093
Phone: (540) 894-5842
Email: shifflst@lcps.k12.va.us

Gregory V. Strickland – Patrick Henry District – Chairman
293 Byrd Mill Road
Louisa, VA 23093
Phone: (540) 967-2648 (home); (540)223-0836 (cell)
Email: strickgv@lcps.k12.va.us

Brian M. Huffman – Green Springs District – Vice Chairman
2289 James Madison Hwy.
Gordonsville, VA 22942
Phone:(540) 832 – 5869
Fax: (434) 589 – 3301
E-mail: huffmanbm@lcps.k12.va.us

Harold A. (Hal) Schaffer – Jackson District
162 Scarlett O’Hara Ct.
Bumpass, VA 23024
Phone: (540)894-8989
Fax: (540) 894 – 9898
Email: schaffha@lcps.k12.va.us

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By lceaprez, May 24, 2010 3:16 pm

On May 26, we are asking everyone who cares about the future of public education in America to call their members of Congress and ask them to add the education jobs fund to the emergency funding bill. The number to call is 866-608-6355.

Schools in nearly every region of the country are dealing with a funding crisis, and 300,000 educators are facing layoffs. If we don’t fix this funding gap by adding the education jobs fund to the emergency funding bill, our students will face overcrowded classrooms, program cuts and the loss of essential services.

On May 26, make sure your voice is heard. Call 866-608-6355 and ask your members of Congress to take action and protect public education!

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By lceaprez, May 23, 2010 3:03 pm

Please help spread the Word! Shout it from the Mountaintops! Libraries
will not go quietly anymore!

WHAT FUN WE WILL HAVE! My contact info is below.

WHAT: A RALLY for Libraries for All in Congress to see.
WHEN: June 29, 2010, 11 a.m.
WHERE: Upper Senate Park, U.S. Capitol Grounds

* On June 29, 2010, library advocates from all 50 states and Washington,
D.C. will meet for a RALLY at Upper Senate Park on the U.S. Capitol
grounds.

* Oh, Yes–you might have heard that THE American Library Association
2010 Annual Conference is in DC June 24-29, 2010.

* It begins at 11 a.m., will feature guest speakers, photo-ops, and a
chance to CHEER on libraries and the NOBLE purpose they serve! After
the rally, participants will meet with their elected officials and their
staffs.

* The states with the most people will be featured front and center,
which means they are the ones that will be in the majority of pictures.

Let’s make sure Virginia is the most represented so we can be in the
most pictures!

Cheers & Hooray for Libraries,
Art Bykonen
Region IV Chair, VLA (Serving Richmond and surrounding Areas)
Art Bykonen UVA ’85
Spacesaver Storage Solutions, LLC
10040 Whitesel Road
Ashland, VA 23005
(O) 804-798-3701×22
(C) 804-247-4261
(F) 804-798-3718

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By lceaprez, February 19, 2010 10:40 pm

I am sure everyone has heard about the education cuts that have been proposed in our state budget. Many groups have been to the capitol rallying for funding for their cause, and education is going to be doing the same. Next Saturday February 27, 2010 educators from across the state will converge on the Capitol hoping to bring attention to the k-12 shortfall proposed in the next budget. The event is open to all educators, their families, friends and neighbors who are concerned about the situation.

The Louisa County Education Association will be providing bus transportation for anyone who is interested. Those who want to ride should meet at the Central Office building no later than 9:00 on Saturday. Estimated time of return is around 2, so you might want to bring a bag lunch. If you are interested in riding please RSVP and let me know. If not, then you can certainly drive separately.

I know this is short notice, but the snow has hampered our organizational efforts. Please consider attending. We need everyone!

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By lceaprez, February 3, 2010 2:27 pm

There was a remarkable turnout at the School Board meeting.  The snow came down, and the public came out.  There were LCEA members, teachers, and parents in the audiance.

 The first discussion was on student transportation.  There seems to be a safety issue at the bus stop at Spring Creek.  There are 26 elementary students loading in a traffic circle.  The Board decided to look into this and look at the transportation policy.

The second discussion was on the proposed move of TJES to MNES.  There was a passionate mother sharing with the Board that she lives in the Trevilians district one mile from MNES.  Her remarks to the Board put a face on the issue.  One of the points of the discussion was if we go forward with this proposal, we might want to look at redistricting.  The Board went around and shared their feelings about the proposal.  Hal Schaffer started off and shared that he feels that if we go forward with the proposal it would be like pulling a fast one on the parents.  He reminded everyone that there was a $1.5 million excess revenue from last year’s taxes, and that the Board of Supervisors has a contengency fund with a large reserve.  Sherman Shifflett shared next by stating that he wants to open MNES and keep TJES open.  Steven Harris is open to what the Board of Supervisors offers, reminding everyone that they hold the funding.  He commented that these are tight times and that the trailers at all the elementary schools are a necessity, not a choice.  In the end, he did stated that he wante ot open both schools.  Billy Seay stated that the Board of Supervisors and the School Board are in this together.  He hopes for all four elementary schools, but he wants to make the best of any situation that we may end up with.  Brian Huffman said that we have to have a Plan B. He feels that they cannot make up their minds at this time.  He also feels that we do need to move on the $500,000 in stimulus funds for TJES.  Hal Schaffer reminded the Board that there were two engeneers, Billy Seay and Willie Gentry, and proposed having them head a committe to try to fix the moisture issues at TJES.  The Board agreed and voated to do so.  Greg Strickland stepped out of the role of Chair to give his thoughts on the proposal to move TJES.  He feels that if the Board made changes now that it would fly in the face of all of their hard work.  He stated that this is more of a budget issue than a moisture issue.  By moving TJES to MNES, the Board will save $1 million this coming school year.  He agrees that if the Board does go forward with this proposal, there needs to be redistricting.  He did bring to light if the School Board does not get the $2.6 million that they are asking for, then we are looking at 30 teaching positions being eliminated.  He has a hard decision to make and is looking forward to the Town Hall meetings on February 3 and 4 to hear from the constituents.  Gail Proffitt was not in attendance.

The next item that was discussed was the possibility for LCPS to charge an activity fee for extra curricular activitites.  There are approximately 1,000 LCMS and LCHS students that would be affected.  Central office is currently working to develop a cost, and there will be more information coming at the March meeting.

The last item that was discussed was the snow make up days.  Currently, we have missed 3 days of school.  We have 3 days of banked time at the end of January.  The next snow day would elimate the March 12 workday and make that into a regular school day.  Any additional snow days would add on to the end of the school year in May.  Dr.Pettit did remind the School Board that the calendar had a disclaimer that they could change the calendar at any time.

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By lceaprez, February 1, 2010 10:02 pm

Snow could not keep us from meeting with our elected representatives.

http://www.veanea.org/top-stories/lobby-day-2010-02-01.html

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By lceaprez, January 22, 2010 4:30 pm

The School Board and the Board of Supervisors met in a joint session Thursday evening. The big thing to come out of the meeting was a debate on whether or not to open Moss-Nuckols. The proposal on the table is to move Thomas Jefferson over to Moss-Nuckols, leaving TJES empty, and keep 3 elementary schools. It is not a done deal, but the Board of Supervisors are in favor of this proposal and if you listen to P.T. Spencer, the school division will not recieve any additional funds from the county. Dan Byers want to look at how far we are from the SOQ funding. The county administrator is looking at a $5 million budget shortfall for the county as a whole, and not opening Moss-Nuckols will drop that to $3.6 million.

What does that mean for us? If we do not get any additional funds from the county and the state cuts deeper into the education funds, we are looking at people losing their jobs. What can we do about this? Let the Board of Supervisors know how you feel. Contact Delegate Janis or Delegate Toscano and voice your opinions on school funding. Senator Houck is already on board with protecting the schools. Here is the contact information for all of them. Even if you do not live in the county, you can contact the supervisor for your school district. We will be discussing this in more detail at the meeting on January 27th at 3:45 in the LCMS library. I look forward to seeing you all there.

Willie Gentry, Chairman 540-894-4751 (home)
Cuckoo District 540-894-6437 (cell)
LCBS_CD@louisa.org

Richard Havasy, Vice Chairman 540-967-2393 (home)
Green Springs District 540-894-1023 (cell)
LCBS_GSD@louisa.org

Fitzgerald Barnes 434-244-3131 (work)
Patrick Henry District 540-967-1967 (home)
434-996-8534 (cell)
LCBS_PHD@louisa.org

Dan Byers 540-872-3539 (home)
Jackson District 804-687-1143 (cell)
LCBS_JD@louisa.org

Willie Harper 540-894-4763 (home)
Mineral District 540-894-6877 (cell)
LCBS_MD@louisa.org

P.T. Spencer 540-967-2575 (home)
Louisa District 540-872-6193 (cell)
LCBS_LD@louisa.org

Tommy Barlow 804-556-4656 (home)
Mountain Road District 804-310-4130 (cell)
804-556-4666 (work)
LCBS_MRD@louisa.org

Bill Janis (804) 698-1056
DelBJanis@house.virginia.gov

David Toscano (804) 698-1057
DelDToscano@house.virginia.gov