Bristol Virginia schools superintendent pens an apology letter but concerned parents aren’t impressed

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Superintendent Doug Arnold released an apology letter Tuesday about the now-controversial No Child Left Behind letter that has angered some Virginia Middle School parents.

But, the one-page letter mailed to parents and sent to the Bristol Herald Courier as a letter to the editor, did not impress the ever-growing group of citizens who still wish to voice their concerns to Arnold and other school leaders.

“[Arnold is] just trying to fix it because he knows everybody’s upset,” said Jackie Nophlin, a pastor who has become the informal leader of the group. “The whole community has responded to this.”

Although most of them were returning after an initial meeting last week, another small group of parents met Tuesday night at the Lee Street Community Center to draft a letter to send Arnold. The letter was originally intended to request a meeting with school officials later this month, but Nophlin said she has already set a tentative time of 1:30 p.m. Oct. 23.

“As far as a healing process, this is a good start,” she said about Arnold’s letter and the scheduled meeting with him and others.

Many parents in attendance Tuesday said they weren’t content with Arnold’s apology because they don’t think it was sincere.

Next week’s meeting with the school superintendent stems from a letter school officials released Oct. 3 throughout the middle school pertaining to the school system’s adequate yearly progress [AYP] status under NCLB.

“Based on the preliminary data released by the Virginia Department of Education, Bristol Virginia Public Schools did not make AYP for 2007-2008 in reading performance by black students ,” states the letter, which was attached to student ’s report cards. “Virginia Middle School did not make AYP in reading performance by black students and math performance by students with disabilities. All other schools within the division made AYP.”

Earlier this month, Arnold said the school system would not issue an apology because the information in the letter was truthful and obtained from preliminary state data.

However, Arnold’s letter Tuesday reads: “I am sorry that the letter was offensive to members of our community.

“The original letter is not a reflection on our children. It is a reminder that we as a school system and community should continue to work together to expand the educational opportunities for our children.”

After sending the letter, Arnold did not wish to comment further on its contents, its meaning or to confirm Nophlin’s Oct. 23 meeting.

“I am making no statement other than releasing the letter,” he said in an e-mail.

During Tuesday night’s get-together, the parent-based group drafted a letter thanking Arnold for the Oct. 23 meeting and confirming that “a delegation will attend.”

“We’re all in this together for a common goal — we’ve got to heal our children,” Nophlin told the group.

The group also developed a list of “agenda items” they want school leaders to address during their meeting, including what a clear definition of black and disabled students are under Virginia’s Standards of Learning assessment, why was this the first time a NCLB status letter was sent via students and who gave the final OK to send the letter.

Valerie Fugate, a concern parent with two sons at the middle school, said she wants to know how the middle school staff will go about bringing the failing black and disabled students up to speed “because [teachers] just run through these SOLs [Standards of Learning testing] like water because they only have so much time to get them in.”

W.A. Johnson, another concerned citizen, said he also hopes the middle school staff will bring those students up to par so no students — or group of student — has to single out again.

“The school system blamed the black students , but they really should blame themselves,” he said.

kbrooks@bristolnews.com — (276) 645-2549

Some Bristol Virginia parents are upset by letter from schools about black and disabled students ‘ test scores preventing No Child Left Behind annual progress

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BRISTOL, Va. — Some Virginia Middle School parents are upset about a letter sent home explaining why the school didn’t meet its federal testing benchmarks.

On Wednesday, school officials sent home a one-page letter saying that black students didn’t perform well enough on reading and students with disabilities didn’t do well enough on math. Because of the shortcomings, Virginia Middle and the entire city school system did not receive an adequately yearly progress, or AYP, status under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the letter stated.

But after reading the note, which was attached to students ‘ report cards, parents say they think it was worded insensitively and singled out black students and the disabled.

“In the letter, it’s basically badmouthing black students to a standard of them not being smart, in my opinion,” said angry parent Robert Worley, who has a stepdaughter at Virginia Middle School. “The more and more I read it, the more I got angry.”

School Superintendent Douglas Arnold defended the letter, saying it simply relayed the facts.

Tracey King, another angry parent, said her child was negatively affected by the letter.

“My daughter didn’t even want to go to school today because of the letter,” King said. “It was stereotyping and singling out.”

King said she read the letter Thursday afternoon and couldn’t believe school leaders would give it to students .

“When the kids saw ‘ black students ‘ in there, they thought, ‘Wow, what did I do? They are talking about me’,” King said.

According to a copy of the letter obtained by the Bristol Herald Courier, the note was written Sept. 11 and signed by Assistant Superintendent Michael Amstein. The note’s letterhead also listed the five-member School Board and Arnold.

“Based on the preliminary data released by the Virginia Department of Education, Bristol Virginia Public Schools did not make AYP for 2007-2008 in reading performance by black students ,” the letter reads. “Virginia Middle School did not make AYP in reading performance by black students and math performance by students with disabilities. All other schools within the division made AYP.”

The preliminary results stated that 66.1 percent of black students at the middle school met the passing objective instead of a federal benchmark of 73 percent. Only 52.8 percent of students with disabilities passed their mathematics portion, the data found.

However, according to state data, Virginia Middle School has made adequate yearly progress the past two years. But because it failed to do so this year, the entire Bristol Virginia Public Schools system has not made AYP.

Arnold said the school system had nothing to do with the letter’s wording and that school officials were just relaying the message.

“The wording used was the exact wording used on the reports disaggregated that the federal government sent to us,” he said. “We didn’t change anything or add our own notations; we just sent the same thing.”

The school system office received about six phone calls about the letter on Thursday, Arnold said, adding that he answered four.

He said school officials will not send out an apology or resend another letter because they are not at fault.

“We’re not going to apologize. It’s a statement of fact, and we were exactly reporting. But I want to just move on,” Arnold said.

Virginia Middle School Principal Gary Ritchie was unavailable for comment Thursday night.

School Board Chairman Butch Tolley said he didn’t know much about the letter or even what it said.

“I’m not that familiar with it at all,” he said Thursday night, adding that he didn’t read it. “I very briefly had a 30-second conversation about it [with Arnold]. I’ve been tied up all day.”

Still, parents like Michelle Reisler, who has two children at Virginia Middle, say attaching the letter to report cards made black students feel inadequate and discouraged.

“I feel like that was a really big put-down — just the wording of it,” Reisler said Thursday. “[Arnold] should come before all the black kids and explain to them what he meant by that.”

Parents also think the letter was worded insensitively, and it should have said “a small segment of the student body” failed to meet the requirements, King said.

According to 2006-07 state figures, Virginia Middle School had 62 black students in its student body of 547.

King and Reisler aren’t the only parents mad about the letter.

Monica Frank, with one son at the middle school, said even if another agency worded the letter, local school officials were insensitive for sending it out.

“What really got me upset was when my nephew came and said, ‘Does this mean I’m ignorant?’ “

Frank, who said black and white parents are angry about the letter, said she wants a retraction from school officials.

King and Reisler said they want school administrators to find a way to correct black students ‘ troubles with reading and disabled students ‘ problems with math.

Until then, the two parents say they plan to rally other angry parents and attend the next School Board meeting on Nov. 5 to voice their opinions.

“We will let them know that we do care about our children, and we want to see them succeed,” Reisler said.

kbrooks@bristolnews.com — (276) 645-2549

King College considers forming private high school

Building a private high school on the campus of King College is being considered.

King College officials said during an exclusive interview with the Bristol Herald Courier on Monday that the proposed school could open in fall 2008 and would eventually serve about 400 students.

But there are a number of details — including curriculum, personnel and funding — that must be hammered out before they decide to move forward with the project.

“We’re sort of in the research stage right now, but when we’re done we’ll go back to our board [of trustees],” said Dean of Academic Affairs Matt Peltier.

He and other leaders at the college have been researching other college -created high schools in Chattanooga, Knoxville and University School in Johnson City to get ideas for their own school.

Spokeswoman LeAnn Hughes said the research comes after five years of requests from parents and business leaders who would like to see the school built.

“It’s really been in the last 12 to 18 months that things have heated up,” Hughes said Monday. “We’ve been getting more and more questions about it.”

Peltier said King officials must now figure out how the school would be funded. At some point, Hughes said the college would likely ask for donations.

“But there’s such a need for it that I think people will be willing to provide resources,” she said.

King is 140 years old and affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. Last year, it had more than 1,200 students.

College officials also need to figure out when and where to build and hire someone to lead the school, Peltier said.

All these finer points need to be decided before college officials can present a plan to its board, which would have to give a final OK.

“We looked at a lot of different schools in the Southeast, and we’re currently creating a model that we think might be the best for here,” Hughes said.

Although there are a number of decisions to be made, the following details have been nailed down:

The high school would be tuition-based and would operate out of a new facility that may be built on the west side of campus.

The school would have its own governing board to determine curriculum, finances, policies, facilities and personnel.

The school would be college preparatory and offer several advanced placement classes in the arts, social studies, science and math.

The inaugural class of 40 to 50 freshman would start in fall 2008 inside one of King ’s academic halls. The school’s own building would be completed by fall 2009.

Students would wear uniforms.

King officials hope to have the school accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Southern Association of Independent Schools.

King ’s possible school wouldn’t be the only private school in the Twin City.

In Bristol Virginia, Sullins Academy is a pre-K through eighth-grade school that opened in 1966 and has a 32-acre campus. On the other side of the state line, Tri-Cities Christian Schools is a religion-based private school system founded in 1973 with five locations in Northeast Tennessee that have a total enrollment of about 800 students.

Tri-Cities Christian does have a high school in Blountville.

Still, there are many other details to be determined, including a class schedule and what extracurricular activities and athletics would be offered.

At this point, college officials are considering giving the school its own gymnasium, but high school students would share the current athletic fields with those in college .

Officials must also notify the state’s education department and city leaders.

Some city leaders, including City Councilman James Messimer, said Monday they haven’t heard about King ’s plans.

“As a former high school teacher myself, I’m more of a proponent for public schooling,” said Mayor David Shumaker. “But, I would like to hear more about it.”

King officials say they are interested in their own high school because it could mean those graduates might want to attend King College . Having a private high school in Bristol Tennessee would also give parents another option for grades nine through 12 besides Tennessee High School.

Peltier said the possible high school might also grab some graduating eighth-graders from Tri-Cities Christian or Sullins Academy.

“We see this as being a highly collaborative effort with all our local school systems — public and private,” Hughes said.

King is also interested in a private high school because there are many opportunities for partnerships with the college , Hughes said. For example, students majoring in education could use the school as a learning laboratory and gain hands-on experience in teaching.

“This is a good way to have a relationship between [the possible high school] and our existing programs here,” Hughes said. “There’s an obvious connection with working with the education program.”

The idea resonated with some King College education majors.

“That would be great cause I’m an education major, and we would get to go more into classrooms,” said freshman Magan Brown, 17. “I would try to student-teach at this ‘theoretical’ King academy.”

Freshman Veronica Curtis, another King education major, said the high school could help King students determine if they want to become teachers some day.

“If you’re thinking about becoming a teacher and you’re exposed to that atmosphere — even slightly — it helps you out,” Curtis said.

Curtis said her only concern about an on-campus high school would be having those students walking around college academic and residence halls.

“It would definitely be a security issue,” she said.

Right now, King officials are putting the final touches on a plan for funding and working out the intricacies of the governing board. Hughes said once the details are completed, college officials will present their plan to the board.

“Once we’ve decided to go on this, we’re going to roll it out quickly,” Peltier said.

kbrooks@bristolnews.com — (276) 645-2549

Bristol Tennessee’s new Fairmount Elementary design will be bright and big enough for the future

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BRISTOL, Tenn. — Imagine a 77,000-square-foot school with a domed library, a two-story lobby and skylights that beam sunlight into every classroom.

Now, picture a large gymnasium, a nearby cafeteria and a stage that’s all surrounded by 28 classrooms situated around a 583-foot hallway.

In essence, that’s the new Fairmount Elementary School.

“This building is unique to this project,” said Donald Lane, senior project architect for Community Tectonics Architects. “We have not done one quite like this.”

After getting a sneak peek at what their new Fairmount Elementary School will probably look like, the city’s school officials are anxious to start construction.

“I think the design is unique to us,” said Ed DePew, Bristol Tennessee City Schools’ maintenance director. “But it’s tempered with the knowledge the architects have.”

After an 18-month school facilities study conducted by Community Tectonics of Knoxville, city and school leaders have recognized that existing school buildings need renovations, especially Fairmount, which was built in 1918.

“The stairwell isn’t even original, and the gym and some of the classrooms were put in in the 1960s,” DePew said. “What was original was the core and the cafeteria.”

Building a new Fairmount is part of the school system’s 20-year, $60 million plan to update buildings. Incremental tax hikes will pay for the plan.

In early December, the Board of Education approved phase one of the plan: a $12 million move that called for rebuilding and expanding Fairmount, then demolishing Central Elementary and transferring those students to the new Fairmount.

Last month, Community Tectonics Architects showed school officials an artist’s rendering of the new school, which is slated to be finished in January 2010.

When completed, Fairmount will be the newest school building in Bristol Tennessee since Van Pelt Elementary in 1975.

According to design plans, the new Fairmount will have four classrooms for each grade, 28 in total. The lower grades — pre-kindergarten through second — will share a bathroom that connects two classrooms.

Rachel Walk, Fairmount’s principal, said sharing a bathroom will keep students from being distracted by other classmates walking out the room.

“It also keeps behavior problems down because we’re not sending kids down the hall to the bathroom then later wondering about them,” Walk said.

Grades three through five will be on a separate wing — more specifically, on the other side of the library.

Outside, the new Fairmount will have two parking lots — one for school buses and the other for student pick-up and staff parking, that will accommodate 120 vehicles.

Like many school buildings across the nation, the new Fairmount will have a locked perimeter, and visitors will have to be admitted at the main entrance.

Also on the outside, officials want to pay homage to the existing building by using the old school bell and some red bricks that resemble Fairmount Elementary.

“I think when you walk into the new Fairmount it won’t look the same, but we’ll try to bring in some memorabilia from the [existing] building,” said Myra Newman, Central Elementary’s principal.

One of the unique features of the new building is its eight skylights above the hallway. The panels will be positioned so sunlight can filter into every classroom, to augment electric lights.

Sensors will automatically dim the inside lighting on bright days, DePew said.

“And hopefully a by-product of that will be some energy efficiency because we won’t be using the lights,” he said.

Newman and Walk are excited about the new school.

They said the classrooms will help students learn by providing a brighter and more comfortable atmosphere.

“What also makes it conducive to learning is that they won’t have to climb stairs to get to the library,” Newman said of the one-level building.

The features incorporated into the new school design came from Central and Fairmount staffers who visited other East Tennessee school systems, including Johnson City, Sweetwater, Knoxville and Maryville, last February.

Staff members took digital cameras and notepads on their trip and documented what they liked — and didn’t like — about each school building.

Newman said teachers’ input was important because “they are the ones serving the children [and] they will be in the classrooms.”

“Another good thing that came from that trip is teachers were able to see what new technology is out there,” Walk added quickly.

Central and Fairmount elementaries will eventually become one school where both sets of teachers, staff and administrators will join together. The new Fairmount will have the capacity to accomodate more students in the future.

According to school records, combining the schools will bring the student population to about 460. The new building’s capacity will be 620.

“Even with sixth grade added, we would still have room,” Newman said.

While school officials are excited about the new school, construction won’t begin until the year’s end, DePew said.

Until then, the Knoxville architects still have some kinks to work out.

Lane said the school’s construction is in the design development phase, or DDP.

“In DDP, details become more refined and adjustments are made relative to budget and engineering of building systems is started,” he said.

After that phase, architects will start drawing the final plan “from which the building will be constructed,” Lane said.

kbrooks@bristolnews.com — (276) 645-2549

Bristol Virginia’s school office building gets failing grade

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BRISTOL, Va. — Jackie Nophlin represents a group of parents in the city school district, but whenever she wants to attend a School Board meeting, she must call ahead so it can be relocated because she can’t get into the board’s main office on Oak Street.

The building isn’t accessible to the disabled.

Advocates for the disabled and a small group of parents say Nophlin, who uses a wheelchair, should have access to the building. However, school leaders say the structure is too old to require updates.

“It can be done. There can be a ramp put in to the level of the board room, but the cost was pretty up there,” said Nophlin. “I mentioned it before to another superintendent at the time, but it never went anywhere.”

Current Superintendent Doug Arnold said the three-story School Board office was built in 1900 — long before the federal government required all buildings to be accessible. Arnold said he understands that some people need special accommodations so the school district will move board meetings to Virginia High School when necessary.

“But modifications to this building cannot be done inexpensively,” Arnold said, adding that it would cost “upwards to $150,000″ to install ramps or platform lifts. “And, in my opinion, that would not be a good way to spend public money.”

The board office, which used to be a schoolhouse, has stairs before every entrance and an additional flight of steps just outside the meeting room.

For access, Nophlin and other disabled people would need a ramp or a lift to get past the stairs. An elevator would also be needed to get people to different levels once inside.

Although every school in the district has accessible equipment, Arnold said Tuesday there are no plans to install accessible equipment at the board building.

“The building is grandfathered in, so we don’t have to make modifications,” he said.

According to the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, places of public accommodation and commercial facilities should be “designed, constructed, or altered in compliance with accessibility standards established by the Department of Justice.”

Public places include hotels, theaters, museums, schools and other government buildings.

The law requires, starting in 1992, that all public places have a way for the disabled to enter buildings and interior levels. Failure to do so could results in a $50,000 fine on a first offense and $10,000 for every subsequent offense.

“If they could build a ramp that would address her needs, the school system should be looking into that,” said Nancy Horton, assistant director of the Mid-Atlantic ADA Center in Rockville, Md.

Greg Morrell, director of Abingdon-based Appalachian Independence Center, said a “grandfather clause” does not exist under ADA compliance. Therefore, he thinks the school district should alter the board office for accessibility.

“Local governments are supposed to have plans and things developed for accessibility by now, and this is 17 years later,” Morrell said. “They have her participating by going to an alternate site, but that’s not really good enough.”

Morrell was referring to this section of the ADA, which states: “Where structural modifications are required to achieve program accessibility, a public entity with 50 or more employees must do a transition plan by July 26, 1992, that provides for the removal of these barriers. Any structural modifications must be completed as expeditiously as possible, but, in any event, by January 26, 1995.”

He said the school district does the right thing by moving meetings to accommodate the disabled, but it would be better if the building had ramps.

“I would hate to have to call and say I’m coming to the meeting,” said Morrell, who also uses a wheelchair. “I would hope the city would look at that and say ‘Even if we don’t know if someone disabled is coming, we should still provide access.’ “

Scott Bowen, the city’s building official, also said the School Board office is “grandfathered in” but would see to it that any newly built structures in the city are ADA compliant.

Ronnie Morris, the school district’s maintenance supervisor, said school officials have had few complaints in the past from people needing access to the building because not many disabled people come to meetings, he said.

“There’s been a little bit of a study done into putting an elevator in, but it didn’t get anything farther,” Morris said. “I’m not exactly sure about that building, but I feel like it would be exempt because it was built long ago.”

Nophlin became a more-visible community leader in October after school administrators sent a one-page letter to parents explaining that black students and students with disabilities didn’t score well enough on their statewide exams. The letter, attached to students’ report cards, outraged parents who said it was worded insensitively and singled out certain kids.

Since then, Nophlin has been the voice of the parents and has attended the past two School Board meetings.

At the first meeting on Nov. 5, School Board members moved the meeting to the high school.

The following meeting last Tuesday was moved back to Oak Street. At that meeting, Nophlin said she sat at the high school’s library and listened to the meeting via a telephone.

Nophlin said listening in hindered her because she’d rather talk with board members face-to-face and see their reactions.

“I couldn’t hear anyone except the superintendent,” she added.

The group of parents Nophlin represents also want her to have access to the building.

“I don’t think that’s right, and I think they can accommodate her better,” said parent Monica Frank. “If they’re too sorry and cheap to get an elevator, they can at least get a ramp.”

Adding accessible points to the building would benefit the whole community, said Tracy King, another parent.

“You never know who wants to come — it could be anyone or another public official,” King said. “Jackie really does need that there because she’s just trying to help us.”

Despite the barrier to the board office, Nophlin says she’ll happily continue to represent the parents. Even so, Nophlin said she wishes she didn’t have to request special accommodations.

“It makes me feel the same way the kids felt when that letter came out,” she said. “It singles me out, [and] I don’t have the same privilege of walking into the school building.”

kbrooks@bristolnews.com — (276) 645-2549