If it ain’t broke…
Ken Odor
Jun 24, 2008

It will be interesting to see the result of the school board appointments at tonight’s (June 25) Board of Supervisors meeting.

What was most likely seen as a routine re-appointment of long serving veteran school board member Sue Watson for the Ashland seat became a news story last week, when e-mails circulated stating that first term Ashland supervisor Ed Via had told Watson he would not support her.

This prompted the local press to delve into the matter to see what could be found out, and also at least one area commentator to urge consideration of the broader question of elected versus appointed school boards, Hanover being one of the few counties in Virginia that still appoints school board members.

All in all, a great thing for us folks in the media. Handed a topic of great interest to the readership, where the outcome is in doubt, local reporters went to work to write the story, and to try to find out the motives of the actors in the story.

One wonders why there might be a movement to bring Watson’s long and successful tenure on the county school board to an end, absent any evidence of poor performance, and considering the overwhelming public support shown her at the last meeting’s public hearing.

To this observer, it seems like a clear case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

As far as the larger question of how school board members are chosen, the commentator made a few extremely vague references to things not going well with Hanover schools, without naming any specifics, and urged Hanover to consider an elected school board.

Via made it clear to the Local that he would not reveal his choice until the June 25 meeting, after making a somewhat ambiguous statement at the close of the public hearing at the June 11 meeting, which, if parsed one way, seemed to tell Watson supporters not to worry.

Hanover traditionally gives great weight to the will of the supervisor whose district is involved in appointments, as it should. In this case, one must hope Via will throw his support behind Watson.

But if he does not, the remaining six supervisors should step in with their votes and see to it that she is re-appointed anyway.

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