A teacher employed by the Patrick County School division on Thursday took her employers to task for perceived inefficiencies with respect to salaries of central office staff, the administrator to student ratio, lesson plans, the division’s organizational flow chart, and a host of other concerns.

Nancy Carlson, a history teacher at the Patrick County High School, said she is the only teacher willing to speak out for fear of retribution.

In May, school board chairman Ronnie Terry said employees who contacted him or other school board members would not experience retaliation.

Carlson said that while she may be viewed by some as a disgruntled employee, “I am here tonight to again express my concern about how my tax dollars” are spent.

Carlson, who has addressed the board at several meetings, exceeded the time allocated to her Thursday, but was allowed time to complete her prepared lecture.

She opened the talk at Thursday’s meeting by referring to an opinion she shared with the school board in September.

“The central office is top heavy,” Carlson alleged, and stated a table distributed at the September meeting showed the county has the highest number of central office personnel compared to 10 other school districts of comparable size.

Terry provided her with a table “comparing Patrick County to 13 other school divisions of unequal size,” Carlson said. “So I decided to use your table and discovered that Patrick County’s central office administrative personnel ratio” exceeds nine of the 14 school districts in that chart, Carlson said.

Based on that table, Carlson alleged the central office administrator to pupil ratio is one to 182 students, and the average ratio among the 14 districts is one to 274 students.

“In order to be cost-effective,” a ratio of one to a higher number of students is needed, Carlson said.

Schools Superintendent Bill Sroufe said currently there are 15 employees in the school board (central) office. He said only seven are administrators; the remaining eight are support personnel.

“This makes our ratio one to 350” students, not the one to 182 students Carlson stated, Sroufe wrote in a letter to clarify some of Carlson’s comments.

He also noted an instructional coach is not housed in the central office, but travels from school to school.

Carlson also said she is concerned about conferences and associated costs of meals and hotels; that an outgoing school board member attended a November conference and the number of school personnel to attend conferences.

A chart she prepared was distributed at the meeting detailing the number of attendees and the costs for conferences in January, February, October and November. The costs of meals and lodging also were included on the chart that Carlson said was prepared using materials she requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

“Why can’t a few people go, and alternate who attends, or how about teleconferencing or Webinars,” Carlson asked, and alleged there is no oversight with respect to how tax dollars are spent.

The school board on Thursday adopted policies to govern professional development and travel. (See related story.)

Carlson said she teaches World History I, an SOL class, and is “in dire need of new textbooks. The textbooks I use in my classroom were purchased in 2003. These 14-year -old books are duct-taped and in terrible shape. However, I was told that if I do get new textbooks that I would only get a classroom set of 30 books. The problem is that I don’t want 30 new textbooks; I want 75 new textbooks (whether actual textbooks or e-books). The state allocated about $178,000 in 2016/2017 for textbooks which had to be matched by local funds.”

She asked why there is no money for new textbooks, and questioned how those funds were spent.

Carlson also said “high school teachers’ opinions, needs, concerns, and suggestions are neither solicited nor valued. Instructional issues and needs vary greatly between elementary and high school levels. “

Sroufe said the division currently is reviewing math and history textbooks, and noted the Virginia Department of Education textbook review cycle occurs every seven years.

The textbook committee met in October, and learned “a variety of options will be considered from hardback books to online textbooks, class sets to individual textbooks. Teachers at each school review book samples, provide feedback to their school representative, and provide input” via a survey, Sroufe said.

In March, the division committee — which is made up of school representatives and school administrators — will meet, make a decision, and propose a new textbook adoption to the school board, Sroufe said. He also noted teachers “have multiple opportunities to provide feedback and give input related to textbook adoptions.”

As the crowd dispersed after the board’s vote to meet in closed session, Greg Feron addressed board members. He called them “pathetic” and made several other comments that were inaudible.