THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080418
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: AE10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
In a School Board election marked by bare-budget races and low voter turnout, Suffolk residents decided Tuesday that change was in order.
By a convincing margin, Nansemond Borough voters elected former board member John R. Riddick Sr., unseating incumbent board chairman Arthur D. Smith.
In a three-way race for the Sleepy Hole seat, newcomer James E. Perkinson Jr., 51, breezed to a win over Bruce T. Benn and Robert M. Brooks Jr.
The current board vice chairman, the Rev. Mark A. Croston Sr., was unopposed for the Whaleyville Borough seat.
This was the second School Board election for Suffolk; now, all seats are held by elected members.
Riddick, 69, who served on the board from 1975 to 1981, ran on a platform of change. After winning Tuesday, Riddick, who retired from the paint department at Newport News Shipbuilding, called for ``drastic change,'' including higher teacher salaries, unspecified curriculum changes and a closer relationship with parents.
``I want to thank all the voters for their confidence in me, and I guarantee that I will not let them down,'' Riddick said.
Perkinson, a former Portsmouth school teacher and currently a building manager at Tidewater Community College, said he envisions the board ``working together to improve'' the city's schools.
Riddick got 61 percent of the vote to defeat Smith. Perkinson collected 49 percent of the vote in Sleepy Hole.
Suffolk's rapid growth emerged as a key issue. School enrollment edged over 10,000 last year, growing by 500 students. Attendance at some schools increased by double digits.
Parents worried that the board had become too reliant on mobile classrooms, and that classes had become too crowded. They also worried that the growth was outpacing the district's ability to equip students with technology skills needed in the modern workforce.
The two contested races were in high-growth areas.
Despite the high stakes, the election was low-key. One week before the election, Brooks and Perkinson filed campaign expense reports showing that they hadn't raised or spent any money on advertising. Benn reported spending $400.
Top spender was Riddick, who spent $437. He outspent Smith's $63 by a nearly 7-to-1 margin.
Voter turnout was relatively light - 30 percent in Sleepy Hole, 39 percent in Nansemond.
The Education Association of Suffolk's political action committee endorsed incumbents Smith and Croston, and Perkinson. The Elephant's Fork Civic League endorsed Riddick.
Sure to be high on the new board's agenda is lobbying City Council for an ambitious 10-year plan for six new schools and the renovation of two existing schools.
KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK SCHOOL BOARD RACE ELECTION RESULTS by CNB