THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 7, 1995 TAG: 9511070258
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Hoping to ride the coattails of an election in which education has taken center stage, a group of residents will stake out city polling places today in a long-suffering quest for an elected School Board.
Backers over the past four years have twice failed to collect enough signatures to put the issue to a vote, while watching voters in every other Hampton Roads city approved the switch from appointed to elected school boards.
Proponents said they plan to blanket the city's 14 largest precincts today with petitions. With enough signatures, a referendum could be held during City Council elections in May.
They hope the third time is the charm.
``This is obviously a wonderful window of opportunity,'' said Ernie Edwards, a Ghent resident and co-founder of the Citizens for an Elected School Board. ``It seems like this'll be our best shot to do it. We'll give it the old college try.''
To get the issue on the May ballot, supporters need signatures of 10 percent of the city's registered voters, or about 8,400 people. The group began circulating petitions last May with a goal of placing the matter on today's ballot, but the group fell short with about 2,500 signatures by the August deadline.
Edwards said he was unsure how many more signatures have been collected since.
Proponents argue that an elected School Board would be directly accountable to voters, pointing to such ills as the city's high dropout rate and low test scores as proof that the ``status quo'' needs changing. City Council appoints board members now.
General Assembly candidates in Norfolk, mostly Republican challengers who favor an elected School Board, have turned the issue into campaign fodder.
When the General Assembly approved legislation in 1992 allowing elected school boards, Del. Howard Copeland was the only Norfolk Democrat to support it. Virginia was the last state to approve elected school boards, and it took sympathetic lawmakers 17 years to get the measure passed.
``It's one thing to slam elected school boards, but it's another to slam it in terms of giving citizens a chance to vote on it,'' Edwards said.
Opponents argue that the issue has failed to gain popular support in Norfolk because most people are satisfied with City Council appointments. They worry that an elected board would hold public schools hostage to competing political factions and special interests.
If the group fails to get the required number of signatures by February, it would have to start from scratch because of state election rules that limit the time for such petition drives.
``Will we stop if we don't get enough signatures? I don't know,'' Edwards said. ``I guess the question should be, should we? The answer is `no,' as far as I'm concerned.''
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOL BOARD CAMPAIGN ISSUE ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD by CNB