THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512230203
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
Those who led the crusade for an elected School Board two years ago declared that the people of Chesapeake were ready to take charge of their school system and to hold decision-makers' feet to the fire.
Opponents of the change implied that elections would politicize the process and place School Board members at the mercy of special interests, campaign contributors and the vagaries of popular opinion.
If Tuesday's election is any indication, the change may be less dramatic than either side expected.
After approving the concept of an elected school board in 1993 by a whopping 5-to-1 margin, when the voters finally got their first chance to put their new power into action, it was as if they couldn't have cared less. Only one in 10 even bothered to participate.
The few who did show up at the polls could hardly be described as agents of change. Every School Board member who ran - each originally appointed by the City Council under the good ol' boy spoils system the new election process was intended to replace - was swept back into office. Not one was elected who didn't have the endorsement of the Chesapeake Education Association, a special interest group whose influence over the old appointive system had been decried by the reformers.
On the other hand, the election seems to have avoided the worst of politics. There was a minimum of negative campaigning and heavy-handed partisanship.
In May, when there's more time to analyze the issues and people are not preoccupied by the holidays and the weather is not cold and drizzly, citizens may prove to have a greater interest in schools than they seemed to have on Tuesday. Let's hope so. by CNB