Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 25, 1994 TAG: 9410250103
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Children always will be her first consideration, she says, and that's why she's running for the Windsor Hills seat on the Roanoke County School Board.
A former teacher in four states, Merrill said she wants to help Roanoke County become a superior school system. Before that happens, she said, the School Board and school administrators will have to correct some problems.
Among the candidates, Merrill is the harshest critic of administrators and board members.
She blames them for a lack of planning for school buildings, especially in Southwest County, where five schools have modular classrooms to help deal with overcrowding. She said there is no excuse for leaky roofs and overcrowding.
Children are shuffled from one school to another because of space problems, not for educational reasons, she said.
Merrill, who has lived in the county for seven years, said the space problem has gotten worse. "We need leadership on this. We need someone who will help bring change," she said.
Forty percent of the county's voters live in the Cave Spring and Windsor Hills districts. If these voters were mobilized, she said, they could join with voters in other areas in the county to approve bonds for school needs.
She said school administrators and the School Board have been too timid with the Board of Supervisors.
She supports a new Cave Spring High School to help ease overcrowding and implement the middle-school concept in Southwest County.
Merrill said the county needs a comprehensive, long-range school plan. But Thomas Leggette, one of her opponents, said the problem is money - not plans.
"We've got plenty of plans, but we need money for them," Leggette said.
Merrill, 42, taught school in Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma before moving to Roanoke County. She has not taught in Virginia, but she is a motivational lecturer and real-estate educator.
As a former teacher, Merrill said she understands the needs and problems of teachers and public schools.
As a parent of a gifted child and a special-needs child and as a teacher of adults and children of all abilities, Merrill said she will make decisions based on the best interests of the children.
One of her toughest jobs was teaching in a school that served a public housing development in Dallas. She walked through the housing projects and encouraged the children to attend school. She said the absentee rate in her classes dropped from 31 percent to 7 percent.
Merrill said no candidate has been as personally involved with county schools as she has in recent months. She said she has visited nine schools, met with Superintendent Deanna Gordon several times and been involved in other school activities.
Merrill said she will be accessible as a School Board member and will set aside one night each month to meet with parents who have concerns or questions about their children's education.
"I will be available. I am not going to hide behind a library table. I will meet with parents and listen to their concerns," she said.
Merrill supported the campaign last year for an elected board but said she didn't consider running until some friends persuaded her to do so.
She lives in the Bent Mountain area, where one of her opponents, Wayne Newman, also resides.
Merrill believes that schools should spend more time on core subjects such as math, sciences and English and less on electives, family life classes and similar courses.
"I don't believe that the schools can solve all of our social ills. If we spend too much time on these things, we spread ourselves too thin" on core subjects, she said.
The campaign has focused attention on the schools' needs and helped build support for such projects as a new Cave Spring High School and more instructional technology, she said.
In addition to new and larger schools, Merrill said that administrators need to find the schools with the best educational programs in the country and try to emulate them in the county.
"We need to find out what the superior schools are doing and see if we can do the same thing," she said. "If we are going to become a superior school system, we will have to do that."
LISA MERRILL
WINDSOR HILLS DISTRICT
Age: 42.
Birthplace: Texas.
Occupation: Motivational lecturer and real estate instructor. Former public school teacher in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.
Education: University of Texas, summa cum laude graduate with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and minors in English, math and education.
Community activities: Active in the Parent-Teacher Association and the Roanoke Valley chapter of the U.S. Pony Club.
No.1 concern or goal as a board member: Seek information on the best school programs in the country in mathematics, science and other courses and use the information to develop a five-year plan for making Roanoke County a superior school system.
Last book read: "The Giver."
Family: Husband, Jim; children Abby, Cave Spring Junior High, Annabeth, a private residential care center.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB