Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 31, 1990 TAG: 9007310295
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PETER MATHEWS
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Schneck, a professor of engineering science and mechanics at Virginia Tech, said two potential employers did not locate in Montgomery County partly because of concerns about the easy availability of drugs in county schools and the high illiteracy rate.
"The youth of this country has no sense of future," he said, blaming his own generation for contributing to high rates of drug use, drinking and suicide among young people. "They really don't know where we're heading - or care."
Schneck, recipient of the 1987 Wine Award for outstanding teaching, told the board he did not blame School Board members for the problems - but that some of the local students he teaches cannot write a coherent sentence.
Schneck is one of eight candidates for two vacant seats on the county School Board.
One of his competitors is former school Superintendent James Moye, who assured the supervisors that he could work with Superintendent Harold Dodge and the School Board that demoted him in 1987.
Moye, who has 26 years of experience as a principal and administrator, said that experience would be an asset to the School Board - whose primary function he defined as policy-making, not administration.
"Through the years boards have overstepped that boundary," he said, adding: "I don't see where I'd have any problem working with either" Dodge or the board.
Also interviewed Monday were Clayton Tinnell, owner of Tinnell Lighting and Supply Co.; and E. Mark Stewart, who will teach marketing this fall at Radford University.
Four other School Board candidates were interviewed last week.
Tinnell told the board that the schools are not doing enough for students who aren't college-bound. He said his attempts to hire young people have been stymied by their lack of math skills and "reasoning power."
"When a person graduates from high school they should have something to offer the work place," he said.
Stewart said rapid turnover of principals at Bethel Elementary School - and, apparently, elsewhere - was a problem.
He said the School Board was too isolated from the public, partly because of the amount of business it conducts in closed session.
He agreed with Moye about the board's proper role. "They make a lot of money," he said of school system administrators. "Let them do their job instead of trying to do it for them."
The supervisors quizzed the applicants about their level of involvement in school activities, merit pay for teachers and their feelings about consolidating schools.
Moye noted that consolidation has not been an issue lately because elementary schools in many areas are overcrowded. He said the county should carefully study its available space to see if short-term solutions might be better than building two new elementary schools.
"My thinking is you look down the road and see if you're going to need them. If you build them, it's pretty hard to move them around."
One answer might be to take advantage of space at high schools, where enrollments have been dropping, by transferring fifth-graders to middle schools and eighth-graders from middle to high schools.
Moye also said hundreds of hours of budget work could be saved if the school system knew in advance how much money it would get and could plan accordingly. Currently, the system submits the school budget without knowing how much money the supervisors will allot.
The six candidates for the Christiansburg seat vacated by Kimberly Helms are Schneck, Moye, Tinnell, James Michael Sowder, Roxie Novak and James C. Stewart. Sowder, who qualifies for both seats, E. Mark Stewart and Ron Angert are seeking the District D seat formerly held by Mildred Gordon.
A public hearing on the candidates is set for 7 p.m. Aug. 13 at the county courthouse. The appointments will be made Aug. 27.
by CNB