School Board gives Trollinger high rating

Ira Trollinger's job performance has been very highly rated by the school board.

            The McDowell County Board of Education conducted an annual evaluation of the superintendent's work Monday evening at the board's August meeting.

             Board Chairwoman Priscilla Owenby spoke to The McDowell News about the results following the closed-session evaluation.

            "Dr. Trollinger received a wonderful evaluation from the board," she stated. "Overall, he scored as highly as you can score."

            The administrative staff must go through annual evaluations like many other workers. Owenby said that, beginning next year, McDowell will use a new evaluation process that is expected to be adopted statewide in coming years. She said the new evaluation is a running review, rather than an end-of-year checklist.

            "The evaluation form was sent out to each board member in the mail," she explained. "They had several weeks to complete the form using a scale of 1 to 5 in the scoring. These forms also give space after each section for comments or suggestions. Dr. Trollinger consistently scored 4s and 5s, and the comments were positive," she stated.

            One suggestion in the evaluation was that the superintendent should "send out a newsletter or bullet point for the week in review every Friday," Owenby continued. "He has agreed to do this and stated that with his open door policy, anyone on the board is welcome to come discuss a concern or make a suggestion for the good of the students and system." 

            Trollinger gave the board a detailed report on the administrative "principals institute" sessions he has conducted this month. Institutes are seminars and discussions meant to coordinate policy, discuss emerging techniques, build teamwork skills and more.

            He said the institute this year centered on "managing change" and quipped that it could just as easily be called "herding cats." In past years, he said, institutes have been conducted at remote sites such as Little Switzerland, but that this year nearly all the institute sessions have been conducted at the Marion Central Office's boardroom. This, he stated, was a cost-saving measure.

            The exception was a trip to the North Carolina Arboretum south of Asheville. He said the arboretum has a stunning display of bonsai trees, and that sparked a discussion among principals: Is teaching children like growing bonsai trees? Does one bend, restrict and force children to learn?

            "Is that what we do, or is it exactly the opposite?" he asked.

            Earlier in August, the federal government passed a $10 billion spending bill meant to bail out states that were struggling to make payroll, and to help them make Medcaid payments. The Associated Press reported that some $300 million of that will come to North Carolina and that the money could support some 4,500 state jobs.

            Trollinger said he had no clear idea how much of that will make it to McDowell County Public Schools.  

            "I wish I could give you a full report," he said, and warned against spending money that is not in hand. He has said often that the state legislature has a track record of cutting the school budget by the exact amount various federal programs grant in recent years; in effect taking federal schools money and putting it in the general state budget.   

            "I'm not as interested in exploring what we can do (with the federal money) right away as I am about what we can do to meet the challenge of even bigger cuts that may come at the end of the year," said Trollinger.

            Come what may, however, the schools are ready for business next week.

            "We are ready to go and our teachers are chomping at the bit," he said.