Fred S. Morton IV, superintendent of Henrico County Public Schools, has been elected to serve a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the American Association of School Administrators, starting July 1. AASA is the professional organization for school superintendents and other school system leaders nationwide.

As a member of the AASA Executive Committee, Morton will review and approve the association’s strategic plan and budget. The Executive Committee meets four times each year and conducts the ongoing business of the organization. The Executive Committee works with AASA’s Governing Board, which sets the policy agenda for the association.
AASA, founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more than 13,000 educational leaders across America and in many other countries. AASA’s mission is to support and develop effective school system leaders who are dedicated to the highest quality public education for all children.

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A few weeks ago we mentioned that Henrico County was looking at security upgrades for its schools. NBC12 reports that those upgrades have been approved in the new budget. A bonus: school teachers get a 4 percent raise.

Six new officers will be stationed at six different schools in the county. School board members say more security is needed to help deter crime.

Henrico, Tucker and Varina will have an additional armed school resource officer on campus next semester.

Brookland, Tuckahoe, and Fairfield Middle will each get unarmed security officers.

The School Board voted unanimously to approve a $508 million budget, which includes funding for the security upgrade. Also in the budget is money for 140 new positions — most are slotted for teaching and staff positions at Harvey Elementary which is still under construction. There’s another bonus in the budget — a 4 percent raise for teachers and nurses.

School Board member Lamont Bagby says overall, the budget reflects the board’s priority of educating and keeping students safe.

Thank goodness that Henrico County Public Schools see the importance of its instructional aides to the school system functioning well. Having high quality instructional support is vital to our children having a good school experience. And for special education children or for kids with Individualized Education Plans, the instructional aide is sometimes the thing that either makes it or breaks it for a child to have a positive experience at school.

The National Center for Paraprofessionals reported this week that Henrico will prioritize a two-step increase for full-time aides in the 2008-2009 budget.

More than 40 instructional aides from schools across Henrico County attended last night’s public hearing on the district’s proposed 2008-09 budget.

Their message was clear: Instructional aides should make at least half the salary of teachers.

One parent from the school district understands the importance of paraprofessionals:

Caroline Nelson, a Henrico parent, called these workers “the silent cog . . . that keeps the educational system moving forward.”

Fortunately, the School Board was able to understand the importance of paraprofessionals as well:

(The School Boards) identified a two-step increase for full-time aides as a priority in the budget.

That increase would give the county’s 363 full-time instructional aides, almost all of whom work in exceptional education, a nearly 9 percent pay raise.

Security upgrades are being considered at Tuckahoe Middle School, and Tucker High School (as well as plenty of other middle and high schools in other parts of the county) after the recent shooting at a college campus.

School Board members have discussed placing an additional school-security officer at Tuckahoe, Brookland and Fairfield middle schools and possibly a second armed school-resource officer at Henrico, Varina and J.R. Tucker high schools; all feature campus-style architecture.

“We would have somebody outside the buildings constantly surveying the land,” Bagby said.

A security officer also could help monitor bathrooms and breezeways, he said.

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Looks like Henrico County Schools will be starting a search to replace Superintendent Fred Morton IV, who will retire in June of 2009. Hopefully, they will find someone great, who realizes the continued inportance of technology in education and who can excel managing a large and diverse school population.

The Henrico County School Board is extending the contract of county schools Superintendent Fred Morton IV for one year — after which he will retire. The board made the announcement of the extension and Morton’s retirement today after a three-hour closed session.

Morton’s contract now lasts through June 30, 2009.

Morton, who was on hand for the announcement, said that when he started the Henrico job on Sept. 1, 2004, his goal was to retire as the county’s superintendent of schools and the contract extension allows him to do that.

The county’s former school board took no action last year to extend the contract and, by law, couldn’t make any changes to it after the November elections.

The current five-member board has four newly elected members

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