Survey: Students feel respected, safe

By WILLIAM PAINE

Patriot Publishing

At this week’s February meeting of the Pulaski County School Board, Assistant School Superintendent Tara Grant shared the results of a survey focusing on a “sense of belonging,” which involved students, teachers, parents and community members.

The survey, conducted in October, revealed that the majority of students in the Pulaski County School System felt respected by their teachers and classmates.

The survey also showed that close to 90 percent of both students and parents believe that they are “safe at school.”

Survey data collected from school system staff and community members was also largely positive.

The survey did reveal one area of concern involving parents receiving information about school activities. Notably, about 20 percent of parents surveyed did not feel well-informed about events and updates regarding their child’s school activities.

“I’ve had several community members reach out to me about not understanding what’s going on in our schools,” said board member Josh Taylor. He also suggested that the school website be more easily navigated.

Chairwoman Gina Paine suggested that monthly calendars of each school be combined in one place on the school system’s website. Vice Chair Sabrina Cox suggested that the newspapers could potentially be used to update the public on school-related activities.

Board members generally agreed that the school system’s website needed to be updated to include an easily accessible calendar of all school system events.

Superintendent Rob Graham acknowledged this and agreed to put these changes in place.

In her budget analysis, Finance Director Morgan Sklar told the board that the school system’s finances were in good shape.

However, Graham added that he’d met with the school system’s insurance negotiator and learned that they are expecting a 24 percent increase in insurance rates.

Board member Billy Williams asked about the possibility of joining with another locality to disperse the costs of spikes in insurance rates.

Graham said that he was currently exploring the possibility of joining a “consortium” of other localities, to avoid these dramatic increases in insurance rates. The theory is that by joining a consortium of other localities, insurance costs could be spread out in “bad years.” Health insurance claims made by employees of the school system were significantly higher this past year, which contributed to the increase in rates.

The contractor in charge of renovating the former Northwood Elementary School building recently submitted a bid, which came in slightly under expectations. The school board plans to move offices from its current location on Washington Avenue to the Northwood building.

The cost of renovations, minus licensing fees, is estimated to be just under $1 million, which is at the low end of the estimated cost.

“We were very, very pleased with this,” said Graham.

A second concern involving renovating the old school was the upgrade in fiber optic connectivity needed to supply the new school board offices at Northwood.

Graham stated that AEP had recently contacted him and assured him that they would expedite the needed fiber optic upgrades at the Northwood building.

“They said they would get on it as quickly as possible,” said Graham.

The Pulaski County School Board plans to move into Northwood by the end of this year.

Also, during the meeting there was the monthly recognition of teacher of the month, employee of the month, etc.

Included among those recognized were Southwest Virginia Governor’s School Science Fair Winners.

Six Pulaski County High School students who attend the governor’s school were awarded at their annual Science Fair for projects ranging from electrical engineering to animal science to astronomy.