This morning, the co-chairs of the VSBA Task Force on
Schools in Challenging Environments, Mr. Rodney Jordan (School Board Member,
Norfolk City) and Dr. Mark Lineburg (Superintendent, Winchester City) presented
to the House Education Committee on the October 2014 task force report. Many of
you received similar presentations from Mr. Jordan and Dr. Lineburg at the VSBA
Annual Convention and at the “Practices of Promise for Schools in Challenging
Environments” Summit in December. If you have not had a chance to review the
task force report I would encourage you to do so.
The report prioritizes five key domain areas including
community and family engagement, funding and resources, specialized training,
student learning, and teacher quality. It also targets recommendations for
school board and governance teams, community groups, internal/external
stakeholders, the General Assembly and other policy makers, and VSBA. Mr.
Jordan and Dr. Lineburg spent over an hour delivering their research, sharing the
task force’s recommendations, and answering questions from members of the House
Education Committee. After the committee meeting, the task force co-chairs met
with staff from the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Finance Committee
to further share the report and recommendations.
We came away from the meetings encouraged and energized. We
heard thoughtful questions and passionate statements from members with genuine
interest in working together to help all students in the Commonwealth. VSBA
will continue to capitalize on this momentum throughout the session and into
the coming months. A big thank you goes to Mr. Jordan and Dr. Lineburg for all
their efforts on behalf of VSBA.
For more information about the VSBA Task Force on School in Challenging Environments please visit the VSBA website.
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| VSBA Task Force on Schools in Challenging Environment co-chairs, Mr. Rodney Jordan (Norfolk) and Dr. Mark Lineburg (Winchester), present to the House Education Committee. |
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| Dr. Mark Lineburg, co-chair of the VSBA Task Force on Schools in Challenging Environments, answers questions from legislators about the task force report. |
