ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – Roanoke City Council appointed two members to the Roanoke City School Board just last week. The city is one of twelve localities in the commonwealth that still appoints its school boards, rather than hold elections, which other Virginia communities do.
Over the years, state lawmakers have pushed to require all school boards in Virginia to be elected versus appointed. Aside from Roanoke, a few of our other hometowns, including Salem, Lynchburg and Martinsville, also appoint members, so we wanted to check in with them and ask why that is.
WDBJ7 spoke with members of Roanoke and Lynchburg City Council, who said appointing school boards allows them to find the best, most qualified people to hone in on what their experience, wisdom and skill sets are…