City School Board shortens work week

By Bob Stuart

Published: June 10, 2008

The Waynesboro Schools plan to close school buildings and administrative offices on Fridays for the next couple of months to save the school district the cost of escalating fuel prices.
The first Friday closing is tentatively set for June 20.
The fuel increases include an 18-percent rate hike by Dominion Virginia Power effective July 1.
Superintendent Robin Crowder said Tuesday night that the exception to the Friday closings will be summer programs at elementary schools used by both the Waynesboro YMCA and the Waynesboro Department of Parks and Recreation. Those programs will continue.
Crowder, who received the School Board’s blessing on the closing Tuesday night, said the decision came after numerous dicussions with school board members and staff.
He said the conclusion was “that it was economically responsible” to close on Fridays during their summer.
While Crowder said work days Monday through Thursday would be longer, he said “our principals work 8 to 10 hours a day” now.
There has been some discussion of a four-day school week during the upcoming school year.
But Crowder said there are questions about child care and the length of longer days for Pre-k children.
Meanwhile, the Waynesboro School Board was briefed Tuesday night on the results of this year’s youth risk behavior survey, which was taken by seventh-graders, ninth-graders and 11th-graders.
On the plus side, the survey indicated that fewer students indicated that they were hungry.
Also considered positive was the fact that 90 percent of the students who said they were sexually active used birth control.
Amy Thelk, a James Madison University researcher who compiled the survey results, said there were some areas of concern among the survey results of seventh-graders.
Thelk said seventh-graders were more likely to carry a weapon, and said a quarter of them reported being threatened with a weapon.
And seventh-graders reported having more suicidal thoughts than ninth and 11th-graders.
Margaret VanHuss, the director of student services for the Waynesboro Schools, cautioned school board members not to be alarmed by the survey results.
She said it was important to look at the context of the age of seventh-grade participants, and consider what the students might define as a weapon.
VanHuss said the survey data would be sent to all six Waynesboro Schools, to physical education teachers, and the school district’s nursing and guidance staff.
She said the youth risk behavior survey, which is given every two years, is used to pinpoint trends.
The survey’s nearly 100 questions were developed by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control.