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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 12, 1993                   TAG: 9301120318
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: CHARLYNE H. McWILLIAMS staff writer
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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SALEM PETITION DRIVE BEGINS

Charles Switzer is trying to stir up winds of change in Salem with a petition calling for the election of the city's School Board.

The five School Board members, who serve three-year terms, now are chosen by Salem City Council.

"We're not [questioning] the School Board," Switzer said about the selection process. "We want to see if people want to do it that way."

Switzer is one of three members of a group called Virginia Referendum Advocates. He said their goal is to make voters aware of the options they have to change the way their locality works. And they're taking advantage of a recent law that allows election of School Board members.

This past November was the first time referendums on elected school boards were allowed in Virginia localities. Referendums for elected boards were approved in all 33 counties and nine cities where they were held, including nearby Pulaski, Craig and Bland counties. Before, Virginia law provided only for appointed school boards, either by the governing body or by a selection commission named by the local circuit court judge.

School Board member Glenn Thornhill Jr. said an elected board wouldn't bother him. But he said the the board should have the power to tax in order to properly run the system.

"I don't believe they'll be quite as effective if they didn't have that power," he said.

Switzer said the group needs the signatures of 1,250, or 10 percent, of Salem's registered voters to call for a referendum.

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