BRISTOL, Va. – After four terms on the city School Board, Randy White said the job of education might be more difficult than ever. So White, 65, is seeking another four-year term in the May 4 election.
He is one of two incumbents and three challengers seeking three spots on the board. Others on the ballot include incumbent Eric Clark and challengers Randy Alvis, John Iskra and Beth Rhinehart.
“It’s [education] become more and more of a challenge. It’s much harder now than it ever was [because of] the money and the whole attitude toward education,” said White, a career teacher. “I don’t want to just sit around and say it’s out of my hands or there’s nothing I can do about it. It was my career. It was my life.”
White said this year’s expected reductions in state funding likely will create additional hardships.
“It’s going to get worse and worse. We’re going to have less money and be expected to do more. Our electricity bills are going to continue to go up, textbooks are horrendously expensive, athletics, transportation, everything,” White said.
White supports making the city’s aging school buildings more energy efficient, but worries such money-saving measures could prove too expensive to implement.
In addition, the division is actively seeking a new central office building to replace its 100-year-old structure, which doesn’t meet federal standards for accessibility.
“We have no choice. We have got to get a new central office, and it couldn’t happen at a worse time,” White said, adding that it’s long been discussed. “In hindsight, when we had the money, we should have spent it. We didn’t. Other things were considered a higher priority and we could make do.”
Despite difficult circumstances, White said he still believes public education can be effective.
“I don’t have all the answers, but I certainly know what’s not going to work,” he said. “I hate that it’s become so political. It’s almost adversarial.”
White is a native of Columbus, Ohio, and his family has extensive ties to this region; he earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Emory & Henry College, then was an art major at Ohio University and earned his master’s degree in education from Union College in Kentucky.
The candidate began his teaching career in Ohio, but moved back to Southwest Virginia after four years.
“Emory & Henry is where I met my former wife. I went back to Ohio for a few years, got married and I wanted to live here because I thought this was a great community. And, if I’m going to have kids, I want to raise them in a nice, safe, good environment,” White said.
He spent about 20 years at Virginia High School and another 20 at John S. Battle High School, raising a daughter along the way, before retiring in 2008.
dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement