Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510230001
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
He favors small schools so administrators and teachers can have better hands-on control. And school administrators should do some teaching so they know what is really going on in classrooms, he says.
Reed, a candidate for the Catawba District seat on the Roanoke County School Board, also says teachers should have authority to discipline students so they can maintain order in the classroom.
He wants to get parents more involved in the education of their children. Parents need to check their children's homework, get to know their teachers and visit the schools, he said.
Schools should spend more time on basic subjects such as math, science and English to ensure that students are competent in these areas when they graduate, he said.
And schools should be able to get rid of bad teachers, he said. Good teachers are the key to good schools and not all teachers are good, he said.
"The teachers' organization won't even consider any proposals to allow us to replace poor teachers," he said. "I would be willing to pay good teachers more if we could eliminate the bad ones."
Reed, retired owner of Curry Copy Center, says the lack of discipline - not a shortage of money - is the biggest problem in education today.
Because of court rulings and restrictions imposed on teachers, schools are hampered in disciplining children and maintaining order, he said.
"Teachers can't hug or spank children. They don't have any authority anymore," he said. "A school bus driver can't put a disruptive child off the bus."
Reed said the problem has been partly caused by activist judges who are too willing to hear lawsuits involving school issues.
"Judges don't know how to run schools and they shouldn't try," he said. "Judges ought not to be meddling in school grades and things like that."
Reed, who grew up in Indiana, is a former teacher who said he has been interested in public education since he was in college. He began his professional life as a junior high and high school science teacher in Indiana for four years, and later taught two years in Kenya.
Education has always been important for the Reed family. His wife is a former teacher, and he has a daughter who is a teacher.
Reed left teaching and sold farm equipment for more than a decade before moving to the Roanoke Valley 18 years ago and opening a copy center.
He said he has the interest and time to serve on the School Board now that he is retired. His wife continues to run the copy shop in downtown Roanoke.
Reed, 65, is running in a three-way contest for the seat being vacated by Frank Thomas, the board's chairman for 10 years and a member for 12. His opponents are William "Bill" Brown Jr. and Marion Roark.
Reed says the county has a "pretty good" school system, but he thinks there is a need for more accountability in education. The school system is top-heavy with administrators, he said.
If elected, Reed said, he would work hard to help solve the discipline problem. But he does not believe that the state's controversial "parental responsibility contract" is the solution.
"It's a good idea that won't work," he said.
Everyone seems to favor getting back to the basics in education, he said, but few federal programs do that.
"Federal-grant programs don't work very well. They ought to allow us to run our schools."
Reed supported Gov. George Allen's decision not to seek $8.5 million in federal funds under the Goals 2000 program, which has been targeted for elimination by some Republicans in Congress. Like Allen, he feared that it could lead to federal intervention in local schools.
"If we accepted the money, in three or four years, the federal government would be telling us what we have to teach and to test for," Reed said. "We're overtesting and putting too much emphasis on tests."
The schools have financial needs, but "the lack of funds is not the reason our kids can't read and write," he said.
Federal and state funds, he said, usually have strings attached that many times are counterproductive to good education.
Reed said he would oppose one large new Cave Spring High School because he believes smaller schools are better. He prefers two high schools for Southwest Roanoke County.
"There is no study that proves that big schools are better," he said. "Small schools cut down on discipline problems and allow more students to participate in extracurricular activities," he said.
Reed said he would favor a longer school day, but he's not sold on the concept of an extended school year with shorter breaks rather than a long summer vacation.
County school officials are studying the idea, but parents at individual schools would decide whether to make the switch. Under one option, students would go to school for nine weeks and be off for three weeks. Under a second alternative, they would attend classes for 12 weeks and be off for four weeks.
Reed said he became a candidate partly because he wanted to help prove that the system of elected school boards can work. Most of the appointed members of the board at the time the referendum was held on switching to an elected board have chosen not to run.
"They thought it would fail, but I voted for an elected board and I think it can work," he said.
JOHN REED
Age: 65.
Hometown: Wabash, Ind. Resident of the Roanoke Valley for 18 years.
Education: Purdue University, bachelor's degree in agriculture and science with a teaching option, and numerous graduate courses in education.
Professional: Retired owner of Curry Copy Center, downtown Roanoke. Former farm-equipment salesman and teacher in Indiana and in Kenya, Africa.
Family: Married, three children.
Quote: "I don't know of any federal government program in education that hasn't done more harm than good. There is a program that provides grants toO school systems to teach children in their native languages. Some school systems teach them in their native language just so they can get more grant money."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB