THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508030014
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
A member of the school administration recently said that Norfolk schools have a reputation as the worst in the area for normal children, but best for the learning disabled. The worst is confirmed by the test scores and the high dropout rate. These bad results are not necessarily all the fault of the classroom teachers, administrators or the superintendent.
It is primarily the fault of a School Board that does not demand positive results. It is the fault of School Board members appointed by City Council because they make a good image with their degrees and mannerisms, or just to repay a political debt.
These members cannot be removed because it would embarrass them or their appointers.
A School Board should function as the public's quality-control representative, not as a bunch of plastic flowers in a vase.
Councilman G. Conoly Phillips' statement that the best people would not run for the School Board because they wouldn't want to put up with the political hassle may be partly true. I suggest that our City Council is not made up of the best people because the best would not want to run for council because of the political hassle.
Council has relegated many of its important responsibilities to authorities and boards and is little more than a front for special private-interest groups. We need to take away from City Council the political plum of School Board appointments.
With an elected board, those seeking election may not be the best, according to Councilman Phillips' standards, but they could be the most caring, motivated and successful They would be the most likely to demand that the teachers teach and the students learn. They may be the only ones who can force our school system to improve.
An elected School Board can be hard-driving more so than an appointed one and is necessary if Norfolk is to survive.
AL HORTON JR.
Norfolk, July 30, 1995 by CNB