ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 22, 1997 TAG: 9704220102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Friends and neighbors lobby for the candidates: Sunday school teacher, PTA leader, band booster, Little League coach, moms and dads.
They are fathers, mothers, Sunday school teachers, PTA leaders, school volunteers, band boosters and Little League coaches.
Webster Day is also a runner who has logged hundreds of training hours trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon when he's not coaching youth soccer.
Sherman Lea referees college football when he's not busy raising money for the William Fleming High School athletic teams.
Marsha Ellison has visited every school in Roanoke since she has been on the School Board. She stayed busy with Parent-Teacher Association work for a decade before being named to the board three years ago.
Sherrie Boone has been a school and youth athletics volunteer for years. She has served on more than a half-dozen major committees in the school system.
Joann Hamidullah has made personal financial sacrifices so that her oldest daughter could attend Virginia Tech. She is a former president of the Central PTA Council.
Monday night's public hearing on the six finalists for the three city School Board seats focused mostly on them as people, not on their educational philosophies.
Friends and neighbors of all the finalists except Michael Ramsey appealed to City Council to choose their candidate.
Seventeen people spoke at the hearing, with Lea, regional administrator for the Virginia Department of Corrections, and Day, a lawyer, receiving the most support.
Lea's expertise and experience in working with prisoners would be beneficial on the board because he understands the importance of education, said Rosanna Anderson, director of TAP-Virginia CARES, a re-entry program for ex-prisoners.
"No one knows better than he the need for education and for students to graduate," Anderson said.
As the father of three elementary school children and a lawyer with a knowledge of business and finance, Day could be a valuable board member, said Michael Urbanski, president of the Raleigh Court Civic League.
Day wants to raise students' academic performance and lower the dropout rate, Urbanski said.
Marilyn Curtis, an outgoing board member, urged Ellison's reappointment, saying she has handled the chairwoman's role with diplomacy and tact.
Ellison has "done an outstanding job" on the board and has always had the children as her chief concern, said Margaret Martin, volunteer coordinator of the Presbyterian Community Center.
Boone has become familiar with the school system through countless hours of volunteer work and serving on many school committees, said Ruth Willson, president of the Central PTA Council. "She has demonstrated her ability and dedication."
Onzlee Ware, a lawyer who is active in the Democratic Party, urged council to appoint Hamidullah, saying she has demonstrated her concern for schools through her PTA activities and other volunteer work. "She has given tireless support to the schools and the children."
Council will interview the finalists publicly Thursday night and make the appointments May12.
Vice Chairman John Saunders is not seeking a new term, and Curtis is ineligible for reappointment because she has served three terms.
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