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A small crowd turned out Monday night at Roger Hedgepeth Town Council Chambers in Blacksburg for the final of three candidate forums which highlighted those running for the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors and the county school board.
The forum, which was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County and co-sponsored by the Montgomery County/Radford City/Floyd County Branch of the NAACP, the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, and Blacksburg High School Government Classes, allowed each of the candidates to talk about themselves and their respective offices, including answering questions submitted by the audience. Those in attendance last night included Board of Supervisor candidates Incumbent Doug Marrs (R) of District B, no opposition; Incumbent Steve Spradlin (R) and William “Bill” Brown (D) of District E; Incumbent Mary Biggs (D) of District F, no opposition; and Incumbent John Muffo of District G, no opposition.Those attending from the School Board included, Incumbent Penny Franklin of District B, no opposition; write-in candidates Joe Ivers and Kelly Harrison, both from District F and Incumbent Wendell Jones of District E, no opposition.Carl McDaniels served as the Moderator for last night’s forum. Each candidate was given two (2) minutes to make an opening statement, which was followed by each candidate having another two minutes to respond to three questions submitted to them by the League of Women Voters, as well as questions from the audience.The three questions from the League, which were directed to the Board of Supervisors were. 1) What are your priorities for the next four years on the BOS? 2) How can the BOS and Blacksburg Town Council work together for the most beneficial use of the old Blacksburg High School? 3) With the rapid growth and development in the county, how can the BOS work cooperatively to preserve open space and protect the environment? As to his priorities for the next four years, Spradlin said, “Health and Safety issues, Education and Economic Development. While Brown said, “We need to bridge the gap in communications between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board. In addition, we need to have better planning in our government and better teacher salaries.” The League also directed a trio of questions to the school board as well. Those included, 1) If you could give the Montgomery County school system a grade, what would that grade be? 2) How can the School Board and Blacksburg Town Council work together for the most beneficial use of the old Blacksburg High School? 3) Please describe the change you think the school system should make over the next ten years to keep pace with societal changes? Harris, Franklin and Jones graded the schools from a B-minus to a B, respectively. Meanwhile, Ivers rated the school system a C. The reasoning behind the low grade from Ivers was based on the fact that the school board does not support their teachers.“We are decades behind in building new facilities and we have a serious drug problems in our schools,” said Franklin. “We also need better compensation for all of our employees in the school systems from our teachers all the way down to our aides and custodial staff.” Some of the questions from the audience aimed at the BOS included, 1) Do you favor raising county taxes to fund teacher salaries? And, How do you feel about the BOS and the PSA (Public Service Authority) being the same members? Questions directed to the School Board dealt with SOL issues and if there was racial tension in our schools. “Yes, we do have racial tensions in our schools,” said Franklin. Those same feelings were echoed by Jones, Ivers and Harrison. All four agreed that the county needs to take action in creating ways to develop programs in dealing with these issues. Photos by David Grimes
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