[BurleyBulletin] May 16, 2007: SOL Rescheduled, Losing SROs, Dance Chaperones

Wed May 16 12:25:34 EDT 2007

The Burley Bulletin
May 16, 2007

Inside This Issue...
*        Dance Chaperones Needed
*        7th Grade Reading SOL Test Rescheduled
*        Middle Schools May Lose School Resource Officers
*        Mark Your Calendar...
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Dance Chaperones Needed
Please contact Karen Lilley if you can chaperone the dance this Friday, May
18 from 4:00 to 7:00 PM.  Both moms and dads are needed!!  Contact Karen at
973-8617 or HYPERLINK "mailto:cklilley at hotmail.com"cklilley at hotmail.com
7th Grade Reading SOL Test Rescheduled
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Dear Burley Families:
Today at the very beginning of the seventh grade reading SOL test the
company that hosts the online portion of the state testing had problems with
their system. We attempted at first to place students in a holding pattern
and try to wait out the technical difficulties. However, since many other
schools and counties were experiencing similar difficulties, we decided at
10:15am to stop testing for the day. Most students were not much past the
sample and some whole classrooms had not finished the directions so the
students lost no real work, just a little anxiety.
We are moving the entire 7th grade reading test schedule to Friday, May 18,
2007. Much of the students’ day will look the same with morning and
afternoon testing sessions and no PE or exploratories for the day. Seventh
grade students will still be taking their math tests on Thursday, May 17,
2007 and Social Studies (if they did not take it in January) Thursday, May
24, 2007.
Thank you so much for your understanding as we try to make the best possible
choices for the best testing situation for all Jackson P. Burley students.
MegCarolyn Remesz                                      Marcha Howard
Testing Coordinator                                        Principal
295-5101 ext.305                               
mremesz at k12albemarle.org
Middle Schools May Lose School Resource Officers
Dear parents,
As Acting PTO President, I was just informed of a very disturbing decision
being seriously considered by the Albemarle County Police Department.  As
quoted in the article from the NBC29 website (see below), Chief Miller is
looking to remove 4 School Resource Officers (SRO’s) to help with our
shortage of police officers.  These four officers would be those assigned to
the county middle schools, keeping 3 SRO’s for the 4 county high schools. 
According to a January 28, 2007 Daily Progress article, “For the past
several years the ACPD has been facing a shortage of officers.  County
government uses a formula to determine ideal police staffing: 1.5 officers
per 1,000 residents. Using 2005 U.S. Census numbers - the most recent
available - the formula indicates that Albemarle needs 135 police officers. 
There are only 110. That number includes two officers still in field
training, two in the police academy and six who graduated from training Jan.
3.  Police say finances aren’t the problem; funding exists to fill an
additional eight spots. It’s just harder than ever to get qualified
candidates in the door.”
This shortage is serious, but should we sacrifice our middle school SRO’s? 
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the duties of the SRO here is the
description from the ACPD 2006 Annual Report:
The Albemarle County School Resource Officer (SRO) Program consists of six
officers and one supervisor assigned to 4 High Schools, 5 middle Schools and
2 Specialty Schools.  The program endeavors to protect the students and
staff to make sure a safe learning environment exists and assist the
administration and teachers in the education of the students.  Our School
Resource Officer Program has been praised as “one of the best run programs”
in the state by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.  There
are over 13,000 students in 26 schools in the county system.  Some of the
various classes that SRO’s teach are drug education, class action, bullying,
DNA for science classes and constitutional law for the 8th grade to prepare
for the SOL tests.  SRO’s went on numerous field trips, worked countless
after school and special events, and are involved in ACPD’s Police Explorer
and Bike Patrol programs.  One of the most important aspects of the SRO is
that of being a mentor and role model for young people.  Working closely
with students has paid off in better police-youth relations and reduced
crime in our schools.
Many Burley parents are very familiar with seeing Office Sean Horn at
Burley.  In addition to his formal duties, he regularly attends field trips
and chaperones dances.  He has established effective relationships with all
our students – not just the “troubled” ones – as well as many Burley
families.  Because he is in the school daily with our kids, he can
proactively deal with situations and students before they become a problem. 
He has also been a resource to two of Burley’s feeder schools
(Stone-Robinson and Agnor Hurt) when they’ve needed assistance.  Officer
Horn, like all SRO’s, has been through special training to make him more
effective when dealing with young people and the fact that he knows our
students makes him much more effective when dealing with problem
situations.  If this decision goes through, when Burley has a problem, they
will have to call 911 and wait until a police officer can get to them – a
police officer who is not trained to deal with students and who doesn’t know
the students involved.  We will also lose an individual who contributes to
our school in other countless ways. 
Please contact our School Board, our Board of Supervisors, Chief Miller and
the local media and let them know your thoughts about this situation.
Phone and E-mail addresses:
Board of Supervisors:  HYPERLINK "mailto:bos at albemarle.org"bos at albemarle.org
ACPD: (434) 296-5807
School Board:  HYPERLINK
"mailto:schoolboard at k12albemarle.org"schoolboard at k12albemarle.org
Daily Progress, Managing Editor, HYPERLINK
"mailto:cmccance at dailyprogress.com"McGregor McCance:  (434) 978-7283 or
HYPERLINK "mailto:cmccance at dailyprogress.com"cmccance at dailyprogress.com
WINA Program Director,  Jay James:   HYPERLINK "mailto:j at wina.com"j at wina.com
Thank you!
Shelley Payne
Acting PTO President
Finding Solutions to Police Shortage
Reported by Dana Hackett
May 14, 2007
HYPERLINK
"http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=6513504&nav=menu496_2_5"http://www.
nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=6513504&nav=menu496_2_5
Excerpt:  For now, the chief is looking to re-organize current staff. One
option could be taking school resource officers out of the schools and
putting them back on the streets. "We're looking at probably taking four of
those school resources officers and putting them back into patrol," shared
Miller.
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Mark Your Calendar...
*         Friday, May 18, 4:00 – 7:00 PM, School Dance
*         Thursday, May 24, 7:00 PM, 6th & 7th Grade Spring Concert
*         Monday, May 28, Memorial Day Holiday – NO SCHOOL
*         Wednesday, May 30 – Saturday, June 2, Mountain Trekkers Trip
*         Thursday, May 31, 7:00 PM, 8th Grade and Jazz Band Concert
*         Friday, June 1, Field Day
*         Monday, June 4, Honor Roll Trip to Mint Springs
*         Wednesday, June 6, 8th Grade Assembly (during the school day)
*         Thursday, June 7, 8th Grade Trip to ACAC
*         Friday, June 8, 6:30 PM, Auditorium, 8th Grade Recognition
Ceremony
*         Friday, June 8, 8:00 PM, Cafeteria, 8th Grade Dance
*         Friday, June 8, Last Day of School

____________________________________________________________________________
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