Beach Schools use AlertNow for budget battle
By Brian Kirwin | Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 | PolicyVirginia Beach Public Schools instituted an “AlertNow” communications system.
“AlertNow allows the school district to send important information quickly – not only to parents but to staff as well – via phone and/or e-mail about emergency situations and school delays or cancellations due to inclement weather. In addition to notifying parents about school closings or delays, AlertNow allows every school to contact parents about important school information and events, testing schedules, report card distribution, open houses, delayed buses, field trips, and more.” (Schools Website)
They didn’t mention that another use would be for attacking City Council over who gets control over fund surpluses.
Superintendent Jim Merrill sent a phone message about the council’s plan to 84,983 staff members and parents Tuesday afternoon using the city’s AlertNow system.
“I feel I must advise you of a possible change to our proposed operating budget that could ultimately affect our ability to preserve jobs and maintain reasonable class sizes,” he said, in part.
Mayor Will Sessoms and council members accused Merrill of politicking.
“It’s not a use I envisioned when I helped institute it,” Rita Sweet Bellitto, councilwoman and former School Board member, said of the AlertNow system.(Virginian-Pilot)
What’s next? A “re-elect incumbents” message? A “call your legislator during a General Assembly session” message.
Mr. Superintendent, use my tax dollars to communicate safety, transportation and scheduling information like you said.
Don’t use my tax dollars to rally political support in a funding issue.
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About the author
The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
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13 Responses to "Beach Schools use AlertNow for budget battle"
Amen, Brother!!! I got the same call and was really perplexed why they used that system to give us this information. Merrill should be held accountable, since its use was highly inappropriate.
You’ve got to be kidding me! What a gross mismanagement of tax dollars. Instead of providing teachers a living wage, here’s yet another example of where tax dollars go to promote an administrative agenda instead of supporting the education of our kids in the classroom.
While I can understand the debate over the usage of the system, I hardly think it’s a debate between making a call and “providing teachers a living wage”.
This is certainly a crossover issue from political to non-political. I commend Dr. Merrill for reaching out to parents and employees of VBCPS to let them know what is going on. School admin has done an excellent job at keeping all informed of the affects of the budget shortfall and cuts that were proposed and then made or not made. Usually this is done via email and the website, and the usage of AlertNow was an extension of that.
AlertNow is not and was not a campaign venue. The same is true for Vdot billboards etc.
Joel,
What if the call had been to advocate for merit pay? School Choice? Would you feel the same?
We all know the teachers, counselors, and staff are stressed out with being overworked by cuts. This system should be used for what it was meant and paid for. Not for political gain or political ambition. Can anyone tell me how much it cost every time a message goes out to parents? If it is a blanket per year, no problem, if it is a per usage, big problem.
Given the content of his message, his doomsday ‘job cuts’ ‘class size’ remarks, this message was clearly political, intended to strong-arm the City Council.
Merrill was completely out of line, and improperly used a system that is specifically for emergencies. Crying over a budget battle is not an emergency.
I’m with Joel. It was a school-related item, and I was glad to get the call.
Furtherest thing from a school related item, an ‘story’ that has been covered extensively in the Pilot, WVEC, WAVY and WTKR.
Don’t pay attention to regular news SuperChicken? You need a political figure to improperly use a nearly $150k system to keep you appraised of local events?
This was not a school or school-related emergency. This is a political battle. Given the coverage this has received from numerous sources, City Council is clearly in the right, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this stunt costs the School Board the precious $8.8 million they’re complaining about in the first place. City Council has every reason to smack down the School Board for using and condoning strong-arm tactics like this.
D.J., you’re sad and off base here. Check out the comments section for the Pilot article. Clearly I’m in the majority on this one.
Plus, I’d love to see them use that pricey phone system for more than just “Your child received a report card today.” What is City Council afraid of?
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/05/beach-school-chiefs-use-alert-upsets-council
If this is just a blanket yearly fee service, I see no problem with this message. Clearly it was “political” , but get serious here.
The guy was telling the parents about ensuing budget cuts. And yes DJ, many people are too stupid to watch the news, so many so that many parents would not have known about said cuts.
Clearly this should be used for political purposes sparingly, IE only to inform not to instruct. Anything that can be used to increase civic engagement without adding further costs is a huge plus.
Again, if this costs per message, then this was clearly a bad move, but if the school is allowed unlimited communication, then I would advocate weekly or bi-weekly updates on what is going on with city council/school board items of importance to parents, so long as they remain strictly informative and give parents a way to opt out of strictly informative messages.
I don’t have a problem with the Alert Now system being used to inform parents and teachers about the budget issue as long as the system is paid for on a flat fee. I used to be a high school science teacher in Virginia Beach. Our school system saved a lot of money during the years that I was teaching there. Some of the things that we did to save money were to regulate temperature in the schools (usually a couple degrees warmer in the spring and fall and a couple degrees colder in the winter), reduced paper usage to a point that it was painful, stopped buying needed science lab materials, stopped funding programs for at-risk high school students, reduced athletic program funding (sports kept many of our kids coming to school), and consolidated teaching duties to the point where I was teaching three courses spread over the 5 teaching blocks (made for an incredible amount of outside of contract hours work).
The paper supply for making copies for class tests and problem sets was so limited at times that I bought my own paper and made copies at home. I don’t know one science teacher in my former school, including myself, who did not routinely purchase necessary lab equipment from our own money. One teacher I knew spent over $6,000 of his own money to purchase lab supplies. Those were not supplies that were luxuries either. Lab is a required component of Advanced Placement courses. If you cut out the labs, then your school can lose its approval from College Board to offer AP courses. Lab is also a state requirement for all science courses. Tell me how to conduct labs without the necessary supplies? My current employer wouldn’t dream of making me provide my own supplies to do my job.
I was once asked to consider if I would take on teaching a fourth course. I balked at the thought because keeping up with 3 courses was consuming my life outside of work. I left to get my life back because I pretty much had no personal time. Making a lot more money for much less work was simply a benefit of my new career. That is sad. Continue overworking and underpaying the teachers and you won’t have good teachers left.
There are companies, like the one where I work, that are looking for good math and science people. The skills math and science teachers develop through teaching are very useful in the business world when coupled with a strong foundation in math and science. Most of the teachers I met and made friendships with were not teaching because they wanted easy money or were trying to take advantage of the system or weren’t skilled enough to do anything else. Single teachers usually end up working a second or third job to get by. We pay teachers so badly, yet we hand children over to them and expect that the teachers practically raise the kids in addition to being educators.
Last year, 2 parents showed up to help out at the senior class picnic. All of us teachers spent our lunch time working the senior picnic or there wouldn’t have been one. For some kids, teachers do end up serving as parents. Not all of the kids have parents who even care about them or are sober at any point in time or are even around. Teachers end up picking up the slack. Although most teachers are there because they care about the kids, there is a breaking point.
The school system should have more of a voice. Virginia Beach City Council took away money the schools worked to save while I worked for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. That too is sad.
I think I am with J.R. on this debate.
Do more with less. That is what I had to do in the recession. I do not understand why teachers think they should completely avoid the consequences of a recession. The parents of the kids they teach could not avoid it, and while what they contribute to society is appreciated, is it that special?
While I do think teaching does not pay enough for the demands placed upon teachers, I wonder why we have such a line of willing employees waiting, with degrees in hand, to take their places? I do not wish to become lost in the argument. Sometimes the most demanding positions for teachers are the least paid and merit pay is going to penalize standouts such as these. But I will warn educators that not every young college graduate lapping at their heels is a fool. There is a long line of qualified new entrants willing to take your place and it seems that not every one of them is motivated by money because the pay is not there.
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