"Albemarle Superintendent Pam Moran recommended to the School Board during Thursday’s meeting that six “critical” areas from the recently completed Resource Utilization Study be reviewed and addressed by September.

The highlighted areas include transportation, central leadership structure, student learning, communication, facilities planning and professional development.

A review of the structure of the central administration staff has already begun, according to Moran.

“We want to make the system less bureaucratic, more efficient and more focused in its service to schools,” she said.

One stated goal driving the push for a restructured central administration staff is increased transparency in the decision making process.

“We need to be sure that we are very clear on how decisions are made, why they are made and who is responsible for the decisions,” Moran said.

To improve student learning, Moran recommended a renewed push to determine budget implications related to creating an International Baccalaureate program and increasing funding for specialty center planning.

Board member Jon Stokes spoke out strongly in favor of an IB program and expressed frustration that such a program has not yet been implemented, considering that the school division has been looking into the possibility of doing so for many years.

“I personally see this as mission critical,” he said. “It clearly promotes the goal of making our students members of the global community. A lot of people are enthusiastic about this and it is part of two of our strategic goals.”

Board member Diantha McKeel echoed Stokes’ sentiments.

“It’s time to get all the information in front of us and make a decision,” she said.

The transportation recommendations included delaying the bus replacement cycle, hiring a director in training, evaluating and implementing better bus routing technology and evaluating the costs and benefits of fleet diversification.

Moran believes that new routing technology would aid efficiency.

“We might not need to replace as many buses if we look at bus routing in tandem with that,” she said.

Board members expressed broad support for the transportation recommendations.

“I think this is an area we can definitely move forward with,” said board member Ron Price, who was participating in his first meeting since being elected in November.

At the start of Thursday’s meeting, the board voted, 4-3, to elect at-large representative Brian Wheeler as its new chairman. Wheeler, in his second term on the board, takes the leadership role formerly filled by Sue Bell Friedman, who did not run for reelection in November.

Pam Moynihan received three votes for the chairmanship.

“It’s an honor to have the opportunity to serve the public and the public schools,” Wheeler said. “My goal is to be the best representative for my colleagues, the schools and the community.”

The board also elected McKeel, in her third term on the board, to serve as vice chairman.

McKeel won the vice chairmanship by a 5-2 margin, with Stephen Koleszar receiving two votes." (Barney Breen-Portnoy, The Daily Progress, January 11, 2008)