Sunday, February 15, 2009
Time for a gut-check at city hall
Dan Radmacher
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From the RoundTable blog
David Bowers needs to find a quiet place and ask himself a serious question: Why, honestly, did he want to become mayor of Roanoke again?
Is it just the self-important feeling of the title, the office and the gavel? Does he like eating chicken dinners at banquets? Does he get a kick out of marching in parades?
If the honest answer to those questions is yes -- and I'm no mind reader, but I suspect it is -- then Bowers should do all Roanoke a favor and concentrate on the ceremonial aspects of the office and leave the actual governing of the city to others.
But if I'm wrong and he ran because he wants to lead the city and help make it a better place, then his time is now. A crisis like the one facing city schools cries out for genuine leadership, not just from the school board and administration -- which are delivering -- but from city council as well.
The grim facts are well known: The school system needs to slash about 10 percent of its budget, or about $15 million. And that's the best-case scenario. It could get worse.
The school board and Superintendent Rita Bishop have struggled mightily to put together an approach that, as school board Chairman David Carson explains in the commentary to the right, strives to protect children first, staff second and facilities last -- while doing as little long-term harm to the school's mission as possible.
The outlines of the plan put forth are painful. Schools will almost certainly need to be closed, which always distresses parents. Parents of former Forest Park Elementary School students were so distraught when their school was closed last year that they filed a federal complaint alleging the closing violated civil rights laws.
The board and administration have presented plans that, dispassionately, make sense. Under one plan, Raleigh Court, an aging facility that needs major, expensive upgrades, and William Ruffner Middle School, an underpopulated school, would both be closed. Under another plan, Ruffner, Raleigh Court, Fishburn Park Elementary School and Woodrow Wilson Middle School would all be affected. Raleigh Court and Fishburn students would use the Woodrow Wilson building, and Woodrow Wilson students would go to James Madison Middle School.
Facing an aging school bus fleet that will be expensive to maintain and upgrade, the school system is considering privatizing its bus operations -- a possibility that has bus drivers understandably nervous.
Administrators aren't immune, either. Bishop's office will take a very large personnel hit.
On top of all that, 100 teachers may need to be laid off to make the budget balance -- more, if the situation deteriorates further.
These are gut-wrenching, but necessary, choices. I sat across a table from Bishop and Carson as they laid out the situation to the editorial board. Their distress was palpable.
Both have been working hard to turn the Roanoke school system around, and they have made progress. This budget crisis could undo all their efforts and make recovery a nearly impossible task.
They are painfully aware of the consequences.
Which is why they do not need someone like Bowers shouting at them from the sidelines, stirring up outrage but offering no constructive alternatives of his own.
"I fought the closing of our elementary schools in the '80s, I fought it in the '90s, I'll fight it this decade also," Bowers told Roanoke Times reporter David Harrison.
Bowers didn't say who he planned to fight, though. Whose fault does he think this is?
The school system is facing a situation completely out of its control. A national recession hit the state hard, forcing harsh budget cuts -- even to schools. The local economy is causing other revenue shortfalls.
The system can't increase its revenues. It must work with what it has.
Does Bowers believe Carson, Bishop and other school leaders want to do this? Does he believe they are making up the $15 million shortfall? If not, does he have any better ideas to address it?
Now's the time to deliver those ideas. Failing that, it's time for cool, calm leadership that will help school leaders make the case to city residents and usher through necessary changes with as much understanding and cooperation as possible.
In either case, if he is incapable of working with school leaders productively and constructively, then Bowers should keep quiet and go find a parade to march in.
Radmacher is the editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times.
