The local Boys & Girls Club chapter is planning to have a virtual learning support option for Westwood Hills Elementary School families who feel they need additional time to process the Sept. 2 shooting at the school operational no later than Oct. 5.
The effort, which a release from the Boys & Girls Club tells us involves the Waynesboro Family YMCA, Waynesboro Public Schools, the Waynesboro Police Department and the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development, is obviously admirable.
The release went out just before the end of the business day on Friday.
From the archives
Coverage of the Westwood Hills shooting: click here.
It didn’t take long – literally, a few minutes – for people to ask me how it’s being funded, which, actually, fair question, considering that the CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Waynesboro, Staunton & Augusta County, Debra Freeman, is also a member of the Waynesboro School Board, who also happens to be running for re-election on the Nov. 3 ballot.
This is where I get to be the bad guy again for raising another of the uncomfortable questions that need answers.
I don’t care.
It’s my job.
And to that point, I see a simple solution to the issue with a possible conflict of interest, which I’ll get to later.
First, again, admirable, important thing being done here.
Per the release, the model under rapid development would be open not just to Westwood Hills students, but students from across the city school system, grades K-12.
Waynesboro Public Schools, according to the release, would remain responsible for the educational program, teachers, instruction, curriculum and academic requirements.
The Boys & Girls Club and participating community partners would provide the supervised environment around that school day, including child supervision, structure, technology access support, routine, encouragement and social emotional support.
The University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development would coordinate the youth wellness, behavioral, resilience and trauma-informed support component of the response.
The Waynesboro Police Department will lead safety planning as the operational plan is developed.
The biggest new cost that I see here: the release tells us that there would be an anticipated supervision ratio of approximately one adult for every 18 students.
That seems to foretell expense in hiring new staff to be able to maintain that ratio.
There could also be additional expense in the transportation area, if the decision is made to try to provide public transportation to and from the Boys & Girls Club, in the form of bus transportation.
And also in breakfast, lunch and snacks, which the release tells us are being planned in coordination with the school system.
This is all obviously fluid, to the point that, the school system is in the midst of conducting a survey of families to gauge interest in the virtual learning option, through Sept. 18.
Survey
- Visit: org/virtualsupport
Assuming the partners decide to move forward with development of the virtual learning option, the School Board would have to vote to approve any funds that would need to come from the school system toward the project.
Easy solution to the conflict of interest question: Debra Freeman recuses herself from the School Board consideration – the discussion, then, the vote.
Problem solved.
I don’t think we should look at this as Freeman trying to personally benefit by leveraging her position on the School Board and her position at the Boys & Girls Club unless somehow some of the money going to the program ends up in her personal bank account.
There will still be people throwing the conflict of interest accusation around, because that’s what some people will do, but unless Freeman isn’t smart enough to declare the conflict and abstain during any School Board discussion of the project, we should be embracing the synergy between the community organizations trying to work together to solve a problem, not nitpicking people trying to do a good thing just so that the person they want to win on Nov. 3 gets an advantage.
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Chris Graham
