In a strongly worded editorial, The Virginian-Pilot makes the case for Norfolk City Council to appoint all new members to the four seats available on the School Board.
Returning anyone to the School Board is an endorsement of the division’s leadership in the past few years and a tacit acceptance of its irresponsible administration.
Three current members of the board, including its chairman, were among the twelve candidates interviewed earlier this week. This is the first time Norfolk has held public interviews of its School Board candidates. They will make the appointments in closed session on June 29, just days before three members of council leave their posts. Councilmember-elect Tommy Smigiel, who, along with Andy Protogyrou, will be sworn in on July 1, was rebuffed when he requested that the new council choose the board members.
The Pilot editorial stopped short of calling for an elected school board, which would at least make the members accountable to the public. Instead, the board reminded council of the consequences of making the wrong move:
If the City Council cannot find the courage to make the changes on the School Board that are so clearly necessary, voters have no choice but to take note when council members themselves come up for reelection.
Dead on. But I also hope the editorial board remember this when they are endorsing in the council races in 2012 and 2014. And if they don’t – and I’m still here – I’ll be sure to remind them.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I do not think that elected school boards are necessarily a solution.
I lived in Delaware for over 20 years.
School boards there are elected. And no one paid attention to the elections. Turnout was worse than the turnout at Virginia’s off-year elections, which is clearly designed (I finally realized after living in other states) to diminish turnout.*
With no turnout, there is no accountability.
I found myself yearning to be back in Northampton County, Virginia, where I grew up, with an appointed school board insulated from the winds of the moment but taking its responsibilities seriously.
Not quite on topic, regarding all the fuss about the SOL tests (I find “SOL” to be a most unfortunate acronym), I am reminded of something I learned early in my career in corporate America:
When one person violates a policy, the problem is likely the person. When lots of persons violate a policy, the problem is likely the policy.
Gosh durn it, my rural Virginia school system taught me and lots of other folks to read, write, and cypher (though it did not teach us “sensitivity” and other new age stuff like that there), and there was no state-wide or nation-wide testing back then in the olden days (except for SATs and stuff like that there).
Granting that there are likely some mediocre and even some few incompetent teachers, I do not think that threatening teachers with their jobs will solve the learning problems of the students.
Students can learn with incompetent teachers. I know; I did it.
Teachers cannot make uninterested students learn.
The problems are outside the walls of the school houses, and changes inside those walls will not solve them.
I wish I had magic bullets. I don’t.
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*Though I have enough old Virginia in me to say that, if you don’t vote, don’t complain.
My Daddy taught me that voting is a duty, not a right.
Elected school boards aren’t a magic bullet – that I know. Thing is that appointed boards aren’t working too well, either. At the least, we should give elected school boards a chance. (And I’d also like to see school boards have taxing power, instead of being reliant on the City Council for their allocations.)
As a parent of two children in NPS and one who has volunteered with NPS for years, I am not moved by the Pilot Editorial. 1. It appears to me that this Editorial, as others, are based upon the reporting of Pilot staff. I cannot determine if the Editorial staff listened to the interviews. 2. School board members are (re)appointed every two years. Of the 3 members not up for re-appointment, 2 just joined the board in 2009. Based upon the Pilot’s recommendations, we would have 6 board members with a year or less experience on the board. Combined with a new superintendent, staff layoffs, principals being moved, etc., I feel there are too many moving parts at one time. 3. Norfolk is a silo operated city. And too often the Pilot Editorial Board has supported such. There is little coordination amongst school, planning, housing, and economic development leaders and policymakers not to mention parents. There is little city-wide, big picture, holistic perspective to education in Norfolk. It’s pockets of success here and there. Take care of my ward here and there. 4. How about the Pilot endorsing and supporting family and neighborhood level initiatives to take ownership of education at home and in the community? How about the Pilot advocating for choice schools, economically integrated schools, regional cooperation where those who work in Norfolk can school in Norfolk and vice versa in other places?
Same small vision; same results.
No disagreement there. But who should be undertaking that? Given that all of the power rests with council, I’d say the buck stops there.
The Pilot can advocate for anything – but until and unless we elect those who have the vision to implement them, all the advocacy in the world won’t make up for it.