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By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON
Rappahannock New* Staff Writer
“Over the years, I’ve made decisions that were mistakes and I’ve made many decisions that I feel were correct, but they were all made with the best of intentions and they were all what I considered best for Rappahannock County,” said Supervisor Newbill Miller, prefacing his nomination of Bryant Lee as Hampton District’s representative to the School Board. Unanimously endorsed on Monday by Mr. Miller’s fellow board members, Mr. Lee will serve a four-year term, replacing Randall Updike who declined to accept reappointment.
At a public hearing two weeks ago, five people asked to be appointed in Mr. Updike’s place: former teachers Diane Wood, Camille Harris and Peter Kreyling, orchardist Alex Sharp and parent and school volunteer Sarah Brown. And while Wakefield Supervisor Hubert Gilkey nominated incumbent Paul Nichols for another term as the representative from his district, Mr. Miller did not then name Mr. Lee as a possible appointment from Hampton.
On Monday, Mr. Miller reported that he’d “seriously considered” four people for the School Board vacancy and had not made a final decision until after July 4th.
A School Board member does not have to be a college graduate, does not have to have children and having children, does not have to send them to the public schools, he contended. But a School Board member must be “honest, fair and courageous” and have “ability and a commitment to a good educational system for Rappahannock County,” Mr. Miller said. And selecting a person who was not mentioned at the public hearing “is neither improper nor unethical,” he added.
Reading from a prepared statement, the former School Board member maintained that those on the School Board who disagree with a project or course of action put forward by school supporters are “immediately branded as anti-education by a vocal minority.” The children of those School Board members are likewise subjected to pressures, he added.
While pointing to higher scores on standardized tests as evidence of improvements in Rappahannock’s public schools, Mr. Miller maintained that the schools and the
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