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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 20, 1994                   TAG: 9405200010
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

BLACKSBURG-AREA SCHOOL BOARD SEAT HAS 6 APPLICANTS

The six hopefuls from District F equal the number received last month for the Christiansburg/Ellett Valley District B seat, another 18-month appointment leading up to the first School Board election in November 1995.

The six new candidates are M. David Alexander, Richard C. Edwards, Andrea L. Kavanaugh, James C. Klagge, Gary L. Long and William H. Sanders.

All the Tech employees applying for the District F seat hold a Ph.D. or Ed.D.

Alexander, a member of the School Board from 1979 to 1983, has applied with the promise that he will not seek election to the post in 1995. Alexander is a professor and division director of the administrative and educational services division at Tech, where he has worked since 1972.

Edwards noted in his application letter that he had 30 years of military experience before retiring to Blacksburg, which gave him "numerous opportunities to teach, study and design curriculum from basic skills to graduate university level." Edwards wrote that he has two sons enrolled at Blacksburg High School and thus has "a personal stake in quality education."

Complete details of Edwards' background, including in which branch he served, were unavailable on Thursday.

Kavanaugh, a research associate with the Blacksburg Electronic Village, earned her doctorate in environmental design and planning from Tech in 1990. Kavanaugh wrote that her background "will help bring a comprehensive perspective to my participation in the School Board planning process."

Klagge is the second Tech philosophy professor to apply for a School Board spot. Deborah G. Mayo is a candidate for the District B seat. Klagge, the father of two children in county schools and a nine-year resident, said his background will be a plus.

"I hope that my concern for education of children, and for moral reflection on our responsibilities as individuals and as society, are quite clear," Klagge wrote. "I look forward to expanding those concerns through an active role on the School Board."

Long is an associate professor of chemistry who has been at Tech since 1983. He has two children in a county school, which he said motivated him to apply for the spot.

Sanders, an adjunct assistant education professor and manager with the Tech computing center, also has two children in the school system, along with "an abiding interest in and commitment to education in the broadest sense."

Sanders participated in the Focus 2006 study, a yearlong effort to define goals for the county schools that would improve the education of children who entered kindergarten last year.

The county Board of Supervisors will set a date for a public hearing on the applicants at its Monday meeting. The board will hold a special meeting to interview the candidates before that public hearing and expects to make the appointment at its June 27 meeting.

Kennedy's resignation takes effect July 1.

The supervisors this week interviewed the six applicants for District B, including incumbent Bob Goncz, and two for District G, which is being vacated by longtime member Don Lacy. Those eight people will be the subject of a public hearing at 7 p.m. Monday at the Montgomery County Courthouse. The supervisors are expected to make those two appointments on June 13.