Contract extended for Virginia Beach schools superintendent

VIRGINIA BEACH

The contract of city schools Superintendent Jim Merrill has been extended. The School Board voted Tuesday to give him a performance bonus and health care benefits.

Merrill, hired in 2006 from North Carolina, will be paid $213,000 this year, a 3.5 percent increase. The board granted him a bonus of $15,190.

Merrill said his proudest accomplishment of the past two years is forming closer ties among the board, his Cabinet, the city and the community.

The board extended his contract to June 30, 2012, the second time it has given him a one-year extension of his initial four-year contract. The amended contract commits the school division to pay the full monthly premium for health care benefits for Merrill and family members if he asks for them.

He also gets a $1,200 cell phone allowance, a $5,000 doctoral supplement and a $9,000 travel allowance.

- Lauren Roth

SUFFOLK

New chief-of-staff position filled

City Manager Selena Cuffee-Glenn on Wednesday announced the appointment of a former Verizon employee as her chief of staff.

Sherry C. Hunt will fill the position, which was created this year to combine the responsibilities of an assistant city manager and the intergovernmental affairs staffer.

Hunt will be primarily focused on "promoting and evaluating efficiency, accountability and responsiveness within city departments and services," according to a release from the city. Her duties will also include oversight of the public library system and the role of liaison between the city and the health department. The position pays $112,000 a year.

Hunt worked for Verizon for 22 years, including time in capital budgeting and financial planning.

- Dave Forster

PORTSMOUTH

School Board to vote on its leaders

School Board members are scheduled to vote for their chair and vice chair today at a noon meeting in the sixth-floor conference room at City Hall, at 801 Crawford St.

They also plan to revisit whether to limit the number of lunch payments elementary and preschool students can defer. Those students are allowed to charge the meal whenever they don't have the money to pay for it.

- Cheryl Ross

NORFOLK

Church to honor 'Norfolk 17' on Sunday

First Baptist Church Norfolk on Bute Street will observe "Freedom Sunday" during a 10 a.m. worship service Sunday.

The event is to honor the "Norfolk 17," a group of African American students who were the first to desegregate Norfolk Public Schools almost 50 years ago. In 1958, several Norfolk Public Schools closed under Virginia's "Massive Resistance" laws to avoid desegregation. The church then set up classes to tutor the students who were among the 10,000 locked out.

Former Virginia Supreme Court Justice John Charles Thomas will be the guest speaker. Several members of the Norfolk 17 are expected to attend. The commemoration is one in a series during July to recognize the church's 208th anniversary.

The church is at 418 E. Bute St. The event is free.

For more information call, (757) 420-0230.

- Denise Watson Batts