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Veteran educators squaring off

October 22, 2007 12:35 am

BY KAREN BOLIPATA

Two veteran educators are running for the Spotsylvania County School Board's Battlefield District seat, a position Charles Cowsert is leaving to try for the Board of Supervisors.

Nathaniel Young, 67, is a former Fredericksburg School Board member and high school teacher. Linda Wieland, 52, taught in Spotsylvania for 30 years.

Young, pastor of Beulah Baptist Church in Woodford, said parents should be more involved with their children's education to improve academic achievement.

"The parents need to be made aware of the fact that they're basically responsible for their child's education, not the school system," Young said. "They need to work in partnership with the school system."

Schools should have a friendlier environment for parents and provide workshops or programs, he added. To encourage participation, some meetings could be held in the community, perhaps in centers or churches.

The honor roll should include all students with a 3.0 grade-point average, regardless of C's on their report cards. Currently, the county disqualifies students with C's.

The Fredericksburg School Board changed their honor-roll policy during Young's nine-year tenure.

"I think it's more inclusive," he said.

Wieland said joining the board would be a natural transition from a long teaching career.

"I have, for 30 years, fought for the kids in doing what's best for them," she said. "If I'm elected to the School Board, I will continue to do that because that's what the school business is all about."

She said she's concerned about the emphasis placed on standardized testing. As a parent and former teacher, she has been on both sides of the issue.

Her son feels he is being tested too much, Wieland said, yet she has administered the tests.

"I think we need to take good hard looks at what kinds of assessments we're doing with the children--are they all necessary?" she said. And the 100-percent-pass rate of No Child Left Behind in 2014 won't happen, she said.

"In a realistic society, not everybody is going to, no matter how hard we try," Wieland said. "But our job as educators is to channel those children, in my mind, to areas where they can succeed."

Both candidates want to expand the county's vocational training program.

The program hasn't been expanded since the county had two high schools, Young said. Now there are five.

Students who don't see themselves in college still may find high-paying jobs in the technology field, and vocational training would steer them in that direction, Young said.

"I think we need to get them involved somehow, that they can become productive citizens without becoming college graduates," he said.

As someone who already has experience on a school board, Young said he can offer the a different perspective. For example, he knows how to build schools. He helped oversee the construction of Walker-Grant Middle School as a Fredericksburg School Board member, and he's opposed to the Spotsylvania School Board being responsible for fixing Massaponax Church Road for Elementary 17.

"I just think that's ridiculous," Young said. "The school system should be in the business of educating children, not road building. And I think my experience will allow us to come to those conclusions."

Wieland admitted she has a lot to learn about running a school division, but she said she has classroom experience current board members don't have.

She can bring insight to issues involving teachers and students because she has seen them firsthand, Wieland said.

"I think number one I'm an advocate for the children, and the only way the children are going to succeed is if the teachers are well taken care of," she said.