FRANKLIN
The Franklin City School Board came together Monday night for a called meeting regarding the discussion of the instrument that will be used to evaluate Superintendent Dr. Willie Bell.

Last year, the board used the tool that the Virginia Department of Education had suggested. This allows for two assessments, one midway through the school year and the other at the end of the year.

At the end 2015, Bell earned a numerical value of 52 out of 60 based on the rubric from the instrument. This score fell under the category of proficient.

The rubric that is used with this instrument has several indicators that allow the school board members to rate Bell and give comments on how well they feel he is he doing, or areas that they feel he needs to grow in. Many of the indicators that the school board are holding Bell accountable for are based off of the annual goals he presented to the board in the beginning of the school year.

“This method makes sense, since every indicator is worth the same,” school board member Bob Holt said.

Andrea Hall-Leonard, another board member, added that particular instrument and rubric are very similar to what Bell uses to evaluate the teachers. She felt that sticking with this one made it fair, because they are holding him accountable the same way he is holding each teacher responsible.

Each member of the school board present all voted to keep the same instrument, and agreed that they will try and have each of their individual evaluations of the superintendent done by the meeting on Thursday, Jan. 21. Chairwoman Edna King then will combine all the evaluations to get an average. After that is complete, they will discuss their evaluations with Bell.