ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9608020043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Gov. George Allen has appointed former state Sen. Brandon Bell to the state Board of Education to fill the unexpired term of James Jones, who was recently named a federal judge.
Bell, a Roanoke Valley Republican who had a special interest in schools as a legislator, said Thursday he can stay active in education issues as a member of the board that oversees public schools.
"I look forward to serving on the board. As far as specifics are concerned, I need to get oriented as to the issues that are being considered by the board," he said.
Jones, a former Democratic state senator from Abingdon and a former board president, has been appointed a judge for the U.S. District Court for Western Virginia. About a year remains in his unexpired term on the board.
Bell, who served four years in the Senate, was defeated last November by state Sen. John Edwards, a Roanoke Democrat, in a campaign in which education was a major issue.
Edwards criticized Bell for sponsoring a bill to create charter schools, which have been advocated by the Allen administration but rejected by the General Assembly. Bell tried to make an issue of the decline in test scores for Roanoke students while Edwards was Roanoke's vice mayor.
The Roanoke Valley has been without a representative on the nine-member education board since Lewis Nelson completed eight years on the board June 30, 1995.
Bell, a graduate of Mississippi State University, is a financial adviser with American Express Financial Advisors in Roanoke.
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB