THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502020145
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
A first elected School Board is bound to have some rough moments. In its first seven months, Virginia Beach's has had more than its share. The latest is the resignation this week of Chairman James R. Darden, for an understandable reason: Unexpectedly, he must must put his own child and grandchildren first, and does not want the system's 75,000 schoolchildren to have to come second with the School Board chairman.
Appointing his successor ought to come first with the Circuit Court judges, to whom that duty falls.
Appointed to the board from the Lynnhaven District in December 1993, Mr. Darden was elected in May 1994, one of six candidates endorsed by the Virginia Beach Education Association. As a former Beach schools administrator, he offered firsthand expertise in tackling some tough problems: ``sick schools,'' capping budget transfers, site selection for a new Linkhorn school, a dispute over custodial services, a teacher raise.
But the school budget, $370 million this year, won't cure ``sick schools,'' or assure that budgeted items will remain budgeted and officials know precisely how much money they have where. The property selected for the new Linkhorn school is seriously criticized as the wrong site at the wrong price. Booting ServiceMaster smacks more of saving jobs important to politics and the VBEA than saving money. Where officials will find the additional $2.9 million to cover teachers' pay next year is an unanswered question.
The School Board can better address these items and other unfinished business if it continues Mr. Darden's efforts to bring parents, city officials, school and city staff, and just interested citizens into the discussion. This week's organizational meeting of the Safe Schools Task Force is a welcome step in that direction.
The board's most distressing unfinished business, however, is the future of Charles W. Vincent. A jury found him guilty of violating ethics provisions of state law, the most serious of his several ethical lapses as both board candidate and board member elected at-large. If reason prevails, the judges will have two vacant seats to fill before the special election in May 1996.
Among some 47,000 registered voters in the Lynnhaven Borough and the 162,000 Beach voters eligible to fill a seat at-large should be at least two who can help move the schools toward better performance and greater accountability. And, selected on merit themselves, they can help see that merit counts - as much as pedagogical theory, and as much for students as teachers - in the standards and policies the School Board sets. by CNB