ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 29, 1996 TAG: 9611290059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
The Roanoke School Board has gotten a bum rap on attendance at meetings, Chairwoman Marsha Ellison says.
Records show that school board members rarely miss meetings, despite complaints by City Council members that no one from the board showed up for a recent legislative policy meeting.
During the past 18 months, the School Board has held 26 meetings that include regular and special sessions, workshops and joint meetings with council.
Ellison had perfect attendance at all meetings, according to the board's minutes.
Charles Day missed two: One was a special meeting and the other was a board workshop.
Melinda Payne was absent at three meetings: two regular sessions and a joint meeting with council to visit the magnet program facilities at William Fleming High. She missed one session because of illness and another because she was out of town.
John Saunders missed three sessions: two regular meetings and the joint meeting with council to see the magnet facilities at William Fleming. He missed one meeting because he was on vacation and another because he was out of town.
Brian Wishneff, who was appointed to the board last June, has been absent twice: once for a regular meeting and a second time for the magnet program at William Fleming. One of his absences was caused by an out of town trip.
Harry Davis has not missed a meeting since he was appointed to the board in August.
Since June 1995, Marilyn Curtis has missed six meetings, but at least four of those were caused by a major illness.
During the past 18 months, Finn Pincus and Nelson Harris, now a council member, also served on the School Board before their seats were filled by Wishneff and Davis last summer.
Neither Pincus and Harris missed a meeting during their final 12 months on the board.
Board members' attendance came into question recently after Mayor David Bowers and other council members said they were disturbed because no school officials attended a legislative committee to comment on the board's requests for the 1997 General Assembly.
Council members also criticized the School Board for starting its November meeting late because a majority of members were absent when it was supposed to begin at 7 p.m.
Bowers suggested that if board members continued not showing up at meetings, council would replace them with people who would.
Despite council's complaints, Ellison said no school board member had attended council meetings in past years when the schools' legislative requests were presented to council.
"It was never our custom to go to the council meeting when we presented our legislative program," Ellison said. "I don't know why they thought we were supposed to be there."
The School Board traditionally has a joint meeting with council when the legislative program is presented to the city's representatives in the General Assembly. That meeting is scheduled Monday.
At Vice Mayor Linda Wyatt's suggestion, council has deleted a key request in the board's legislative package: continuing a state ban on binding arbitration for school employee grievances.
The board wants to keep the power to overturn grievance panel findings, but Wyatt, a city teacher, and the Virginia Education Association favor binding arbitration.
Some council members also criticized the School Board for starting its November meeting about 15 minutes late because a quorum was not present. Delaying a meeting for lack of a quorum is "something you expect of the Boy Scouts, but not of the School Board," said Councilman James Trout.
Ellison said the three members who missed the meeting were either ill or out of town and a fourth arrived late because of a family illness. Records show that all other board meetings in the past 18 months started on time.
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