Editor:

This letter is in response to the article in the Nov. 16 edition of The Farmville Herald titled “School board addresses FOIA.”

My thanks to Dr. Wilkie Chaffin and the school board members who voted for his proposal to bring increased transparency to the school board of Prince Edward County. The school system of Prince Edward County has had a dismal record of scholastic achievement and over the last six years has lost approximately 20 percent of the number of students attending even though the population of the county has not significantly decreased during that time. This loss of students has resulted in decreased funding from state and federal coffers, and Prince Edward County citizens have suffered increased taxes to make up the difference.

Prince Edward citizens have not been satisfied with the performance of the school system, resulting in the recent vote by county citizens to have elected school boards in the future rather than appointment of these board members by county supervisors.

Apparently, Board Chair Sherry Honeycutt did not get the message from the voters in the recent election when she voted against Dr. Chaffin’s proposal. In the event that she decides to run for election in the next cycle, hopefully the voters will decide that transparency is important and elect someone else.

Sam Campbell

Pamplin