Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 17, 1991 TAG: 9103170032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It's hard to imagine that the upcoming appointment of three new School Board members can affect the chances of your child getting into a good college and finding a good job.
Well, it can.
The seven-member School Board is entering a crucial time when state funding has been slashed and is not about to get any better in the next few years. Teachers aren't getting the raises they want. The city's number of disadvantaged students continues to rise. And student achievement is far from exemplary.
Policies set by the School Board have an impact on all those things.
Seven people have applied for the three open seats. A public hearing for citizens' comments is scheduled for April 8 and City Council members will conduct interviews with the finalists April 25.
Council will elect new members on May 13.
Three of the following seven people will help lead Roanoke's schools through the next three years. The first three are incumbents and the last four are the challengers. All applicants were interviewed Friday.
Marilyn C. Curtis, 64, initially had planned to serve just one term on the board.
But it has taken her three years to learn about the complicated workings of the school administration, she said. Now, after keeping a low profile and just watching for three years, she is ready to "implement things.
"I feel a little more comfortable in speaking out about some things now," she said.
Expanding preschool education and full-day kindergarten are her top priorities. She also wants business partnerships to pick up the slack for limited state funding. And, in the future, the School Board and City Council need to fight hand-in-hand for more money, instead of letting personality clashes interfere with education, she said.
Curtis is a 45-year city resident and a licensed funeral director at Hamlar-Curtis Funeral Home. She has taught at Addison Middle School and serves on the City Manager's Task Force on Human Relations.
Velma Ann Seif, 52, is seeking a second term to continue the work she feels she has only just begun.
But she fears the board's momentum may be interrupted by some council members' attempts to reduce School Board support for Superintendent Frank Tota.
Some council members have criticized board members as a rubber stamp for Tota. So, council may do a "clean sweep" and not appoint any incumbents, she said.
Such a move could damage schools. It takes years to learn about the schools, locally and at the state level, and newcomers would be have to "start from scratch," she said.
"I feel we need some continuity on the board," she said.
She hopes all incumbents can be reappointed so they can continue integrating city schools with more magnet programs. She also wants to expand alternative education programs for "at risk" students who do poorly in regular classes.
Seif has served two terms as president of the Central Council PTA and is former president of the PTA at Woodrow Wilson Middle School and Patrick Henry High School.
She has lived in Roanoke for 21 years and is a registered nurse.
Board chairman James M. "Jay" Turner Jr., 46, is seeking his third term.
Turner said he has seen city schools and their students improve in six years, but there's one thing that still needs improvement: the relationship between the School Board and City Council.
"I still don't feel that we have the proper working relationship between the school administration and the city administration," he said. "I don't think the feeling of trust and understanding is there."
State funding will continue to be limited. And as Roanoke's population - and tax base - age, it will be more difficult to gain local tax money for schools, he said.
So, the two administrative bodies need to work more closely. If reappointed, he would suggest more meetings of the two boards and thinks the two should work together to push local legislators for more state money.
Turner said there is also room for improvement in the board's attempt to racially integrate its schools.
Turner, a lifelong city resident, is a former lawyer and currently works with J.M. Turner and Co., Inc. construction company.
E.H. "Hil" Cassell Jr., 37, thinks there are two things the School Board needs to address in the next few years: finances and Frank Tota.
Cassell predicts Tota will retire or leave his position within a few years and the board needs to begin planning for a successor.
"We need to plan for Frank Tota's departure. There is no heir apparent," he said. "But there is life after Frank Tota."
With regard to finances, he said: "There is no other issue for the School Board besides finances." And better financial management could solve most of the schools' problems.
Board members can't continue to cut into its payroll as soon as funding drops. They have to learn how to creatively balance a budget, or "face a bunch of teachers who aren't going to be real happy with them.
"I spend my time in finance," said Cassell, a vice president at Sovran Bank. "So, I'm trying to take a little of what I know to the School Board."
Cassell also said there needs to be more understanding between board and council members.
Cassell is a three-year resident and has served on the planning committee for the Roanoke Academy for Math and Science.
Harry Robert Yates Jr., 64, said he thinks schools need to place more emphasis on basics.
He said reading, writing and math are being pushed aside by specialized classes. "Social skills are nice, but that's the icing on the cake," he said.
Yates recently retired from Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he had served as chief of medicine. The lifelong city resident said he decided to apply because it was "payback time" for 12 years he spent in city schools.
"I just feel like I got a good public education," he said. "And I know the value of a good education."
But in recent years, the level of classes in high school has dropped to an elementary school level, he said. Part of the problem is a lack of motivation in teachers and students.
"They expect less of their students and they get less," he said. "The parents are partially responsible."
Yates said one solution would be to reward teachers with raises based more on performance than length of service.
"I think it would do well to have some competition among teachers," he said.
Martha Wendel "Wendy" O'Neil, 42, said the School Board can't use funding cuts as an excuse for a decline in schools' achievements.
It is the board's job to be more creative in finding other monies for schools.
One way of doing that is to encourage more cooperation between schools and local businesses, "because it's very much in their best interest," she said.
More businesses probably would help finance schools if they were more aggressively encouraged to do so, she said.
"The number one reason people don't give is because they aren't asked," O'Neil said.
Another way for the community to support its schools would be a program that pays for library books and media supplies through community donations, she said.
Also, the school administration needs to continue seeking out private and federal grants as a means of offsetting limited local and state funding, she said.
Other ideas could come from increased input from employees and teachers. "They are, after all, the people to whom we entrust our children every day," she said.
O'Neil moved to Roanoke five months ago. She is executive director of the YWCA of the Roanoke Valley, a former teacher and has been active in the state Girl Scout Council.
Garry Alan Fleming, 40, was a School Board finalist last year but felt compelled to try again, he said.
Fleming has lived in Roanoke for five years and teaches economics at Roanoke College. The Grandin Court PTA vice president said he has three concerns.
First, parents need to be more involved.
He said parents could be trained to serve as tutors in their child's classrooms, similar to a parent reading program at Grandin Court.
"Then they'd become more involved with their kids at home," he said.
Second, more attention needs to be paid to average students, who make up the majority of the city school population.
Fleming said city schools address the needs of gifted students and disadvantaged students, "but we don't really have anything special for the kids who fall in the middle."
Finally, teacher salaries need raising.
"The teachers have been very patient," he said. They were promised a 10 percent raise last year but got 4 percent. This year, they got none. They need to get what they were promised, he said. If not: "We're going to lose our good teachers." The seven-member School Board is entering a crucial time when state funding has been slashed and is not about to get any better in the next few years.
by CNB