Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 22, 1993 TAG: 9304220200
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV9 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
McPhail has announced plans to step down in June, one year before his term ends.
In an interesting twist, board Vice Chairman Guy Gentry is also standing for reappointment to the board, as is board member George Ducker. Both Gentry and Ducker are unopposed so far. The deadline for candidates to declare is during Monday's City Council meeting. Council will schedule candidate interviews for next month.
A former city councilman, Wohlford, 46, said he is ready to return to community service. The insurance man lost his bid for re-election a year ago; city regulations prohibited him from seeking a city appointment until now.
A graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, Wohlford said he is interested in maintaining the quality of the city's school system and keeping it "at the top of the list."
Wohlford believes his council experience puts him in good stead to serve on the School Board. During his council term, he was a frequent visitor at board meetings.
"Most people have done it backward," he said of his attempting to move from council to School Board. "This will be kind of a switch."
Wohlford is active in church affairs and is a member of the human rights committee of the New River Community Services Board.
He is married and the father of two boys, 22 and 20.
Guy Gilmore cites a long-standing involvement in school sports programs as one reason for his interest in sitting on the School Board. Gilmore, 50, is the accounting manager for Hercules Inc. at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant.
Gilmore hopes to put his financial expertise to work as a member of the School Board.
"We're going to be looking at ways to be as creative with a dollar as we can," he said.
To prepare himself, he has attended several recent School Board meetings, including those dealing with the fall budget.
His children are 21 and 17. The younger one will be out of the public school system by this summer and he believes it's now time that he get involved in helping set the direction of school policy.
"The kids really are our future," he said.
If he has a central issue, it's his concern that the city's share of school financing is rising while the state's is going down.
"It's hard to keep quality teachers if they're not getting quality salaries," he said.
Gilmore is a graduate of East Tennessee State University. He is a certified Virginia High School League official and has been a volunteer time keeper for both football and basketball for more than two decades.
Guy Gentry is looking forward to a third term on the board. He has served as vice chairman and stresses a desire for continuity as a prime factor in seeking reappointment.
A Radford native and Virginia Tech graduate, Gentry, 42, is in the retail pharmacy business in Pulaski County. He also is a graduate student at Radford University.
Gentry said he wants to "maintain the excellent quality we have" in the city's schools. But, like Gilmore, he expressed concern about tighter budget constraints in the future as the city's share of funding the school budget increases each year.
He said his major focus on the board has been his involvement in its technology committee. Gentry said he would like to help make the choices about applying new technology, like computers, "to get the best results academically."
He said he believes Radford High School needs a multistep physical plant improvement program "to make it more conducive to learning." He said laboratory equipment he used when he went to school there 23 years ago is still there.
Gentry is married and the father of four children, 18, 14, 11 and 4.
The only candidate who is not a city native, George Ducker, has lived in Radford for 10 years. A native of Charlotte, N.C., and the pastor of Radford Presbyterian Church, Ducker, 45, has been on the board for seven years. He is seeking his third full term.
Like Gentry, Ducker stressed a need for continuity on the board, and noted he would like to serve again to see some projects through to completion, including the addition to Radford High School.
Ducker also said he would like to be on hand for the conclusion of the Coalition for Equity in Educational Funding's lawsuit against the state. Radford was a charter member of the coalition.
He expressed the hope that the board can remain intact, and he praised McPhail's efforts to keep the board on track and working together.
"This board has the students in mind and the best interests of eduction in mind," he said.
Ducker is married and the father of two sons, aged 18 and 14. He graduated from St. Andrews Presbyterian College and the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
by CNB