Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 16, 1995 TAG: 9506170021
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
All 41 seats up for election in a nine-county region from Bedford County to Giles County have at least one candidate. That's a relief. Twenty-six seats will be contested by two or more candidates. That's even better.
It's more than many had feared prior to a late but welcome surge of candidacies, many of them incumbent board members appointed under the old system. Even so, a significant 40 percent of the races are uncontested despite the fact that none of the seats is held by a previously elected incumbent. That's not good.
The extent to which the need to run a political campaign may be deterring potentially solid school-board members from seeking seats is a question to ponder for residents of school districts that have yet to exercise the elected-board option.
The first part of the job, getting enough candidates filed to fill the seats, is done. But the bigger part of the task, which is up to the voters to perform, remains. It is to conscientiously evaluate the candidates and, where there's a contest, make a wise choice.
That job is easier, of course, in smaller localities where the voters are likelier to know personally the candidates. However, those places are also likelier to have unopposed candidates running for board seats. Where the electorate is to choose, people have an obligation to learn about the candidates and their records, and especially to check whether they are pursuing a narrow or hidden agenda that would serve their schools poorly.
Having made the decision to change to an elected school board, voters in these counties now must accept the responsibility to inform themselves about who's running - and why.
by CNB