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61 <br /> <br /> Council agreed to put $15,000 in Council reserve funding for the alternative school <br />summer school, pending future discussion and approval <br /> <br /> Mr. O'Connell suggested that the School Board report back to Council after they have <br />discussed the summer school issue, and include iifformation on why it is being done and how <br />it fits with the rest of the program. <br /> <br /> Mr. Toscano said he favors reducing the funding to the alternative school by $19,000 to <br />reflect the reduction in the time spent by the director on the program. <br /> <br /> Ms. Daugherty said she supports increasing the regular school budget by $19,000 to <br />cover the cost of the director's salary that was decreased in the alternative school funding. <br /> <br /> Ms. Slaughter and Mr. Vandever supported increasing the regular school budget by <br />$19,000. <br /> <br /> Mr. Toscano cautioned that by increasing the School budget, the financial trends of the <br />City will be exacerbated over the long-term <br /> <br /> Ms. Slaughter said she feels Council has to strike a balance between looking at the <br />long-term and serving the increasing needs of the population. <br /> <br /> Ms. Slaughter said she supports having two additional four-year old classes, and while <br />she intuitively thinks they should be provided within the school system, she would like to <br />look at see if the money would be better spent by using another provider. Ms. Slaughter <br />recommended waiting to hear back from the school system, and said she would like to see an <br />evaluation of the performance of the children served. <br /> <br /> Mr. Toscano questioned whether it would be better to emphasize the existing <br />successful programs rather than adding new programs. <br /> <br />Ms. Daugherty said she would like to see an evaluation of Headstart. <br /> <br /> Mr. Toscano recommended that the schools provide an evaluation of the program in <br />time for the next budget cycle. <br /> <br /> Funding for the Families Learning Together and Parents in Education programs, and <br />the degree to which they should consolidate, was discussed. <br /> <br /> Ms. Slaughter said she thinks Council should say that it does not want these piecemeal <br />programs and that the programs should be consolidated or there will be no future funding. <br /> <br /> Councilors expressed agreement with Ms. Slaughter, and agreed to fund Families <br />Learning Together ($13,000) and Parents in Education ($35,744). <br /> <br />Mr. Vandever said he is interested in the firefighter parity issue. <br /> <br /> Mr. O'Connell said that if Council is interested in pursing firefighter parity, he would <br />recommend that all starting salaries in the Cky be looked at because of the difficulty in <br />looking at firefighter salaries independent of all other starting salaries. Mr. O'Connell said <br />staff can come back with a recommendation by the end of May that could be put into effect <br />July 1. Mr. O'Cormell said he does not anticipate needing additional funding to implement <br />changes. <br /> <br /> Mr. Vandever said he feels the protective classification of the police and firefighters <br />warrant looking at the issue independent of other employees, noting that most cities in <br />Virginia have parity between police and firefighter salaries. <br /> <br /> Ms. Daugherty expressed agreement ~vith Mr. Vandever, but said she thinks it makes <br />sense to look at all positions. <br /> <br /> <br />