
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 23, 1994                    TAG: 9406210162 
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS                     PAGE: 11    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940623                                 LENGTH: Medium

TURNER AND POSTON MOST LIKELY CHOICES FOR THE SCHOOL BOARD

{LEAD} Lucy R. Wilson, the first African-American and the first woman to chair the School Board, presided over her final meeting last week and leaves a huge gap after 12 years on the seven-member panel.

``This board has always recognized her as a great person,'' vice-chairman Ulysses Turner said after Wilson was honored with a gavel and a plaque by Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr.

{REST} The big question: Who will the board turn to as leader?

Both Turner, now senior member with seven years of service, and Anita O. Poston are considered front-runners for the chairmanship. But first Poston, who is completing her second two-year term, must win reappointment.

The City Council plans June 28 to appoint a new member to replace Wilson, who chose to retire from the board, and to consider reappointing Poston and fellow incumbent Dr. Robert F. Williams, whose terms end June 30.

At a City Council public hearing last week, six candidates, including the two incumbents, were nominated to fill three seats on the board.

Council members say a consensus exists to maintain the current racial balance on the School Board: three blacks and four whites.

Only two of the six nominees are African-American: Dr. L.D. Britt, a well-known Norfolk educator and surgeon, and attorney Junius P. Fulton III, a partner in a Norfolk law firm with state Del. William P. Robinson.

School Board members say that their own selection of a new chairman next month will not turn into a fight: ``Whoever is selected it will be a united front,'' Turner said. ``We have never let leadership become divisive.''

The nominees for the three School Board seats are:

Poston, 44, first appointed in 1990, a partner in the Norfolk law firm of Vandeventer, Black, Meredith & Martin.

Williams, 45, ending his first two-year term, is director of reproductive sciences for the Jones Institute at the Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Britt, 42, head of trauma and critical care at the Eastern Virginia Medical School and director of Sentara Norfolk General's shock trauma unit. Britt, who attended Suffolk public schools, currently is vice rector for Norfolk State University.

Fulton, 35, a Norfolk native and a product of its public schools. He is a partner in the Norfolk law firm of Robinson, Madison, Fulton and Anderson.

James R. Herndon, 53, a private business consultant. He has served on the Vocational Advisory Council for Norfolk Public Schools since 1979 and last year won a state award for volunteering excellence in the schools.

Donna M. Briggs, 43, an attorney who currently is labor-relations specialist with the U.S. Department of Commerce's eastern administrative support center in Norfolk. Briggs, a 20-year Norfolk resident, attended Portsmouth public schools.

{KEYWORDS} NORFOLK SCHOOL BOARD

by CNB