ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607120066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Thomas Leggette hopes to build stronger community support for Roanoke County schools in his new job as chairman of the School Board.
The schools can be strengthened if parents, other county residents and business people will invest more time, money and energy in upgrading education, Leggette said Thursday night.
"We need your help," he said soon after being chosen chairman. "I challenge you - each and every citizen of Roanoke County ... [to] do your part."
Leggette, a lawyer from the Windsor Hills District in his second year on the board, was the unanimous choice Thursday to succeed Jerry Canada.
Canada, who represents the Hollins District, did not seek a new term as chairman because he said he thought the post should be rotated among board members from different sections of the county.
As chairman, Leggette, 48, said he wants to foster a new attitude toward schools through more parental and community involvement.
"Our county has a good school system, but we can do better," he said. "What I do not understand is why our students' parents, their relatives, their neighborhoods and our community's business people are not 100 percent involved."
If the parents and community had the same attitude toward public schools that is found among patrons of private schools, they could help upgrade them, he said.
"At private schools, parents take it for granted that they have to help out. If every parent and alumni helped out or made a donation at a public school, what a tremendous difference that would make," he said.
Leggette said parents and others can strengthen the schools by helping to keep them free of alcohol, drugs and weapons; investing in education through tax-deductible gifts; and doing volunteer work at schools that makes use of their professional expertise and special skills.
"Nothing breaks my heart more than to pick up a newspaper and read about one of our students being caught in an incident involving weapons, drugs or alcohol," Leggette said.
He cited a case this past year when a county student who had been drinking struck and killed a teacher. While such fatal accidents are few, there is a drug and alcohol problem in the schools, he said.
Beginning this year, the county will have a police resource officer at each of its four high schools to help ensure that the schools are safe and free of weapons and drugs, he said.
But the parents and community need to do more to help deal with the alcohol and drug problem, he said.
"We have children for a limited portion of each day; we cannot do the job without your help," he said. "We need you to make sure your children toe the line."
Leggette said many alcohol and drug abuse awareness programs at Parent-Teacher Association meetings are poorly attended. Many parents don't sign the county's safe-home booster pledges promising they have a drug-free house and that no alcohol will be served to minors in their homes.
He also called on stores that sell alcoholic beverages to require identification from younger customers to ensure no alcohol will be sold to minors.
Leggette has two children in school: Jennifer, a rising sophomore at Cave Spring High, and Kimberly, a rising sixth-grader at Hidden Valley Junior High. His wife, the former Diane Henry, is a consultant in parental education for the Parents' Place at the YMCA.
Many parents and alumni make donations to public and private colleges and private secondary and elementary schools, he said. Leggette wants county residents to make similar donations to public secondary and elementary schools.
Parents, business people and other county residents can also help improve the schools by volunteering for many positions that the county can't afford to fill, he said.
The schools could use volunteer nurses, athletic trainers, substance abuse counselors, computer instructors and classroom aides, he said.
"If there is one thing I have learned during my tenure on the board, it is that we do not have sufficient money to fund all the programs and positions that we would like to fund," he said. "We repeatedly have had to cut programs and positions we would like to have."
Leggette said the county can't afford to fund school nurses at the needed level and had to cut athletic trainers from this year's budget.
Michael Stovall, who represents the Vinton District, was re-elected vice chairman at the reorganizational meeting. Brenda Chastain, an administrative secretary, was named clerk of the board, succeeding Ruth Wade, who retired July 1 after 29 years in the post.
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Thomas Leggette\New School Board chairman. color.by CNB