DATE: Wednesday, July 30, 1997              TAG: 9707300507

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON GLASS AND DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITERS 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   92 lines

REMOVAL OF BLACK SCHOOL BOARD CHAIR BLASTED BY THREE MINORITY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL SPEAK OUT IN SUPPORT OF TURNER.

The School Board dealt a blow to race relations here last week by replacing black board chairman Ulysses Turner, the city's three African-American members of City Council said at a Tuesday news conference.

Councilwoman Daun S. Hester, herself a school administrator, read a prepared statement for the black council members that denounced the School Board's vote to remove Turner last Thursday as ``an outrage to the African-American community and all fair-minded citizens of Norfolk.''

Hester said: ``The decision to oust Mr. Turner comes at a time when no less than the President of the United States has called for new initiatives to improve race relations in the country. We believe the removal of Mr. Turner has not improved race relations in the city.''

The board's vote has so angered the black community, Councilman Paul R. Riddick said, that it could serve as a catalyst to push through a change to an elected School Board.

Norfolk is the only city in Hampton Roads with a school board appointed by the council rather than elected by popular vote.

``I will open the door for that dialogue,'' said Riddick, who was one of the three making the prepared statement. ``I think there's going to be some serious interest from the African-American community in investigating that opportunity.''

Added Vice Mayor Herbert M. Collins, the third black member who participated in the press conference: ``We have not supported that effort in the past because we felt our school system worked the way it was. Now, we're beginning to question those things.''

The debate over Turner is the latest concern over race relations in the city.

Black members of council were frustrated last month in their attempt to appoint a black majority to the School Board. They point out that blacks do not hold a majority on any of the city's most important appointed boards, contending that it reflects a lack of trust among white council members in the leadership ability of the black community.

Also last month, the Rev. Anthony C. Paige, a black Planning Commission member, resigned unexpectedly at a meeting after charging that the city operates a dual system that treats blacks unfairly.

Mayor Paul D. Fraim, who is white, said Tuesday that council members had talked privately with School Board members in hopes of avoiding controversy after learning there were divisions on the board.

Fraim said he and other council members were ``comfortable with Mr. Turner as chairman - period.''

Turner, who has served a decade on the board, was chairman for the past three years.

Fraim and other white council members said they hope the city will unite behind the new board chairman, lawyer Anita Poston, and that the board can continue making progress. He said he hopes any racial wounds inflicted can be healed.

The School Board has the same racial makeup as the council, with four whites and three blacks.

At their news conference Thursday, the council members said blacks now are shut out of leadership positions on the board and within the administration.

Besides electing Poston, the board elected white member Conrad Greif as vice chairman.

The superintendent, two deputy superintendents, and two of three assistant superintendents are white.

Turner said he is confident in Poston and Greif but is troubled by the lack of diversity among the board's leadership and the message it might send to the community.

Other board members point out, however, that black board members Anna Dodson and Alveta Green were nominated for both seats. Both declined the nominations, later saying they didn't want the position.

The three black board members abstained from voting for either Poston or Greif.

Member Joseph T. Waldo said that he believes the board might be even more sensitive now to issues facing the African-American community.

``I feel like the board members will be more likely to weigh and balance those issues affecting the minority community because none have chosen to serve in the leadership role.''

In their statement, the three black council members said Turner's tenure as chairman was marked with ``fairness, compassion, and a genuine concern for the children, the parents, the teachers and the administrators of the entire school system.''

``Even though we have taken a loss, the African-American leadership is becoming more unified every day,'' Hester said in the prepared statement.

She and her colleagues called on the community to become active to ensure that all children are ``taught in a loving and caring environment, one in which individuals are respected because they are human beings. When that begins to occur, systemwide, all children will be successful.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Ulysses Turner's ouster was called ``an outrage'' at the Tuesday

news conference. KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOL BOARD

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