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Two WJCC Administrators ResignBy Amber Lester Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Executive Director of Student Services Stephen Chantry has resigned, effective Jan. 1.
Executive Director of Student Services Stephen Chantry submitted his resignation on Tuesday. Jamestown High School Assistant Principal Pascal Barreau also announced he will leave at the end of the month to become an assistant professor in the Virginia State University Department of Administration and Organizational Leadership. Barreau’s resignation will be effective Sept. 30. He served four years with WJCC. A notice of his job’s vacancy has been posted here. The division will select a successor pending school board approval at the Oct. 6 meeting. Chantry’s resignation will be effective Jan. 1, 2011. His responsibilities have included overseeing student discipline issues, the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, the School Health Initiative Program (SHIP) and WJCC’s special education programs. He could not immediately be reached for comment. Chantry spent more than six years with WJCC. He came to the division after working for the AVID program, which he joined after 17 years as a teacher and administrator with Newport News schools. Chantry earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. and completed his graduate and doctoral work at the College of William and Mary. His resignation comes soon after he defended his expertise at an Aug. 18 school board meeting. At the meeting, Chantry presented a revised draft of a plan to spend $1.3 million in stimulus monies earmarked for special education. He told the board he was alarmed when citizens spoke against the proposal during a citizen comment period; several strongly recommended the board deny approval of the plan. The board did not pass the plan that night, but asked Chantry and his staff to meet once more with members of the Special Education Advisory Committee to tweak the proposal. A third draft was approved on Sept. 7. Read more about the proposal here. After parent Patrick Sensiba, not a member of SEAC, suggested some of the recommended spending was illegal, Chantry said, “I’ve been doing this for 33 years and I will not have someone question my professionalism or what’s legal and what’s not … I urge you to approve this so we can go on.” At the subsequent meeting on Sept. 7, two special education staff members defended Chantry and Supervisor of Special Education Karen Davis, saying they were shocked to see the school board dismiss their proposal at the previous meeting. “They were treated as incompetent and accused of being ignorant of the law,” said Lynda Webb, an occupational therapist with the division. “I hope WJCC school professionals will be respected and valued as such.” At the end of the meeting, the board members told Chantry they had confidence in his professionalism, but were concerned that SEAC, which serves the purpose of making recommendations to the board, did not approve of his previous plan. Board member Jim Kelly, who sat in on a five-hour meeting between the groups, reported that he was confident the approved proposal followed the federal regulations for stimulus spending.
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Comments
Dr. Chantry, I agree, was and is the zenith of abilities and professionalism within our school system....
Oh, maybe now it's time to "fire" most of our local school board, especially the chairman!
Our school board is truly wrecking the division. Truly.
Full story at 6:00 pm.