Roanoke County Public Schools opts out of state disability plan

The Roanoke County school system will not participate in the state's new short- and long-term disability plan.

Instead, the division will provide its own disability coverage.

As part of the new hybrid Virginia Retirement System plan, which affects staffers hired after January 2014 without enough eligible service, localities must elect to join the Virginia Local Disability Program or forgo the program and offer their own plan, which must be comparable. The decision is irrevocable.

"If we elect not to participate in the VLDP plan we have forever lost our opportunity," board chairman Jerry Canada said.

The Roanoke School Board, which must notify the state of its choice by Nov. 1, voted unanimously Thursday to pass a resolution electing not to participate. Officials said they have access to a plan through VACORP , which they believe is competitive.

According to agenda materials, the VACORP plan costs less and the rate is guaranteed for three years, whereas the state plan rate is guaranteed for six months. Officials said they have also worked with VACORP before.

"The initial cost is less. The amount of time it's guaranteed is greater," board member David Wymer said.

In other news, the board:

- passed a resolution supporting a lawsuit challenging the Opportunity Educational Institute, or OEI, a statewide district established by the General Assembly to take over schools.

The OEI has the authority to take over any school that has been denied accreditation, or those that have been accredited with warning for three consecutive years.

The Norfolk School Board voted last month to join the Virginia School Boards Association in a lawsuit aiming to invalidate the OEI. Since then the VSBA has called on school systems for support.

The Roanoke School Board passed the resolution Tuesday. Bedford County schools officials also recently considered the measure.

- allocated $60,000 for site work at Glenvar High School. The funds will cover surveying needed to develop engineering plans for the school's renovation. It will also pay for drilling test wells and analyzing soil to determine whether the site could have a geothermal heating and air conditioning system, which would provide energy savings.

The high school's renovation has been identified as the system's next capital project. In June, officials appropriated $1.3 million for architecture and engineering services for the project . Last month the construction committee OK'd the surveying work, drilling and soil analysis.

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