"Two state senators and three delegates met with the Albemarle County School Board Friday to discuss possible policy changes, addressing teacher retention and juvenile students caught drinking alcohol.

The board recommended that the legislators support an amendment that would release to school administrators the names of students under age 18 charged with underage drinking outside of school grounds.

Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, said the proposal was a good idea as long as it does not compromise the confidentiality policy of courts in overseeing the cases.

Under current Virginia law, police inform a school division’s superintendent of students involved in any incident involving alcohol, marijuana, or a controlled substance while “on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity.”

The board wants to amend the code to “on and off school property.”

Chairwoman Sue Friedman said the board had yet to agree on the proper role school officials should play, whether or not they should act on student behavior off school grounds.

“It does not have to be a public activity,” Friedman said, suggesting confidentiality could be kept between school administrators and law enforcement officials in releasing the names.

By implementing the policy, schools can intervene and provide counseling for students who have been charged with underage drinking, said Pam Moran, Albemarle school superintendent.

“When underage drinking parties become public and come into our schools, it causes a disruption in the schools,” Moran said.

Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle County, said he and his fellow legislators need to look at what information is kept confidential in juvenile court.

“We’ll take the proper amount of time to look at this,” Bell said.

The School Board also suggested that the legislators include Albemarle County in a program that adds to teachers’ salaries to make them more competitive with other areas of the state.

The most recent cost of living index for the Charlottesville Metropolitan Statistical Area - which includes the city of Charlottesville and Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson counties - puts the area about 10 percent above the national average, according to a 2005 study by the Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development. The area’s average overall annual salary, however, is $35,744, slightly higher than the national average. Entry-level Albemarle teachers with bachelor’s degrees will earn $37,695 this year.

Because of the high cost of living in Albemarle County and its lack of affordable housing, the division is having a difficult time attracting and retaining teachers, according to the board’s presentation.

“Teachers are bunking two or three to an apartment to make it work,” said Kimberly Suyes, director of human resources for the division. “Some love the position but find they can’t make ends meet.”

Diane Behrens, director of support and planning services for the division, said that if given the choice, school employees would live in the county, but because of the lack of affordable housing, they live elsewhere while their children still go to school in Albemarle.

The county is competing for teachers with Northern Virginia and Richmond metropolitan area schools, and because of Albemarle’s comparatively lower salaries and higher cost of living, teachers are moving elsewhere in the state, Moran said.

Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, agreed that the county should be given state assistance.

“The housing market here is as tough as anywhere in the state,” Deeds said. “If anyone deserves a cost differential, it’s Albemarle County.”

While Bell said he would like to find a way for Albemarle to retain its teachers, he said it is also important for the surrounding counties to keep its teachers as well.

“Other counties would say they are losing teachers to Albemarle,” said Bell, whose wife was a teacher for six years in Madison County." (Matt Deegan, The Daily Progress, August 26, 2006)