Va. Beach school chief's use of alert upsets council

VIRGINIA BEACH

After the deadly Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, the Beach School Board subscribed to a mass-alert system to instantly reach parents of children and school employees with a recorded phone message.

The $146,000-a-year program has been used to report lockdowns, text message threats from students, weather delays, flu vaccinations, report cards and bake sales. Portsmouth Public Schools used a similar system last week after gunshots at Wilson High School.

On Tuesday, the Beach's system, called AlertNow, entered new territory: a budget battle. About an hour before the city budget meeting, Superintendent Jim Merrill fired off a message to all 84,983 households in the system's database.

City Council members were outraged. They say Merrill abused the alert system for political purposes. Merrill, who didn't tell School Board members about the message, says he was just providing information to the public.

The conflict highlights the growing tensions in Virginia Beach between the school division and the City Council. Mayor Will Sessoms and Vice Mayor Louis Jones issued a statement Wednesday in an attempt to "turn down the temperature a bit."

It also raises the questions: How should the school's powerful communication technology be used? What's the difference between political advocacy and providing information? School Board members said on Wednesday that guidelines for the system probably are needed.

"The circumstances yesterday have made me realize this is something we as a board need to discuss," said Bill Brunke, the board's vice chairman. "How is it to be used and under what circumstances while preserving the discretion of the superintendent to do his job."

"We're going to have to put some limits on it," said Patrick Salyer, a board member.

Board members Carolyn Weems and Todd Davidson said they had no problem with Merrill's message.

Other local school divisions, such as Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk, have similar systems. School officials said they haven't been used for budget issues.

Merrill's automated voice mail said the City Council was preparing to take $8.8 million that school officials had budgeted for their use for a new animal shelter and recreation center. He said the action could force the school division to make "painful cuts" and warned of job cuts and larger class sizes in fiscal year 2011-12. He also told people they could watch that night's special School Board meeting on TV.

"The public is being informed of government public business," Merrill said Wednesday. "What's the problem? This is not political. It's informational."

He said the message wasn't political because he wasn't asking people to do anything. "The line becomes the kind of verbs you use," Merrill said. "If you ask people to do something, you're crossing the line."

City Council members disagreed. "If it's informational, then it should provide the full story," Councilman Jim Wood said. "It's a completely inappropriate use of the system. I view this as just a political message."

At the crux of the debate over the $8.8 million, Whose money is it?

Merrill called it "school funding" in the message. Jones said it's money for school reserves that lies within the city budget. He added that it won't affe ct the upcoming school year. "We're not taking their money," he said. "We're taking our money. It's city money."

In the end, one's opinion on the appropriateness of using the system might rest on whether you agree with the message of the day.

"It's going to depend on what side of the table you are sitting on," Brunke said. "We live in an environment of data and information overload, but sometimes you have to be noticed through all the noise."