Amid a heated national political season, Prince Edward County voted overwhelmingly for a major change in the governance of its public school system. More than 76 percent of county voters who participated in a referendum chose to switch the Prince Edward County School Board from an appointed body to an elected one.

The current system involves a series of steps whereby a citizens committee selects candidates from which the Prince Edward Board of Supervisors votes to appoint.

With Tuesday’s election, that system will be phased out in favor of direct elections. According to Prince Edward Registrar Lynette Wright, of the 8,350 citizens who participated in the referendum, 6,369 picked “yes.”

“I’m cautiously optimistic that this will stir excitement in our community, and that folks who have felt silenced by the system will now be given an opportunity to serve,” said Heather Edwards, one of the parents who helped spearhead the petition movement that put the referendum on the ballot.

Former Prince Edward County School Board Chair Russell Dove is another open supporter of the change.

He said he hopes the community will become more involved with the election process and more committed to supporting the schools, bringing about increased support for programs and more opportunities for students.

Current School Board Chair Sherry Honeycutt said she foresees the board “becoming more ‘agenda-driven’ by individuals with specific items they support.”

Though Dove agreed that could happen, he said he has become “increasingly concerned or suspicious of the motives of some (members) of the appointed body and for the commitment for the success of schools.”

Regardless of how members are appointed, he said, what’s important is the individual’s motivation to be on the board and his or her skill set.

At the end of the day,” Dove said, “the schools still face the same challenges, you still have a pretty high poverty rate in the county, high staff turnover and until those issues are dealt with or addressed adequately, whether they are elected or appointed, the elected person’s not going to have any sort of real impact on that.”

Dove said he still believes Superintendent Dr. Barbara Johnson will do a good job for the division in her leadership role, regardless of the board selection process. 

Honeycutt said she foresees the board and its members being affected by the change, especially during budget season.

“By running for school board, I can see my time spent on school business being diminished in order to run for office. I feel this would be a disservice to the job to which I have taken an oath to serve,” she said.

Edwards said she hopes to see many of the current school board members run and continue to serve, if elected.

“Some continuity will be important,” she said. “Several other people worked harder to organize this effort and circulate petitions than I did — they are the ones who deserve a pat on the back. I’m grateful that the outcome of the vote was definitive. This is clearly what a majority of voters wanted to see happen.”

Honeycutt had a message for future board members.

“When you take that oath of office to serve as a Prince Edward County School Board member, you realize that you owe your allegiance, time, commitment and to hear every single child and family of this county,” she said.

Honeycutt said she hopes voters keep in mind their vote represents the future direction of the entire county.

Edwards pointed out, because such a large percentage of tax dollars go toward public education, the county has a responsibility to support the governing board of the schools. This is even more important now, she said, because supervisors will no longer have the power to appoint representatives from their district. In the case of no candidates for an election, citizens will be faced with write-in votes, similar to what happened in Cumberland County this year.

Dove asked for citizens to “get involved, because what happens in Prince Edward County school systems, whether you have children or grandchildren, it impacts your community. The success of the school systems is directly tied to the success of the community.”

He advised people not to shrug off the local election between presidential election years.

“Now that the opportunity is there, take advantage of it,” Dove said.

Looking forward, Wright said the Registrar’s Office doesn’t know yet how the election process will play out in regard to staggered elections, terms and how soon residents can expect to see those changes in play at the polls. Currently, appointments are staggered.

“We’ve got the lawyers working it right now because it’s never existed in Prince Edward,” she said.

In Cumberland County, where the elected school board was first approved in 2004, there wasn’t an elected school board member until four years later.

Buckingham County saw a three-year gap between its referendum approval and a school board election on the ballot.