Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995 TAG: 9506150061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER NOTE: Strip
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A late surge of candidates, particularly incumbents, has assured that there will be contests for 60 percent of the school board seats on the November ballot in Western Virginia.
Voters will have a choice on 26 of 41 ballots for school board members in the nine-county region from Bedford County to Giles County.
In the last week before Tuesday's filing deadline, the number of contested races nearly quadrupled, partly because more incumbents, particularly in Franklin, Pulaski and Montgomery counties, decided to run.
Roanoke County is the only locality with no incumbents running.
Candidates for 15 seats, concentrated mainly in the more rural counties, will be running unopposed.
In the region, three-fourths of the incumbents under the appointed system will try to keep their seats in the elected process.
The percentage is much higher than in 15 cities and towns where school board elections were held for the first time last year.
"I am pleased and surprised. That is kind of high," said Frank Barham, executive director of the Virginia School Boards Association.
Only one-third of the incumbents ran in Alexandria and Richmond last year, he said Wednesday, and between 25 and 50 percent in several other localities.
"At meetings when we have asked board members how many were going to run under the elected system, usually it has been less than a majority," Barham said. "I'm glad them to see them come out and run."
Still, some prominent incumbents, including Chairman Frank Thomas in Roanoke County, chose not to run.
There will be contests for all school board seats on the ballot in the three most populated counties: Roanoke, Montgomery and Bedford. Several districts in these counties will have three candidates vying for a seat.
Nearly 30 percent of the candidates, 21, are women. At least one woman is running in every county, with four each in Floyd and Pulaski.
At least one candidate has filed for every seat in the region, easing a fear by some voter registrars that some posts might go unsought.
"Thank goodness. We got someone in every district," said Registrar Mary Weeks in Floyd County.
A week before the deadline, no candidates has filed in 11 districts, and registrars reported little interest in some seats. But there was a flurry of activity in the final two days.
Barham said the school boards group also worried that there would be no candidates for some posts. He said the state attorney general's office had given a preliminary opinion that seats would remain vacant until the next election if there were no candidates.
"We have been concerned about that," he said. "That is a relief, to know that there is a candidate in every district."
In Franklin County, seven of the eight incumbents are running. Herman Craig, the Snow Creek District member, is the only one who is not trying to keep his seat. He said he wants to take a break from the board, and the election is not the reason he is leaving.
"That has nothing to do with it," he said. "I decided more than a year ago that I needed to take some time off. I've been on the board for 12 years."
Some incumbents, such as Guy Buford in Franklin County, were initially reluctant to participate in the elected process, but they decided in the end to run.
"I had some hesitancy about going through the hassle of an election. My initial reaction was not to fool with it," said Buford, a board member for 16 years.
But he decided that he wanted to remain on the board, and he collected the required signatures of 125 registered voters to get on the ballot.
Buford, board vice chairman, said that was a hassle, but he won't have to worry about campaigning. He is unopposed, as are three other incumbents in Franklin.
All five candidates in Craig County are unopposed. Two each in Botetourt and Floyd counties do not have opposition.
The largest number of candidates are running in districts in the most suburban counties - Bedford, Montgomery and Roanoke.
In Roanoke County, there are three hopefuls each in the Cave Spring and Catawba districts, where no incumbents are running.
The interest in the seats pleases Supervisor Harry Nickens, who favored the switch to an elected board and helped circulate petitions to get a referendum on the issue.
"It gives the people more choice," Nickens said. "That is what I had hoped would happen."
But advocates of elected boards are disappointed by the scarcity of candidates in some rural counties.
Only two board seats are up for election in Roanoke County this year because three seats were filled last year.
In Montgomery County, there are also three candidates each in districts B and E, with two candidates each in districts F and G.
In Bedford County, there are two candidates in each of the four districts with an election.
All candidates are running as independents because the General Assembly barred political parties from the nomination process. State legislators said they wanted to keep politics out of schools.
by CNB