Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 11, 1995 TAG: 9510110041
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Bernard Jortner is a Virginia Tech professor of pathology who has been teaching for almost 30 years. He said teachers and technology are two of the most important investments a school system can make.
Bob Anderson, founder of several Straight Street youth ministries in Southwest Virginia, believes parents should get to decide options such as whether to enroll their children in family life education classes.
Oscar Williams, director of Virginia Tech's Institute for Youth and Minority Entrepreneurship, also chairs the Montgomery County Human Relations Council and is a former vice president of the Virginia NAACP. He said schools need to provide more guidance and training for career development.
Through door-to-door visits, phone calls and neighborhood meetings, the three are trying to win support from 5,000 registered voters - about half the population of District B.
Whoever succeeds will represent a district that stretches from Ellett Valley in the east to cover much of Virginia 114 (Peppers Ferry Road) to the west. It includes the Blacksburg Country Club to the north and Roanoke Street in Christiansburg to the south.
Last spring, three-term School Board member Bob Goncz decided to run for the Board of Supervisors. All three candidates for Goncz's School Board seat said they decided to run based on the advice of others.
"The only reason I ran," Anderson said, "was because of the encouragement from teens and their parents."
Anderson works as a youth minister when he's not planning motivational speakers or Christian rock concerts for Straight Street. Ten years working with social services, church groups and other youth-related programs gives him an edge his opponents don't have, he said.
"I thought, 'Wouldn't it be neat to have someone who has their ear tuned to [people's] complaints and ideas.' I'm painting myself as the people's candidate."
For Williams, being on the School Board would be another opportunity to serve his community. After working with more than 50 boards and committees, he said, he knows how to build consensus and move forward.
"That's a strong suit of mine. I'm comfortable treading in murky water," he said.
Recently, in his capacity as chairman of the Montgomery County Human Relations Board, he treaded water in a highly emotional conflict: the "listening session" for citizens angered by the shooting death of 22-year-old Maurice Taylor in Blacksburg.
Because of his extensive community involvement, Williams said, some people erroneously associate him with one issue.
"My interest is with people. What's going to uplift people is more important than any political issue," he said.
Bernard Jortner said the most satisfying part of this campaign has been knocking on doors and talking with people.
"People appreciate me coming to their homes to talk," he said. "I'm astounded at how many people are telling me 'We're really for you.'"
The candidates agree that teachers are the most important element in learning.
Reducing class sizes and increasing salaries are two excellent ways to help teachers perform better, Jortner said. It's tough to balance those initiatives with budget and facility limitations, he said, but it's worth it.
"My wife, she teaches gifted students at Riner and Bethel [elementary schools]. She's very dedicated - it's amazing the time she spends."
Williams said teachers, like children, should be given the opportunities to reach their highest potential. That could include rewards for quality work, and pay raises (although Williams said the extra money should come from somewhere other than taxpayers).
Teacher salaries are one of those "bread-and-butter issues" that Williams hears discussed often.
"I'm not sure we could pay good teachers as much as they deserve, but we can make that up by providing a wholesome environment to keep them here," he said.
Anderson agreed. "You can hand me a computer, but if I have caring instructors, they will impress me the most."
Like his father-in-law, Jack LeDoux, Anderson believes it's time for schools to focus on the basics. LeDoux, who is running for the School Board seat in District E, has been a vocal proponent of a phonics-based method to teach reading.
Though Anderson said the schools are doing a "bang-up job" educating students, he sees room for improvement. In the letters he's received from teen-agers and the Scripture readings he's conducted, he said, he can always tell who goes to private schools and who attends public schools. The private schools are doing a better job teaching children how to read and write, he said.
"We should not stick our head in the sand and not find out why these schools are doing so well." Competition from private, home or charter schooling is a healthy way to improve public schools, he said.
When asked if the fact that his wife teaches at and his daughter attends the private Dayspring Christian Academy might concern people voting in a public school board election, Anderson pointed to his experience.
"I can bring in a line of kids that I consider my own. If [something] concerns them, it concerns me. I'm a taxpaying citizen and I've got more kid experience than anyone else," he said.
The place of religion in schools divides the candidates.
Anderson said the school system "sells kids too short," particularly when it comes to religion.
"We believe that kids are smart enough to use a condom. But, God forbid, we hang the Ten Commandments on the wall - we can't trust them to choose a religion."
Religion should be taught from a balanced, historical viewpoint, then children can make up their own minds, he said.
In his door-to-door discussions, Jortner said, only one person has asked him about his religious beliefs.
Certainly, he said, moral lessons have a place in the school system. "This country is the most religious in the world - it came about because people wanted to be left alone" to express their religious beliefs, he said.
Jortner, a member of the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center, supports the legal guidelines that allow a child to pray in school if it's done individually and it's not disruptive.
Williams agreed, saying only half-jokingly that as long as there are tough teachers and even tougher tests, children will always pray for help.
He considers himself a "deeply committed Christian" and sees the separation between religion and schools as a challenge for the religious communities to spread their beliefs.
"Let us do it from the religious pulpits as opposed to the school desks," he said.
Anderson said one of his strong points is the fact that he isn't accountable to any special interest group. He was referring to the endorsement of Jortner by the Montgomery County Education Association's Political Action Committee.
Jortner said he was pleased to receive financial support from the teacher's organization. But he said he plans to weigh every side of the issues equally and base his decisions on what's best for the schools.
He concedes there are many factors to balance - and facts to learn.
"I'm not the kind of person to say 'Hey, I'm a Tech professor and there's nothing you can't teach me,'" he said.
Overall, the three candidates said the system is doing an excellent job at educating Montgomery County children - it simply could be better.
On Nov. 7, voters will have to choose what kind of improvement suits District B.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB