ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 19, 1997 TAG: 9704210099
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDI MAYS SAUNDERS
THE HUE and cry for cooperation by Don and Susan Gardner in their April 4 commentary (``Bedford schools aren't getting the projects taxpayers are paying for'') ignores only one thing - them!
While there are people who agree with their agenda (to have John Kent removed as superintendent), there are also people who see their constant attempts to distort issues for their own purposes as beyond acceptable behavior.
If you tell the Bedford County Board of Supervisors at a public hearing that it would be a dereliction of its duties to fund a requested proposal, and ask for an audit to prove you're correct in your assertions that money was spent improperly (by your definition), thus causing further delays in addressing critical needs of the school system, perhaps you get what you deserve: more serious scrutiny of your motives and methods.
As someone who makes the effort to get the facts straight, and one who was very interested in the purchase of the 11 acres adjacent to Stewartsville Elementary School in 1994, I know there were reasons the county was made to pay more than the land was worth - none of which had anything to do with the school system.
I can also assure anyone who wasn't involved (the Gardners, for instance) that the purchase and site plans were the direct result of long, intense pressure from parents in the Stewartsville-Hardy-Chamblissburg-Jordantown area. Plans for the site have changed and probably will again.
I was at the original presentation of the site plans, and I don't recall anyone presenting the addition as a ``primary school.'' The county and School Board did the right thing by purchasing the land, and our community will be grateful when the site is finally finished.
I am sick and tired of Kent's being held responsible for cost overruns, emergency repair costs and changes made necessary by the lack of funding. I don't have the exact figures to refute those presented by the Gardners, but I don't believe they're correct. We need an objective opinion, and we haven't heard one yet.
Of course, citizens and supervisors alike will express concern over the way school-construction bond monies were spent when they're presented with zeal and fatalism. I feel sadly certain that one of the Gardners will be on the ballot for the Huddleston seat on the School Board since Jackie Preston has decided not to run.
It's extremely odd how the School Board, several county employees, the Board of Supervisors, some extremely active and involved parents and the yearly auditors have (if we're to believe the Gardners' charges) all been hoodwinked by Kent and his creative financial endeavors. How lucky we are that the critics have the prescription: tar and feather Kent and our troubles will be over. I say this: If heads are going to roll, there had better be some School Board members, supervisors, county officials and auditors among them - or there will be a real hue and cry led by me!
As for the Gardners' reference to a ``private sector'' job being less secure and more accountable, I cannot imagine a company where the manager is as publicly exposed and inspected as a school superintendent. In this age of golden parachutes and corporate greed, the comparison is bogus anyway.
As a school volunteer, a Parent-Teacher Association leader, taxpayer and parent, I have often talked with and scrutinized Kent. We don't always agree, and I haven't always been kind to or about him. However, I honestly believe that he is one of the most dedicated, hard-working and intelligent people employed by this county.
Bedford County schools are not in disastrous shape, and I'm ashamed that members of our community wish to make it appear so. The school system is overburdened and underfunded, but I fail to see that as the fault of Kent or the School Board.
Raising questions in the appropriate manner is a valuable public service. Being outrageously and flagrantly disrespectful is almost always counterproductive.
The school system, indeed the whole county, faces some serious issues and financial burdens. We should choose to meet these challenges by working together, and with greater respect than the current rash of finger-pointing indicates.
Sandi Mays Saunders-of Hardy is a clerk at a Roanoke construction company.
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