THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603040032
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Saying she was pained and embarrassed by recent events, Elsie M. Barnes on Sunday became the third School Board member to announce her resignation in the wake of a special grand jury report into the district's finances.
The report called for seven of the board members and the district's director of budget development to resign or be prosecuted on malfeasance charges. At its most charitable, the report described the bulk of the School Board as naive and overly trusting. At its harshest, it declared them ``unfit for further service.''
Barnes said she found those words particularly distressing.
``It sent a searing pain to the essence of my soul,'' she said. ``That's how much it hurt.''
Barnes made public her plans to leave the board effective March 20 at a news conference outside her home near Bayside High School.
``I do not concur with the grand jury's assessment of the board's performance,'' she said, reading from a statement. ``However, I would not like for the matter to continue to divert attention from the educational processes for children.
``I leave the board the way I came, with unwavering support for public education in Virginia Beach. I thank the citizens for the opportunity to serve.''
The jury's blistering report, released Wednesday, surprised even some veteran lawyers with the sharpness of its tone. It was highly critical of former Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette, Director of Budget Development Mordecai L. Smith and the nine board members who had served longest. Two of those members, Susan L. Creamer and Robert W. Hall, had resigned in February before the report's release - Creamer because she was opposed to Smith's rehiring and Hall citing a loss of enthusiasm for the job.
On Thursday, board members Ulysses Van Spiva and D. Linn Felt announced their resignations effective March 20. On Friday, Faucette resigned as superintendent of the Gwinnett County, Ga., schools after eight months in the top post. Smith has said he plans to remain with the district.
Board member Tim Jackson has said he will announce his decision today. Chairwoman June T. Kernutt and members Joseph D. Taylor and Ferdinand V. Tolentino have not revealed their plans.
The special grand jury was empaneled to probe the school district's finances after the district ended the 1994-95 fiscal year with a $12.1 million shortfall.
Barnes said she accepts her share of responsibility for the district's financial problems, but maintains that as a lay person, she relied on staff for certain answers.
``I think we asked some very penetrating questions, some very probing questions,'' she said. In hindsight, she said, the board might have pushed harder, but she denied that members were reckless with the school system's money.
Barnes, who is dean of the School of Social Sciences at Norfolk State University, said she would not discourage others from serving on the School Board. And she would advise those interested to ``do what you feel is correct and proper, not what you feel is politically expedient.'' ILLUSTRATION: Elsie M. Barnes, to leave March 20, said of the grand jury
report: ``It sent a searing pain to the essence of my soul.''
KEYWORDS: RESIGNATION GRAND JURY BUDGET VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD
by CNB