School Board races shaping up

Henrico voters will select all five members of the county’s School Board in November, and they’ll choose at least two new faces; Brookland District member Bev Cocke and Tuckahoe District member Bill Pike are vacating their seats.

Candidates still may file to seek a School Board seat through June 11. Beginning with this issue, the Citizen will profile candidates for the five seats on the board. In this issue: candidates for the Fairfield and Three Chopt district seats.

Three Chopt District – Micky Ogburn
For veteran teacher and current board member Micky Ogburn, the opportunity to continue her work with another term was just too exciting to turn down.

“I’ve thought long and hard. I’m in my fifth year on the school board and I just got to the point where working with our new superintendent, I felt re-energized,” Ogburn said.

Ogburn’s experience as a teacher has helped her understand the concerns that school staff face, she said. She could relate to the need for more lesson planning time, which is why she and the board currently are in the process of instituting a planning period every day for elementary teachers.

“When teachers come and they talk to you about what their challenges are. . . I have an ability to understand what they’re saying ‘cause I’ve been there, and I think it’s a little bit more difficult, if you’ve never taught, to really understand the life of a teacher,” Ogburn explained.

Ogburn has been particularly excited about getting the new J.R. Tucker High School built, as well as creating the Gifted Young Scholars Academy at Douglas L. Wilder Middle School. The gifted center, Ogburn said, came from a survey a few years ago that revealed that many Henrico parents wanted spots for gifted education, especially at the middle school level.

Ogburn also hopes to continue to put an emphasis on keeping school facilities up to date and renovated, as well as focusing on STEAM education in classrooms. She says the school board is also aiming to have a reading teacher in every elementary school, which could provide teachers with key planning time they’re currently missing.

As a School Board veteran, Ogburn knows the job isn’t always easy. Although she has been working with vocal parents, she says she still hasn’t found a solution to the disagreement about the board’s discontinuation of funding to the MathScience Innovation Center.

“I feel like maybe we could have been a little more out-there with what we were doing,” Ogburn said. “I thought the message was getting out but obviously it wasn’t.”

For now, Ogburn said she’s aiming to be as accessible as possible, while keeping her campaign for the upcoming term separate from her current role.

With her son as campaign manager, her husband as campaign treasurer and her kitchen table as campaign headquarters, Ogburn says her family has given their full support to her campaign to continue on the board.

“We have so many new initiatives with programming and STEAM education,” Ogburn said. “I think things are really exciting right now and I just didn’t feel like I was done.”

Fairfield District – Keith W. Hicks
When Keith Hicks wanted to learn more about Henrico’s schools, he didn’t just do some research – he took matters into his own hands and spent 2014-2015 substituting in Fairfield district schools.

It was this experience that helped Hicks become acquainted with the specific needs of Henrico students and teachers.

When Hicks moved to Fairfield 20 years ago, he said he noticed a difference between Glen Allen and Fairfield district schools. For example, Fairfield, Brookland, Glen Lea, Ratcliffe and Wilder are the only Henrico schools that are “accredited with conditions,” and not fully accredited.

“Every year, these schools, especially Ratcliffe – they’re falling behind. Once my daughter graduated from Henrico High, I said it’s time for me to do something to help these underperforming schools do better,” Hicks said.

Part of Hicks’s platform is adding instructional assistance to underperforming classrooms, particularly SOL classes, which would provide teachers time to move forward, while assistants work with the students who are working to catch up.

He also wants to see increased pay for substitute teachers, because Hicks feels that low pay fails to attract the best candidates for the positions.

“In 2019, you’re not going to get the best and the brightest to substitute in the classroom with $85 a day,” Hicks explained. “If you put a substitute teacher in there, they’re babysitting.”

Another thing that frustrates Hicks is the diversion of meal tax revenues. Although Henrico has received more than a five-percent increase in revenues from the meal tax, he doesn’t believe enough of it has been used to fund projects in the Fairfield District.

“They’re giving teachers a raise, which is great, teachers do need a raise, but the Fairfield District needs so much more,” Hicks said.

Hicks cited the MathScience Innovation Center as an example of a School Board decision that particularly frustrated him.

“It’s located in the Fairfield District. Low-income kids can ride their bicycle to the science center on a Saturday,” Hicks explained. To Hicks, the MSiC’s assets, like a 20,000 gallon tank and NASA programs, simply can’t be divided amongst 60 district sch-ools.

“To me, that’s why I’m running. Because I cannot sit back and just allow the School Bo-ard to make a short-sighted decision, in my opinion, not to fund anything that has the word ‘innovation’ in it,” he said.

Hicks hopes to use his business background to help get companies involved in schools as community engagement. He worked as a business analyst for Thompson Technologies before taking his current position as an instructional assistant with Richmond Public Schools.

“Companies want to get involved, but they have to have a leader approach them with a plan,” Hicks explained. “I really haven’t met any business leader that doesn’t want a school system to succeed.”

But while Hicks says he has no problem going to local businesses to ask for donations, he’s envisioning larger-scale involvement for the big companies like Dominion, Wells Fargo and SunTrust. He envisions an apprenticeship program where students can get hands-on training from local businesses.

“If we’re going to spend Henrico County taxpayer dollars, then the kids who are involved in the specialty centers should be a part of those projects,” Hicks explained.

He supports expansion of programs that allow students to receive on-the-job training from businesses, which he believes can provide unquantifiable learning opportunities.

“You can’t even put a dollar value on it,” Hicks said.

For Hicks, a term on the School Board would mean putting teachers in charge.

“They don’t work for me, I work for them,” he said. “Whatever you need, I’m going to get it. That’s just the bottom line. I’m not a principal, I’m not a teacher; I’m here to ensure that you get what you need.”

For teachers, that could include extra money for tutoring or Saturday school for their students. Hicks wants to see innovative thinking for the Fairfield District and the provision of a level playing field for students below the poverty line.

“You have to be tired of being sick and tired,” Hicks said. “We have an obligation as adults to provide the opportunity so that every child, every child can be successful.”