School division employees shared several concerns with members of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors on May 22, during a special called meeting to ratify the supervisor’s vote on increased school funding.

Supervisors also considered other budget items and heard from several school division employees.

The employees did not identify themselves or generally their positions.

Some employees asked the supervisors about the possibility of implementing an itemized system of accounting for the school division, as well as appointing (rather than electing) school board members.

Blue Ridge District supervisor Karl Weiss said neither was possible.

“We have their purse strings once a year” at budget time, Weiss said, and explained supervisors approve funding to the division only by category.

Weiss said the only way to change the board is to make changes in the voting booth.

Two seats are up for reelection on the school board in November, Weiss said of the Smith River and Dan River district seats.

J.D. Morse and Kandi Burnett respectively currently serve in those posts. Morse said he will seek reelection. Burnett said she will not seek a second term.

Weiss said he has “had school teachers come to my house, afraid of saying anything. You should have that right,” he told the 30 or so division personnel attending the meeting.

Lock Boyce, of the Mayo River District, said he has had a parade of teachers to visit his office, and that he put a collection together of some of the concerns shared during those visits.

“Teachers are treated so badly, it deters them from wanting to teach,” Boyce said, reading from the list.

“Teachers are too intimidated to say anything. The school board office is not held accountable. Great teachers are leaving,” he read.

Supervisors also noted the school board is a major employer in the county, and that in previous reports, school officials said the division lost employees due to better pay in adjacent localities.

This year, the General Assembly approved a 2 percent pay raise.

School officials said division employees would not receive the raise because the county did not provide the funds needed to implement it.

Supervisors said the raise was approved by the state and did not require a local match. They also asked division employees if the lack of a raise prompted them to attend the meeting or if the current pay would prompt them to look for work elsewhere.

“I’m not here for my 2 percent raise. I’d give that up, plus 10 percent” if the funds would be spent on students, an employee said.

Another employee said “I’m leaving because I feel unwanted in this county anymore. I don’t follow the rules” that change at least every other week, and generally at 9:45 p.m. on Sundays.

“I’m not ready to stop teaching. I’m applying elsewhere. I would love to still be teaching here, but the last five years have been the most miserable of my life,” the employee said.

Roger Hayden, of the Dan River District, said “Education is security. Education is power, the power to be what you want.”

The board ratified their vote to provide more than $7.6 million in local funding to the division.

Rickie Fulcher, of the Peters Creek District, said there is “ample funding there to fund the raise.”

“I don’t care” about the raise, an employee said. “I just want to be happy again and do my job and be told I’m doing a good job.”

“We appreciate the teachers” and all other school employees, said Crystal Harris, board chairman. “We appreciate the job you do. I thank you, this board thanks you and we all do love you.”