|
Barbara Waldeck: Seeking first full term
General Election 2007
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
 | | Barbara Waldeck |
|
HOT SPRINGS - Retired teacher Barbara Waldeck joined the school board early this year as the appointed representative of the Valley Springs district. She replaced former member Sarah Redington, who resigned early from her elected term.
"After 34 years in education, I have observed enough to know good education practices," she says.
From a personal perspective, she has five grandchildren who will be educated in Bath County Public Schools, she adds.
With less than a year on the board, Waldeck says she is already familiar with the long budget process. She has attended a dozen board meetings and one district and one state Virginia School Board Association meeting since joining the board Feb. 7.
"I am totally committed to this community," she says.
Waldeck taught for 28 years in the Bath system - two terms at Valley Elementary and the remainder teaching math and science at the high school.
A school board member's primary function is to represent constituents of the district, says Waldeck. The board itself is primarily a policy forming body, she adds.
Waldeck spends a lot of time prior to board meetings doing research. "I like to read the agenda and information provided," she says. Then she also searches five or six other school divisions to see whether they are facing similar issues. If possible, she also likes to consult state law, and the Virginia School Board Association. She has called school board offices in adjacent school divisions to discuss upcoming issues.
"Before each meeting I invest a minimum of 3-10 hours' research," Waldeck says.
For questions about potential conflicts of interest, Waldeck says she would consult a private attorney or the school board attorney. She says she knows board members can't vote to hire a relative or give anyone with whom they are financially linked an advantage.
Waldeck says she was reared in a home where her father taught her that the words American, Christian and Republican all meant the same thing. From an early age, she says, she learned to be involved in church and local politics.
Her main weakness is her tendency to believe everything she is told, she says. The many hours of research is one way she compensates for this. "I tend to be a perfectionist and expect it in others," she adds.
As a new board member she says she has been "admonished our role is not to micro-manage," though she admits she would like to be more involved at the school level.
"It has taken four months to begin to understand how to gather data and make requests to present to other board members," Waldeck says.
She points to the Bath's state composite index rating of 0.8 as automatically creating problems with paying for the schools since much of the expense for education must be provided locally. "No school division will ever have enough money," she said, adding she believes the Bath school budget is well-managed. Any public budget is open under Freedom of Information, she says, and anything the school board spends is processed through the county treasurer's office.
"Currently our community is deeply and genuinely concerned that we develop, implement, and follow discipline plans that treat all people equally," Waldeck says, noting this issue is a major concern for the coming board.
She adds that "every public and private study that has been conducted on Bath County schools in the last decade tells us we have a communication problem within our school system."
The two issues are linked, she says, because the public perception of discipline problems "can often be more real than the truth." Better communication can help solve problems with public perception, she says.
The goal, Waldeck added, is to "make our schools nurturing, productive learning environments."
| 
)