School Board asks for relief from NCLB act

Bedford County is seeking relief from federal regulations related to the No Child Left Behind act.

    The School Board, at a meeting Thursday, unanimously approved a resolution asking for relief from the NCLB sanctions until a new law is authorized. The resolution was to be sent to the Secretary of Education as well as Virginia senators and local congressmen.
    The resolution noted that the current accountability requirements of NCLB will result in more than three quarters of America’s public schools being labeled as failing in the coming school year, causing a “drastic misrepresentation of the accomplishments of America’s public schools (which) does more harm than good and undermines the hard work of millions of educators and students across the nation every day.”
    Calling NCLB an “onerous” regulation, the resolution states that the public schools and students deserve relief from the act which is “widely acknowledged to be both unfair and overly burdensome.”
    It goes on to state that school districts have been challenged with implementing the complex regulations and are “forced to spend resources, both financial and human, on compliance rather than
on teaching and learning.”
    The resolution asks that the Department of Education provide relief to school districts from the constraints of the current statutes, “keeping schools from being held hostage while Congress moves forward with complete reauthorization.”
    “We request that this relief be straight regulatory relief, not waivers,” the resolution stated. “Schools deserve straight regulatory relief, and not the additional requirements or conditions that often come with waivers.”
    Specifically it asks for suspension of additional sanctions under current annual yearly progress requirements, effective for the upcoming school year.
    Prior to the vote, District 2 board member David Vaden suggested they call for the entire elimination of No Child Left Behind, noting that under the regulations soon every school will be labeled as in need of improvement.
    Also on Thursday the school board approved the appointment of Lisa Dellis as principal at Bedford Primary, beginning July 1. Dellis is currently serving as an assistant principal at Bedford Elementary School. BPS will serve grades K-1 next year, with second graders moving over to the elementary school.
    The board also approved the appointment of Krista Moore as the new principal at Montvale Elementary. Moore is currently serving as assistant principal at Goodview Elementary.