ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 10, 1996 TAG: 9612100093
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
A three-year conflict has been brewing within the Montgomery County School Board, and it may boil over before the year ends.
The board has agreed to an unusual, midyear self-evaluation, scheduled for Dec. 16.
The move is in response to tension that is palpable at board meetings, where as member David Moore put it, "darts are thrown across the table" and decisions take months to reach.
Some members say the board needs to be more unified and effective, a cry heard for years on the nine-member board.
But simmering underneath is a conflict spawned by a board on which half of the members are elected and half are appointed, a controversial superintendent and a recently appointed chairwoman.
The tension, said Moore, "has been building since January, when the new [elected] board members came on. ... Eventually we usually settle in, but we haven't settled in this time."
The board first discussed an evaluation in which they could use a facilitator to help examine how it performs and in what areas it could work better. Members hoped to hold it behind closed doors, but legally could not.
Even so, member Roy Vickers told the board at its meeting last week, they should meet anyway.
"A board functions as a board, not as nine individuals," he said. "What I want is someone to come in and show us how to be more effective."
Moore said he grows impatient when the board spends hours deliberating one topic and often flip-flops on major decisions. Often, he leaves before a meeting has finished because "when business seems to stop, that's when I leave," he said.
Moore and others cite the number of issues on which, after months of debate, the board voted 5-4 down seemingly predictable lines. Those votes include the decision not to renew Superintendent Herman Bartlett's contract and the choice to renovate the present Blacksburg Middle School building.
"The sign of a good leader or a good organization is they make a decision based on the information available and then they go forward and don't spend a lot of time second-guessing," said Vickers.
Chairwoman Annette Perkins said she didn't see a problem with close votes, particularly with members representing differing constituencies and having differing personalities.
"When you have a large board with individuals who are very bright and strong-minded and committed, as issues are presented to the board you have to expect lengthy discussions," she said.
If a unified board means having members who follow the recommendations of school administrators blindly, Perkins said, then she would rather see a split.
Preconceived ideas held by the newly elected members and those appointed by the Board of Supervisors tend to stifle progress, said member Wat Hopkins.
"Working as a board means trusting other board members enough to listen to them," he said. Any problems the board faces occur when members assume which side another will be on, and then refuse to listen.
It goes deeper that just personalities, said newly elected member Mike Smith. He sees the conflict stemming from three years ago, when Bartlett was chosen as superintendent.
Perkins, who was not the chairwoman at the time, was against the choice. Since then, major board decisions often have been split between those who supported Bartlett and those who didn't. That bitter division among the "old school" board members remains, and Smith said Perkins is part of it.
"I don't want to say that [Perkins] is not capable of handling her job, because I think she has great potential, but she needs to be more open to listen to all her board members and be the mediator," he said.
Perkins agrees that many of the complaints are indirect criticisms of her leadership, and that much of it has to do with Bartlett.
"Every decision we've made has been a referendum on the superintendent," she said. "This is about my position as chair ... and every issue [board members] have a problem with ... will become" an issue about her, she said.
Though they don't agree about the ingredients that created this bitter brew, most board members agree an evaluation could result in positive changes.
Perkins said the meeting needs to be cast in a positive light, where "you can pinpoint what you're doing well and what needs improvement, recognizing that we have nine different personalities here."
But until the old wounds of past board interactions can be healed, Smith said, success may be limited.
LENGTH: Medium: 84 linesby CNB