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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 6, 1995                   TAG: 9505080055
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-9   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

RADFORD SCHOOL BOARD VOTING PLAN APPARENTLY OK WITH U.S.|

A letter received Friday by City Attorney John "Bunny" Spiers said Attorney General Janet Reno "does not interpose any objection" to the plan that Spiers submitted in early March.

The letter, from Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick, was signed by Elizabeth Johnson, acting chief of the Voting Section.

Because of a history of voter discrimination in Virginia, the Justice Department must approve any plan that affects how officials are elected in the commonwealth.

Voters last November easily approved the switch from an appointed to an elected board. City Council makes its last two appointments to the School Board later this month.

Spiers was satisfied with the response. "I'm very pleased that it confirms our plan," he said Friday.

However, the letter notes that the Attorney General's failure to object "does not bar subsequent litigation to enjoin enforcement of the changes."

Spiers' plan calls for a five-member board, elected at large for four-year terms.

Under the elective system, the city must comply with state law requiring both City Council and the School Board to have the same number of members, chosen in the same manner and for identical terms.

Under the elected School Board plan, which council approved in February, voters pick two board members in 1996 and three in 1998. That schedule means the term of one of the two board members whose terms expire in 1997 loses a year, while the other member's term gains a year. The affected board members are Chris Strange and Guy Wohlford.

Spiers said a coin toss by the city's Electoral Board probably will determine which term is extended and which is shortened.