THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 17, 1995 TAG: 9507170034
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 154 lines
Bucking tradition in a city long governed by public consensus, two Ghent residents are trying to expand voter power, hoping to succeed where others have failed twice before.
They are trying to gain support for a November ballot referendum on an elected school board - something voters in every other Hampton Roads city already have approved.
Two previous attempts to put the issue before the voters failed, but proponents say it's only a matter of time before Norfolk joins its neighbors to end City Council appointment of the school board.
``The future of the city is the responsibility of every citizen, and a basic right of the citizens should be the right to choose their school board,'' said Ernie Edwards, an architect who works with youth groups in inner-city neighborhoods.
He is spearheading a petition drive with Donna Briggs, an attorney who works in labor relations with the U.S. Commerce Department. She has three children in the city's schools.
``Right now, what we have is a system where there is really virtually no public scrutiny of the credentials or the philosophy of people named to the School Board,'' Briggs said.
Briggs cited statistics that point to the need for improving the city's schools: Norfolk had the highest dropout rate in the state last year and SAT scores well below state and national averages.
``I think the quality of the school system is critical to the quality of life and the economic viability of the city, and the public needs to take a greater interest and closer look at what is happening,'' Briggs said. ``Now the system operates in a vacuum.''
For the past two years, Briggs has nominated herself for a school board appointment. She said council members did not seek out her views or call her in for an interview.
``Actually, I have more confidence in the voters,'' she said.
Briggs and Edwards are on a quest to collect the signatures of about 8,700 people, or 10 percent of the city's registered voters, by Aug. 7. If they succeed, the referendum would be on the November ballot.
If voters approve the idea, school board elections could begin in May, Briggs said.
The General Assembly in 1992 passed legislation allowing localities to decide whether to elect school boards. Since then, voters in more than half the state's cities and counties, including Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton and Newport News, have approved the idea.
But Norfolk proponents have twice been unable to even get the question on the ballot. One drive fell 7,000 signatures short of the 9,000 then needed.
``People have been playing with it since the state made it a local option, but nobody's gotten behind it with the muscle to make it happen,'' said City Councilman Randy Wright, who has supported the concept in the past but is now lukewarm.
Wright said the current ward system in place to elect City Council members ``offers the next best thing.'' Each councilman, Wright said, is accountable to voters in his district for the school board appointments.
To those leery of an elected school board, past failure to generate public interest is a sign that Norfolk residents are satisfied with the existing system.
``I believe the concerns and the needs of all of our citizens are being met to the best of our ability under the existing appointed system,'' said School Board Chairman Ulysses Turner, a board member since 1987.
``I would not like to see us go to an elected board because our resources would become factionalized, meaning that each school board member would be looking out for the needs of their own communities instead of the school system as a whole.''
Norfolk Del. Howard Copeland, a Democrat, helped lead an unsuccessful petition drive two years ago. Copeland said Norfolk, one of the region's oldest cities, has a political tradition of conciliation and consensus, which makes it harder to convince the public that an elected system would be better.
City Council, he said, prefers to hash out differences in private and present a unified front in public. The council voted unanimously last month, for instance, to maintain the current 4-3 white majority on the School Board, despite efforts by the council's three black members to appoint a majority-black board.
``There is a feeling among council members, business leaders and even some civic league leaders that our School Board is working pretty well, and they'd like to keep it like it is,'' Copeland said. ``It's the old `if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' I respectfully disagree with them. There is no more basic service the government provides than a public education, so I strongly, deeply believe in elected school boards.''
Former New Jersey residents Beverly Graeber and husband, Roy, who is president of the Riverfront Civic League, said it makes sense to elect school board members. In New Jersey, she was twice elected to the Madison city School Board.
``I think if you really want to get the quality into the school system, you've got to get the citizens closer to the school board to hold their feet to the fire,'' Roy Graeber said.
At a meeting last month of the Norfolk Federation of Civic Leagues, members voted to support the petition drive, saying the public should have a chance to decide the matter.
But the group stopped short of actually endorsing an elected school board, said John Roger, president of the Bayview Civic League.
``There was no taking sides,'' Roger said. ``My own personal belief is I don't see that there's anything wrong with people making up their own minds.''
The city's two largest teacher groups spearheaded the two previous petition drives, but at least one is taking a lower profile this time around.
``We feel it would be good for the community, but it's not high on our agenda right now,'' said Shirley George, the new president of the Education Association of Norfolk. ``Unless we can be sure there is widespread support, we'd just be creating a political headache for ourselves in an effort that probably would go nowhere.''
Marian Flickinger, president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers, said, ``It's not a panacea, but I think if we want to have accountability, that's the way to go. Right now, if people are unhappy with them (board members), basically there's nothing you can do.''
A majority of council members said they favored the current system, saying elections would create divisiveness and scare away the most qualified candidates.
``I don't think the best people would run because they wouldn't want to put up with the political hassle,'' Councilman G. Conoly Phillips said. ``I believe that the council up to now has been able to get a very balanced board.''
Mayor Paul D. Fraim and Vice Mayor Paul R. Riddick worry that it would create tensions between the City Council and the School Board, especially over budget issues. Riddick said he thought it would put pressure on City Council to raise taxes. In Virginia, school boards do not have the power to levy taxes.
The School Board this year will oversee a $188 million budget, about half of which comes from the state. The city spends about 40 percent of its operating budget on education.
``Right now, we're able to work budgets within our tax bracket without a big fight,'' Riddick said.
The Graebers said they viewed elected school boards as a first step. Getting taxing authority would be next, Beverly Graeber said, a step that would require approval of the General Assembly. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Ulysses Turner
Color photo
Howard Copeland
Graphic
TO PARTICIPATE
If you are a Norfolk resident, what are your thoughts on an
elected vs. an appointed school board?
If you live in another city in Hampton Roads, are you satisfied
with elected school boards there?
What are some of the issues that must be considered? What are the
advantages? What are the disadvantages?
To join the discussion, dial 640-5555, press 6356 and follow the
recorded instructions.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOLS NORFOLK SCHOOL BOARD REFERENDUM ELECTED
SCHOOL BOARD SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION by CNB