WYDaily sent an identical questionnaire to each candidate running for the Williamsburg-James City County School Board.
Jim Kelly, a 52-year-old manager of crane engineering at Newport News Shipbuilding, is the incumbent candidate for the Jamestown District of the Williamsburg-James City County School Board.
Kelly’s answers are unedited and presented below.
The election takes place Nov. 7.
Read a completed questionnaire from the other candidate for Jamestown District, Danon Middleton.
What do you feel are the three major issues facing the school district right now? What are your ideas on how to address those issues?
1. Redistricting – There has been a lot of discussion in the community and on the school board about redistricting. With the opening of the new James Blair Middle School in September of 2018, redistricting at the middle school level is necessary. I believe the criteria should include proximity to the school, keeping neighborhoods together and socioeconomic status. The Board is currently looking at the high schools as well in order to complete our due diligence to the Funding Partners and the taxpayer. I think we have proven that redistricting at the high school level will not meet our capacity challenges in the short term and additional high school capacity will be necessary across the division. Since additional high school capacity is needed, I do not support redistricting at this time and believe we should wait until this additional capacity becomes available.
2. Teacher and Support Staff Pay – I have stated from the Dias for the past several years that I am concerned about the teaching profession as a whole. Already, school systems in the western part of the Commonwealth and even in systems such as Newport News, have had difficulty filling their teaching positions at the start of the school year. The compensation we, as a society, provide to teachers compared to the demands we place on teachers are not aligned. I worry that high school students who may be called to be teachers, are looking at other options. I worry that new teachers, when they begin to understand the demands of the profession, look for opportunities outside of the profession. This is a discussion we need to have on the local, state, and national level.
We have already seen how precarious we are with the bus drivers, other support staff are likely soon to follow. In 2010, the General Assembly provided $32 million to WJCC schools. Now, with over 1000 more students, the General Assembly provides $31 million dollars to WJCC. The Board of Supervisors and the City Council have done a great job in trying to fill this gap, but our representatives in Richmond need to be held accountable to meet the demands of public education in Virginia.
3. Achievement Gap – The difference in SOL scores amongst our subgroups is concerning and needs to be addressed intentionally. This is discussed at greater length below.
Population data suggests that WJCC may need another high school to accommodate students in the coming years. Would you support the construction of another high school in future budget talks or would you support building additions to division high schools to ease concerns about their overcapacity? If neither of those options are on the table, what is and why?
It is too early to take a position as to how to provide for additional high school capacity. Whether we expand the existing schools, construct a 4th high school, or provide additional capacity through some other means, this will be a large capital expenditure and will require study, consideration, public input and teaming with our funding partners. We will need to review growth projections to determine how long each configuration will meet our needs and the investment necessary to provide each configuration. Only then can the School Board, the public, and our funding partners have a community discussion and come to a decision as to the correct path forward. I look forward to working with all the stakeholders in meeting this challenge.
The WJCC school division pays starting-bus drivers less than the national median pay, and less than other school divisions such as New Kent County and Newport News. Would you support a pay increase for school bus drivers, and how would you convince city and county officials the raise is necessary?
Support staff, including bus drivers, are vitally important to the success of our school system. Bus Drivers are the first and last employee many of our students see every day and can have a tremendous impact on a student’s day. Pay increases are necessary to address the situation we had this year where we started the school year with a significant shortage of bus drivers and the resultant disruption it caused to our students and parents at the beginning of the school year. I think the Board of Supervisors and the City Council understand the issue and recognize the need to address compensation for teachers and support staff.
The WJCC school division budget for FY 2017 had “non-negotiable” requests for more teachers and support staff from the City of Williamsburg and James City County. What budget items would you want to ensure are fully funded and not cut back if WJCC schools faces a similar budget situation in FY 2018?
For clarification, those requests were “non-negotiable” because they were required by state law due to enrollment growth in students and English language learners.
The School Board is required by law to put forth a budget of need, and therefore I would like to see our entire budget request fully funded to provide the students of WJCC the best education possible.
Our CIP which is currently under consideration has several seemingly mundane capital maintenance projects, but these projects are important to the maintenance of our facilities and to ensure the safety of the teachers and students as well as the long term sustainment of our facilities. Of particular interest in the 2019 CIP are the investments in the infrastructure at Lafayette with roof, electrical gear, and sewer lines and the expansion of the Jamestown cafeteria.
On the Operational Budget side, we need to continue our school bus replacement plan as well as continue to improve our teacher and support staff compensation package. We must meet our commitment to our teachers and ensure progress on our pay scales. I would also like to see us remove the surcharge for insurance for spouses covered under our medical plan. I think this is particularly burdensome to our bus drivers, teacher assistants, custodians, cafeteria personnel and other support staff.
Which school improvement projects do you think need to be priority items for the school division? Why?
The CIP approved by the school board are the priority items for the school division and are necessary to ensure the long term safety and maintenance of our facilities. The school system has many needs, but the Administration and the School Board work together to present to the Board of Supervisors and the City Council only those items which are essential to the operation of the school division.
As far as long term needs, our community and by extension our school system is still growing. Once the construction of I-64 is complete, I would expect another building surge in our county. The leadership of our community must plan for this expansion and ensure plans for school expansion, at all levels, high school, middle school and elementary school, are carefully sited, funding plans developed, and implementation strategies conceived so these facilities will be available when they are needed.
Bullying has been a rising issue at school divisions nationwide, do you think WJCC schools are doing enough to prevent bullying in all its forms? What sort of actions would you take as a member of the school board to reduce the amount of bullying in schools?
Bullying is a rising issue in not only our school divisions, but across all areas of our society. The tenor of the conversation is deeply concerning. Bullying is a deeply serious and troubling issue and but can be overused, taking focus off of the instances where it is most serious. As a school board, we hold the Administration accountable to ensure our staff receives the training to recognize the indications of bullying and that staff knows the appropriate procedures to implement in instances where bullying could be taking place. October is bullying prevention month and WJCC has several events and educational opportunities for students and parents to become better informed to the signs of bullying in their personal actions, their friends actions, and in their own children. As long as bullying is taking place, I do not know that you can ever say we are doing enough. Continued education, awareness, and safety to come forward are vital to battle this societal ill.
Talk about the achievement gap in WJCC Schools. Are the current strategies to close the gap working? Why or why not? What are your ideas to help progress in this area?
While WJCC schools rank near the top of the Commonwealth in just about every statistical measure and all of our sub-groups rank are above state averages in almost every measure, we have struggled to close the achievement gap between the subgroups and our overall average. We have targeted the students in the subgroups and provided individualized instruction to promote their success. As we move forward into our budget calendar, the School Board will implement strategies to move additional resources towards those schools and subgroups which struggle the most to further address those needs. As our free and reduced, special education, and English language learner populations continue to increase, this will be a greater struggle and will require additional resources (i.e. Funding) to meet these challenges.
How would you describe the working relationship between the school board and the Board of Supervisors/City Council? What can the school board do to improve or enhance this relationship?
In recent years, the relationship between the Board of Supervisors, the City Council, and the School Board has been very good. Respect, open communication and understanding of the issues facing all of the municipalities has resulted in a good working relationship and has worked to the benefit of all of the localities and the community as a whole. Maintaining this relationship is good for our community and must be done in an air of trust and transparency.
How well do you feel the school board members work together? What do you feel you can bring to the school board’s dynamic?
The School Board members work pretty well together and each Board member approaches issues from unique perspectives. Mutual respect is vital to moving the School Division forward. We have several members who are, or were teachers and educators in classrooms. My perspective as a professional engineer is a unique and important contribution to the Board discussions and decisions. I understand the implementation of capital projects and the use of data and metrics in decision making and the expectation of results. In my day job, I manage a team of over 80 engineers and technicians and manage multi-million dollar budgets which allows me to bring this management experience with me to the work of the School Board. I am responsible for the implementation of capital projects with budgets larger than any of the school division projects and know the questions to ask. With all of the board members having less than 3 years of service and 5 of the 7 members having served for less than 2 years, my Board experience allows me to share my understanding with the other Board members of how past decisions were made and to provide my perspective on what impacts, both positive and negative, those decisions had on the school division. I believe my experience has been important to the operation of the School Board and the interaction with the Administration.
Are you a member of any political organizations? Which political organizations are you a member of and what have they taught you?
I am not and have not been a member of any political party. I am active and do support the Sorensen Institute at the University of Virginia. The Sorensen Institute promotes Trust, Civility, and Respect in Virginia politics and I am a graduate of their Political Leaders Program
Will you be participating in any forums or public debates? When and where?
The Candidate Forum at the Williamsburg Regional Library at 7:00 on Wednesday, October 18.
What is a question you wish we had asked?
Why do you want to be on the School Board?
What is the answer?
Public education is vitally important to our community and to the success of our democracy. I am a product of 17 years of a free and appropriate public education. I completed k-12 in school systems in New York and North Carolina, and spent 4 years at United States Merchant Marine Academy graduating with a BS in Marine Engineering Systems and a commission as an officer in the US Navy Reserve. My father was a college professor, my Grandmother was a middle school math teacher, and my grandfather was a school custodian after he finished farming. I was the first to graduate from college on my mom’s side of the family and she went back to school in her 50’s because she was not going to be the only one in the family to not graduate from college. My wife has been a teacher in WJCC for 26 years and two of my children have gone k-12 through our system, and one finishes this coming June. Education has long been important to my family. As an Eagle Scout, I also believe in service to the community and my service on the school board has been the most important to date. I look forward to continuing this service for the next four years.
