Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 16, 1990 TAG: 9005160560
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The newcomers appointed to three-year terms, Emanuel Edwards and Finn Pincus, appear to have been selected for their potential as School Board members rather than for political considerations. That's a nice break from some past appointments.
And Vice Chairman Sallye Coleman will return to the board for two more years. Her appointment provides a measure of continuity.
Edwards, a 37-year-old lawyer, and Pincus, the 34-year-old director of the Electronic Computer Programming Institute, represent a new generation that shows promise of concentrating on the schools' future rather than refighting old battles.
Both men were impressive in their interviews with council, and both are unaligned with any particular political or educational camp. If they prove to be independent and constructive in their independence, the city and its schools will be well-served.
Coleman, by contrast, is firmly in the educational camp of Superintendent Frank Tota. To her backers, this means she's consistent in her support of quality education. To her detractors, it means she's an unthinking Tota follower.
But, leaving that issue aside, there's a practical consideration that favored her re-appointment. When board member William White takes the City Council seat he won May 1, Coleman and Chairman Jay Turner will be the only members left with more than two years of experience on the seven-member School Board.
If Coleman had not been tapped, Turner alone would have brought needed experience to the board's deliberations.
Also encouraging was the muting of partisan tones.
True, Councilmen Howard Musser, who led the Democratic ticket that swept the recent election, and David Maybe all this adds up to a signal that politicizing the schools isn't on the agenda of the new council taking office in a few weeks. Bowers, a Musser ally, clearly wanted Delvis "Mac" McFadden named to the board.
But McFadden was a strong candidate in his own right. His failure to win a seat may simply be a matter of waiting in line, much as Edwards and Pincus had to wait for a year (Pincus) or two (Edwards) after first applying for the board.
Moreover, Bowers joined two Republicans and Vice Mayor Bev Fitzpatrick, a Democrat not closely associated with Musser and Bowers, in voting for Edwards.
And in a second ballot, for the unexpired term with two years left, Fitzpatrick joined Bowers and Musser in preferring McFadden to Coleman.
Maybe all this adds up to a signal that politicizing the schools isn't on the agenda of the new council taking office in a few weeks. If so, the signal is welcome.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on May 17, 1990 on editorial page\ In some editions Wednesday the name of Delvis "Mac" McCadden was misspelled.
Memo: correction