Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993 TAG: 9307280223
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The ballot will contain two questions:
Should the five-member School Board be elected directly by the voters?
Should the School Board be appointed by the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors?
Roanoke County School Board members are now selected by a panel that, in turn, was selected by the Circuit Court.
There appears to be widespread support for giving the public a more direct voice in the selection.
Tuesday, supporters of direct election received word they had collected the necessary 4,541 signatures to place the issue on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Later in the day, supporters of direct election fought to keep the ballot free of the second option of appointment by the Board of Supervisors.
"The era of appointed school boards is over," Cathy Adkins, an officer with the Roanoke County Council of PTAs told the Board of Supervisors.
Adkins said a second issue on the ballot would confuse voters and possibly undermine the efforts of citizens who collected the signatures of more than 6,000 voters.
"Give us an opportunity to see if our efforts are what the people want or need," she said.
But some supervisors - led by Windsor Hills District representative Lee Eddy - said that elections may not be the best way to select School Board members.
Eddy said that some of the best qualified people would be discouraged from offering their services if they had to raise money and go through the "hassle" of a campaign.
The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to give county residents a chance to vote on allowing supervisors to appoint the School Board. County voters rejected similar attempts in 1980 and 1988.
The board's Republican majority - Fuzzy Minnix of the Cave Spring District, Ed Kohinke of the Catawba District and Eddy - supported the initiative.
Harry Nickens of the Vinton District and Bob Johnson of the Hollins District were opposed.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***