THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080528
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Volunteers will hit the streets today seeking signatures on a petition to oust Charles W. Vincent from the School Board.
It is the first time Hampton Roads citizens have sought to remove an elected official since Portsmouth voters unseated Mayor James W. Holley III in a recall election in 1987.
But unlike Portsmouth, Virginia Beach has no recall provision. The Circuit Court would have to rule on whether the petitioners have grounds for seeking Vincent's removal.
The petition says that Vincent, who was elected to the board in May, should lose his seat because a jury convicted him of nine misdemeanor counts of state ethics violations last month. A judge is considering whether to set aside the jury's verdict because of a legal question and will make a ruling Feb. 22.
The petition also accuses Vincent of illegally using the state seal on campaign literature last spring and of using the title doctor based on a doctorate ``granted to him unlawfully'' by a school in California.
The petition further states that Vincent has ``generally and repeatedly demonstrated a level of incompetence and/or misuse of his office. . . . ''
Vincent has refused to resign. His attorney, Andrew Sacks, said that any efforts to remove Vincent are unfair and premature while the court is still deciding his client's fate.
The petition effort was organized by Kids First, a political action committee calling for changes in education such as tougher discipline, a cap on spending and more rigorous curricula with a focus on academics and traditional teaching methods.
Some members of Kids First, including group Chairman John T. Early Jr., unsuccessfully challenged Vincent and five other candidates backed by the city's teachers association in last spring's School Board race.
The group drafted the petition after the board failed to agree last month on a motion to ask Vincent to step down.
The Vincent issue resurfaced at a Tuesday night School Board meeting. Member Joseph D. Taylor asked the board's attorney for clarification on a state law that outlines the procedure school boards must follow on tie votes when a member is absent.
Former chairman James R. Darden, who resigned unexpectedly last week to spend more time with his family, was not present when the board deadlocked on the Vincent motion.
Taylor said ``individuals'' had told him that the law required the board to recast its votes. But board attorney John Newhard said the law applied specifically to county school boards and not city school boards.
Vincent would automatically lose his spot if his conviction is upheld, although attorneys disagree over whether he would be allowed to remain during appeals.
But Early said Kids First does not want to wait for the courts to act or for Vincent's term to expire in 1998.
The petition effort already has one problem. State law is unclear on how many signatures the volunteers will have to collect.
The law calls for signatures of registered voters equaling 10 percent of the votes cast in the race for Vincent's seat. But Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys has said a judge will have to decide whether that means the number of votes cast for the at-large race, in which Vincent ran, or for the whole election, in which 24 candidates vied for six board seats.
Early said he is drafting a letter to the Circuit Court, asking the chief judge to rule on the number of signatures.
``It puts us in a quandary,'' Early said.
But he said 30 to 40 volunteers today would begin anyway, collecting signatures at libraries, shopping centers and in neighborhoods.
Early estimated that it would take six to eight weeks to get all the signatures they need.
Next, the signatures must be checked by the voter registrar's office to ensure that there are enough and that all are from registered voters. Then the petition must be filed in court.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD by CNB