ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, October 18, 1996               TAG: 9610180013
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: COMPILED BY LISA APPLEGATE AND ROBERT FREIS.

PUBLIC PULSE

* Though no action was taken, the Montgomery County School Board did begin a dialogue with members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on Tuesday.

The Rev. John Price, president of the local chapter, said the group was ready to help the board find concrete solutions to the low number of black school employees. Much of the discussion, though, reiterated reasons why the school system has a difficult time attracting and keeping blacks teachers and administrators.

Assistant Superintendent John Martin cited low salaries and a small minority population in the county as reasons for having only 17 black teachers in the county.

"I just don't feel good about these answers," Price said. "There are people in this community who want to stay in this community, and they're not getting hired."

Board member Jim Klagge asked, if applications don't request race information, how the hiring process could be discriminatory.

Price couldn't answer because he ran out of time. He did say he looks forward to talking with the board about race-related incidents in the schools and the need for more complete black history lessons.

The board also put off any decision about what to do with Blacksburg Middle School until the Board of Supervisors discussed the issue further.

The Board of Supervisors also met on Tuesday, and agreed it would not talk about the school until a full board was present. Two members were absent that night; Jim Moore will likely be absent for several weeks recovering from surgery.

Upcoming:

The Radford City Social Services Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday at 208 Third Ave. in Radford for its regularly scheduled monthly meeting.

* New River Valley Community Services will hold a regular board meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Landmark Building, 644 First St., Radford.

LENGTH: Short :   43 lines