School Board Election: Blue Ridge

In the Blue Ridge District, Loudoun County Public Schools teacher Jill Turgeon has challenged incumbent Priscilla Godfrey for school board. The two offered their views during last week’s Loudoun Chamber of Commerce School Board Forum.

When asked LCPS would continue to receive increased funding as the population continues to grow, Godfrey said the school board has carefully watched every cent it has received and said the school system ranked among the most efficient in the region.

“I think we are watching the pennies and counting every dime,” she said, but added that it will difficult to continue to maintain success if salaries stagnate as enrollment rises. “In my mind that is not sustainable.”

Turgeon said that as a teacher she understands there are ways to get by without having the all of the latest and greatest supplemental gadgets.

“As a teacher in the classroom, I see the implications of the budgets being shrunk from year to year, but give our teachers a little credit,” she said. “We’ve been able to deal without a lot of the extras. We need to step back and look at what we really need to educate our children.”

Turgeon said the school budget has increased at nearly four times the rate of population growth in recent years.

“As a teacher, we don’t need a lot of the gadgets,” she said. “I utilize them, but we can do better.”

The next question, related directly to Turgeon’s previous response, asking candidates the best way to stay up-to-date on technology without breaking the bank.

“We don’t need to be educating using that technology 100 percent of the time,” Turgeon said, inviting parents to ask their children’s teachers just how much they use items like interactive white board. “A lot of the technology that we see in the classroom, they are there for a presentation. That’s not how it works every day in the classroom.”

Godfrey said that digital formats are the basis for more and more items in the curriculum, including standardized test, which soon will given electronically.

“The state of Virginia is going to be going totally online with their standardized tests,” she said, adding that students are going to need better access to tools than sharing computers in a lab. “I do believe in the power of computers in leveling the playing field.”

By providing devices for all students, Godfrey said, those who cannot afford their own are not left behind and the entire school advances.

When asked about the school system’s relationships with institutions of higher learning, Godfrey pointed to a county program in which students that first attend community college and succeed are promised a spot at George Mason University.

“We have good relationships with universities and colleges and we hope to expand them,” she said.

Turgeon said she’s concerned that the school system has been too focused on higher education and not focused enough on career paths for students who are not college-bound.

“I’ve been concerned with the mentality,” she said. “Not all of our students who are in school now are headed toward college. We need to work with some tradesmen. I don’t think our students are exposed enough to what’s out there.”

When asked about school choice and whether the county should expand its options, including offering charter schools, Turgeon turned her focus back to high achievers.

“The big issue is choice, parent choice about education,” she said, adding that people typically think of charter schools targeting low-income areas. “Right now, there’s not enough emphasis on our gifted students. That’s a population we really need to look at and that’s what charter schools can bring us.”

Godfrey pointed to existing options for Loudoun students from foreign exchange programs and business partnerships to online options and magnet schools. Loudoun students now have access to the U.S. Navy JROTC, the Monroe Technology Center, the Academy of Science and Fairfax County-based magnet school Thomas Jefferson for Science and Technology.

“We already have four specialty schools,” she said, adding that students have array of options behind that.

“Four or five of our high schools have been around the world establishing sister schools in China,” Godfrey said. “Our students go there, their students come here, and that is really broadening the horizons for our students.”