By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— In response to recent non-renewals within the Pelham City Schools system, concerned parents met with Superintendent Dr. Scott Coefield, Board of Education President Rick Rhoades and Riverchase Middle School Principal Susan Hyatt at May 31 parent meeting at RMS.

The majority of concerns were related to the dismissal of sixth grade science teacher Amy Corbitt and seventh grade English teacher Joe Kervin. The personnel actions were approved by the Board of Education at a May 23 meeting.

“I think the thing we want everyone to understand is, especially at the end of the year where typically emotions are high, when personnel decisions have to be made, that we are all on the same team…” Coefield told the parents. “More than anything we want you to know that we don’t discount you emotions, your opinions, so we wanted to provide an opportunity tonight so we could explain a few things.”

Many parents wanted to know how the teachers were evaluated and how each of the dismissed teachers was selected. RMS parent Amanda Ferguson asked if each teacher was evaluated on the same criteria across the board.

While Coefield and Hyatt couldn’t disclose any details specific to one teacher, they said the teachers were all assessed in a variety of ways, including overall evaluations and student class requests.

Another factor, Coefield said, was a dip in enrollment related to the split from Helena. There was a loss of about 130 students, which created a need for adjustment.

“There had to be some natural adjustments in our staff,” Coefield said, referencing the staffing models used for each of Pelham’s schools. “Those things pertained mostly to the middle school.”

Coefield explained that RMS was operating at 82 percent of efficiency, with too many teachers in the student-to-teacher ratio. Instead of six sections of math in the school they dropped to five, and Coefield said it was the same with science.

Parents argued that Corbitt and Kervin were excellent teachers and an effort should have been made to find a place for them.

Several parents shared personal stories of both teachers making an impact in their students’ lives, and said they fear letting those teachers go would result in a lack of morale in both their students and staff members.

“Those are the teachers we fight to keep in our system,” said parent Jennifer Ingram. “Our kids want to come to school to learn from them…. Those are the teachers we find budgets and other ways in order to keep them. They are the teachers we care about.”

Coefield, Hyatt and Rhoades assured parents there was nothing abnormal about the personnel actions. The end of the year often brings non-renewals to school systems, and Coefield said its normal for parents to express concerns for teachers they are close to.

The board met to discuss and review all the personnel decisions for about four hours, and Rhoades said the members thoroughly dug into all the information related to all the non-renewals.

“We try to be as thorough as we can and ask the right questions as best we can determine with the right data, and to go back over and over again if we need to,” Rhoades said. “If there are things that take us in one direction, than that’s the decision we are going to go. It’s not based upon lack of thought or anyone’s agenda…we rely very heavily on things that are as black and white as we can make them.”