THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510130217
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Citizens should not be confused by misinformation sometimes presented as facts about the School Board during the discussions about a method of electing the board members next year.
A good example was a statement at a recent meeting that the board is dominated by Churchland residents. Fact: Only three of nine members are residents of Churchland. Fact: Two of those are black.
Another example is the frequently heard comment that the board is dominated by whites. Fact: At the moment it has five whites and four blacks. Last year it was reversed with blacks in five seats. The racial mix has switched back and forth each time council appoints members. By changing the majority by one person each time, the board fairly represents a community where there are 53,212 white people, 49,180 black people and 1,515 people of other origins.
In fact, the existing makeup of the board is not as biased as many would have the people of this city believe. City Council has consciously changed the majority each time it appoints new members. That's as it should be.
A proposed plan for election by districts, drawn up by an organization known as the Norfolk State University Voting Rights Project, would throw the balance off by creating five districts that are overwhelmingly black and four that are overwhelmingly white.
Such a plan would stack the deck, eliminating any opportunity to have a board at any time with a majority white membership.
As a number of blacks have pointed out at the hearings, Portsmouth has a history that includes at-large election of a black majority to City Council and also of a number of black officials, including a mayor, a city treasurer and a Commonwealth's attorney. The blacks were elected in a city with 41,679 whites of voting age compared to 33,300 blacks of voting age.
The deck obviously does not have to be stacked to favor blacks in order for blacks to win elections.
Setting up gerrymandered school board election districts would cause a great deal of divisiveness in this city and would further polarize the races. Certainly, it could make elections very difficult for blacks who want to run for other offices that require a citywide vote.
We all need to be mindful of facts and separate them from fiction.
KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH SCHOOL BOARD ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD by CNB