Franklin County schools chairman reconsiders resignation
The school board has scheduled a special meeting Wednesday to decide whether to accept Ed Jamison's resignation.
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Friday, May 17, 2013
The first burst of support occurred in the immediate aftermath of Ed Jamison’s emotional resignation Monday night from the Franklin County School Board.
People crowded around as he tried to leave a board meeting at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. They offered him hugs and pats on the back. Tears rolled down his face.
On Friday, Jamison, who has been the school board’s chairman, said similar expressions of support have continued all week — in emails, phone calls, text messages and personal visits.
He said many people have asked him to reconsider his resignation.
And Jamison said this outpouring of support has left him wondering whether leaving the school board is the right thing to do.
The school board has scheduled a special meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday to consider whether to accept his resignation.
On Monday, Jamison announced he was stepping down right after his school board colleagues voted 4-3, with William Helm abstaining, to adopt a revised budget for the county school division. That budget included nearly $1.5 million in cuts. Middle school sports were among the programs eliminated, with an additional $29,000 trimmed from high school sports.
Jamison said then that he could not support a budget that continued to pay tuition for even a reduced number of students to attend the Roanoke Valley Governor’s School while cutting extracurricular activities important to hundreds of students.
School officials and many others had hoped the Franklin County Board of Supervisors would approve a 2-cent increase in the real estate tax rate to boost funding for the school division. But supervisors rejected that increase in a 6-1 vote last month.
Since then, the schools have been trying to identify cuts in staff and programs that would do the least damage to instruction.
At the same time, supervisors have been asked to consider alternatives that might yield more funding for the schools without increasing taxes or affecting the county’s credit rating.
1. 41-vehicle wreck ties up traffic Sunday on I-81 in Rockbridge County
2. Virginia Tech football roster has holes on picture day
3. Medicare penalties hit hospitals in Roanoke, New River Valleys
4. Microfestivus beer event gets downtown Roanoke hopping
5. McFarling: 2 little numbers are a big hurdle for Virginia Tech football
6. Arrest made in case of missing Nelson County teen
7. DAN CASEY: Copter cost still stirring up dust
8. Virginia attorney general's office grows under Ken Cuccinelli
9. Man's drowning is 5th in Lynchburg area
10. Roanoke farmers markets making local foods more accessible
THE ROANOKE TIMES
