THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512210159
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Long : 150 lines
IF YOU CAST a ballot in Chesapeake's School Board election Tuesday, you were powerful. Your vote essentially counted for 10.
Only a little more than 10 percent of the city's registered voters turned out for the election, the city's first for a board that traditionally has been appointed by City Council.
The influential few voters guaranteed the jobs of all four incumbents who defended their board seats - Barbara B. Head, James M. Reeves, L. Thomas Bray and Roderic A. Taylor - plus swept in a newcomer, Jeffrey A. ``Jeff'' Rowland.
With that, citizens gave at least tacit approval for the board to stay its present course, including taking deliberate steps to guard against school safety problems and curing chronic crowding in schools. All four victors were backed by the city teachers' association.
``Stability is the important factor,'' Head said Tuesday night. ``I think voters wanted stability. I think they are really pleased with the way Chesapeake schools are run and feel that we would continue to keep schools on a straight path.''
The low turnout was stunning, considering that citizens in 1993 overwhelming approved the switch from appointed to elected boards.
``If people looked at it the same way they would an investment - and it is because nearly half of the city's real estate taxes is spent on education - it's really kind of strange that they turn around and don't care for their investment,'' said Gene Waters, president of the Chesapeake Council of Civic Organizations.
``I don't know what it takes for people to get involved.''
Most speculated that the low turnout was due to the timing of the election, less than a week before Christmas. City officials said they were required by state law to set the special election for Dec. 19, the earliest possible date after the U.S. Justice Department's August decision to drop its objections to Chesapeake's at-large voting system.
``It's completely taken some people by surprise because there are never elections in December,'' said Chris Kreisel, a campaign volunteer handing out literature for Rowland at the Great Bridge precinct.
``This is pitiful,'' Kreisel said. In the last three elections, Kreisel said, as many as 100 people were lined up and waiting to vote when the Great Bridge poll opened at 6 a.m. On Tuesday, nine people had voted by 6:30 a.m. and only 281 by 1:30 p.m. The precinct has 4,560 registered voters.
``The time of year, six days before Christmas, and the weather the way it was, it was bad,'' said Clerk of Court Lil Hart, who helped tally votes Tuesday night.
Just as likely, voters were bewildered by the choices. Eleven candidates competed for five board seats, and there was only about a month to get to know them all.
Sam Warner, a 35-year Chesapeake resident, had to peek over the white plastic wall of his voting booth to check with an election official about how many people to vote for.
``Is it four or five I vote for?'' Warner asked of Bill Hon, chief election official at the precinct.
``It's five, Sam,'' said Hon. ``Read the fine print.''
Warner said the city's first School Board election came with ``just too quick notice, too short a time.'' He emerged from his voting booth stuffing a newspaper voters' guide into the pocket of his plaid shirt. There was a red X over one candidate's face.
Warner has four children who graduated from Great Bridge High, and six of his eight grandchildren go to Chesapeake schools. He had no problem ticking off his top two issues - getting back to the basics and better planning for growth ``so that we won't have portable classrooms.''
Winners say it was just such meaty concerns such as school crowding and safety that swayed voters.
``I went door to door and asked people what they thought the issues were,'' said successful candidate Rowland, a 34-year-old metal company salesman. ``This isn't what Jeff Rowland thought, this is what the people thought. But it wasn't hard to pick up the gauntlet on those issues.''
But losers said it was money, politics, a too-short campaign and a heavy-handed endorsement from the Chesapeake Education Association that made the day for incumbents and Rowland.
As of early December, Rowland was the campaign's biggest spender, reporting expenses of nearly $4,000. He got the second-highest vote count, with 4,977. Only Head, the board's vice chairwoman, got more - 5,245.
``It's a shame that so many people supported an elected School Board but so few showed up to vote,'' said unsuccessful candidate Michael J. Woods, a former police officer who had the energetic backing of the city's Young Republicans. Woods finished sixth in the running for the five board seats.
Woods criticized the association for endorsing four of its five candidates before the Nov. 20 deadline for contenders to file to be on the ballot. Association representatives said they had to act fast because the campaign was so compressed.
Low turnout ``gave the CEA the chance to sweep the election as they had planned,'' Woods said. ``They were pushing their candidates as a ticket, and it was the money and the support they were able to put together. They had a ready-made election.''
``I guess it really is who you know, or in this case, how many you know,'' said Renee Hannas, a 36-year-old office manager who got the lowest vote count, 1,397.
Hannas said newcomers like herself were unprepared for the complexity of running campaigns.
That may discourage all but the stoutest of heart in future elections.
Harry A. Murphy, a 38-year-old fence company owner who came in seventh with 3,071 votes, said he doesn't know whether he could put his family through another campaign. Murphy and his father were up at 1 a.m. the day of the election, posting campaign signs at precincts.
``It's sad that without a political organization and money, you can't do the things you want to do,'' Murphy said.
Despite everyone's protestations to the contrary, politics did rear its head in the race to control city schools.
Four of the teachers' association candidates, all except Bray, were endorsed on a campaign flyer that was produced by a group of political heavy-hitters, including key Democrats like Mayor William E. Ward and state Del. Lionell Spruill.
Woods, supported by the Chesapeake Young Republicans, advertised his Republican status on his campaign signs.
Donald J. Bailey, a 61-year-old retiree from New York who came in ninth with 1,686 votes, said he would like to see that change in the future.
Citizens now must turn their attentions to May, when the remaining four of the nine board seats will go on the ballot.
``If I'd had my druthers, even though the time was short, I would have liked to see no one endorsed and hold candidate forums and let the people decide at forums,'' Bailey said. ``When you endorse early it almost becomes a political event more than just the election of the School Board, which should be apolitical.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
[Color cover photos: The Winners: James M. Reeves, Barbara B. Head,
Roderic A. Taylor, L. Thomas Bray, Jeffrey A. Rowland.]
Poll workers George Hammel and his wife Mary donned Christmas hats.
Nearness to the holiday was one of the reasons cited for the low
voter turnout.
ABOVE: Theresa Tripp brought her daughter Whitney to the poll at
Deep Creek Community Center.
BELOW: A drizzly, dark gray day greeted voters. The timing of the
election and the bad weather were blamed for few voters casting
ballots.
Graphic
Chesapeake School Board Election Results.
[precinct by precinct election results]
For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS ELECTION RESULTS by CNB