Scott Swortzel weighs in on his experience as Blue Ridge School Board member

November 1, 2019 Reader Submission

Vote for Experience on School Board Scott Swortzel

Dear Blue Ridge Residents,

I am seeking your support to continue to serve you as the Blue Ridge representative to the Botetourt County School Board. It has been an honor to serve you in this role for the past 12 years. If you vote at Rainbow Forest Baptist Church or at Colonial Elementary School, I would appreciate your vote.

My wife, children, and I have lived in the Blue Ridge District for 22 years and have supported public education since 1998. Our children have been educated at Colonial, Read Mountain, and Lord Botetourt. We believe our children received a great education and were provided many enriching opportunities to grow.

My top initiatives for the upcoming term are:

Supporting our new Superintendent;
Leading our transition to a site-based line item budget;
Moving our Central Office to a “school support center” model; and
Serving on our new School Safety Task Force.

Major Accomplishments during my tenure include:

Multi-year funding to bring Chromebooks to our high schools and middle schools.
Expansion of our Dual Enrollment opportunities and Certification programs at BTEC.
Continued support of our students with two Governor’s Schools.
Consistently working to increase compensation and provide competitive benefits to our employees.
Directly proposed our move to Self-Insured status three years ago from Fully Insured status for our medical coverage which resulted in savings for the division.
Supported leasing buses instead of purchasing them. This allowed us to obtain new buses more quickly to replace our aging fleet and reduce up-front capital requirements.
Directly proposed the evaluation of leasing passenger vans instead of buses. We recently took delivery of three new passenger vans and they are providing flexibility and efficiencies that lower our transportation costs.
In May of 2017, we entered into an Energy Efficiency contract to reduce our total kilowatt usage throughout the school division. I am pleased to report that our first full year (July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019) in this program resulted in a savings of $432,000. This savings was $12,000 more than the contracted guarantee.
Provided guidance and support to a revision of the CCAP (Community College Access Program) contract to allow home-schooled students residing in Botetourt County the ability to apply for scholarships to attend Virginia Western Community College. CCAP receives no funding from BCPS.
Construction is underway for our new Colonial Elementary School in Blue Ridge. The first in Blue Ridge since 1936!

I am the only candidate for School Board with experience on our School Board. The past 12 years on our Board taught me a tremendous amount about our school system, to include:

Budgets and Operations – they are not like private industry.
Personnel compensation structures – not like private industry.
Federal and State mandates and reporting – most without adequate or any funding to support what is required of us.
Partnering with Botetourt County administration to achieve our shared goals.
Complex laws regarding public education – FERPA, HIPPA, Composite Index, IEP, SOQ, Calc Tool, to name a few.
How to deal with complaints – School Board members are limited in our involvement in some matters, as an appeal could ultimately come to the Board.
Rules regarding public meetings, closed sessions, and reporting.
State-required school safety audits – we complete these annually, and a more in-depth audit is required every 3 years.

Most importantly, I’ve learned and experienced the value of working with others as a team to achieve a common goal; even when some have differing opinions and positions. Now in my 12th year, I’ve had the privilege to work with 7 different School Board members, 3 different School Superintendents, and 3 different County Administrators, and hundreds of our fantastic employees. I’ve never stopped working to bring awareness and understanding of the need for a new school in Blue Ridge. I’ve worked tirelessly to educate hundreds of residents about our schools and policies when they brought concerns to me. I’ve endeavored to serve every constituent, child, and family, and respected those with whom I’ve agreed and didn’t agree. To be clear, there is not now, nor has there ever been, a “rubber stamp”. I don’t operate that way.

I’ve spent 18 years working for the families and children of Blue Ridge; serving the past 12 years on the School Board, the prior 4 as the President of the Blue Ridge Booster Club, and the prior 2 years on the Colonial PTA Board. I also served as the League Director of the Upward Sports Basketball and Cheerleading program at Rainbow Forest Baptist Church during that program’s first 7 years. During my time as Booster Club President, I led the construction of the press box at the large field, the playground at the concessions stand, and the addition of the batting cages between the fields at Blue Ridge Park.

I promised a new school in Blue Ridge and I kept that promise. I look forward to serving as your School Board representative when we move into our new school. While building a new Colonial is a significant accomplishment, we still have ongoing work that needs to be completed. This is not a time for inexperience on the Board. My experience is vital to our ability to achieve our goals. With your vote and support, I promise to continue to do my best work for you to keep our schools moving forward.

THANK YOU for your consideration and vote on November 5^th!

D. Scott Swortzel
Blue Ridge District Member
Botetourt County School Board
Candidate for Re-Election 2019