THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 28, 1995 TAG: 9506280450
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Black members of the City Council called it the best opportunity the city has ever had to appoint a black-majority School Board, but it was not to be.
After failing to sell the idea to their white colleagues in a one-hour closed session, the council's three black members joined in voting unanimously Tuesday night to maintain the current 4-3 white majority on the School Board.
``The majority isn't ready yet,'' a disappointed Councilman Herbert M. Collins Sr. said. ``We've come a long way, but we've still got a long way to go. I think the city has lost a great opportunity.''
Added Vice Mayor Paul R. Riddick, who is also black: ``I guess in a white community they did not see the importance of having a qualified black-majority School Board. There were fears of things that don't even exist.''
The black councilmen argued their position on grounds that the city's student population is more than 60 percent black. Collins said it would send a message to the African American community that the city had moved beyond the status quo - none of the most important appointed boards has a black majority, he said.
The council reappointed two black School Board members, current Chairman Ulysses Turner, a real estate developer, and Anna Dodson, a retired school administrator. The board also reappointed attorney Joseph T. Waldo, who is white.
In a fourth appointment, the council replaced incumbent Robert L. Hicks with businessman James R. Herndon, who owns a management consulting company.
``We selected the leaders we felt were best able to provide the leadership to the school system,'' Mayor Paul D. Fraim said. ``We had a number of good candidates and we considered lots of things. That's the best we could do.''
The black council members had hoped to replace Hicks with Lucy R. Wilson, who was the first black to chair the School Board but stepped off for personal reasons last year. She was nominated for the current round of appointments by white councilman Mason Andrews, but Riddick said the votes on the council weren't there for her.
Andrews said the board voted the way it did for ``reasons that are very complicated.'' Fraim would not comment on the race issue.
Councilman Randy Wright lobbied hard for Hicks, a friend, but could not muster enough support, other councilmen said. Hicks fell out of favor after he became involved in an altercation with another man over a traffic incident that led to counter assault and battery charges being filed in General District Court.
Collins said reappointing Hicks would have sent the wrong message to schoolchildren, who get suspended or expelled for fighting, but he said the incident involving Hicks ``was unfortunate.''
``I hate to see him go off,'' Collins said. ``I think he's made some tremendous contributions.''
Wright downplayed the debate over race. ``I didn't see anything as divisive. I think the process worked.''
In the end, the unanimous vote was in measure a show of conciliation as well as a continuation of a tradition of consensus on city council appointments, Riddick said.
``You want to give people who are volunteering their time at least the entire confidence of council - we don't want it to be fragmented,'' Riddick said.
Riddick acknowledged that Herndon brings a business background to the School Board that will be valuable.
Herndon, who chairs a school system advisory council on vocational education, said in a telephone interview Tuesday night that one of his goals will be to ensure that students are prepared for the work force. Herndon said he did not see race as an issue.
``I think there's a need for all students, whether they're college bound or not, to be prepared for work,'' Herndon said. ``I have a great respect for the working people - whether they're black or white doesn't need to be an issue. I think Norfolk has a pretty good record of trying to be sensitive to the whole student body and faculty.''
School Board Chairman Turner acknowledged that the appointment of a black majority board would have signaled that council had become ``more responsive to the needs and concerns of the black community.'' But Turner, who has served on the board since 1987, said previous boards always had worked to provide the best education for all students.
``We look for sensitivity and fairness and concern for all of our students, regardless of race,'' Turner said. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Anna Dodson
James Herndon
Ulysses Turner
Joseph Waldo
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOL BOARD by CNB