[Sly Fox]

The townfolk are going to love this move:

Lynchburg school board appoints new member

By Annie McCallum
amccallum@newsadvance.com
June 27, 2007

In a move that surprised some education officials, Lynchburg City Council on Tuesday voted not to reappoint school board vice chairman Thomas Webb to a new term.

In a 3-2 vote, council members instead appointed Liberty University professor Darin Gerdes to replace Webb. Council also, as expected, reappointed school board member Albert Billingsly to a new term and named Mary Ann Barker to replace board member Charles Hooks, who did not seek a new term.

"I'm just shocked," said school board chairwoman Julie Doyle, who was unaware of the change in Webb's position when reached at her home Tuesday evening.

School board members are appointed by City Council to serve three-year terms; it is unusual for council not to reappoint an incumbent seeking a new term.

Click Here for Full Story

[El Scorcho]

UH OH!

That's trouble! Oy. I mean, the guy has a right to run, but with the background of the incumbent this is going to be taken in a very hostile manner. Wow. On the other hand, with the incumbent having been in local education for 28 years, perhaps it was time for a change. I highly doubt most people are going to see it that way, though.

[Hold My Own]

I'm lovin' it

[ATrain]

The citizenry isn't too happy

[Libertine]

They never are. Haven't been since April 13th, 1861.

[Cider Jim]

And Gerdes is probably in favor of the LU monogram. Anyway, I'm doing for Gerdes.

[shukcb04]

And Gerdes is probably in favor of the LU monogram. Anyway, I'm doing for Gerdes.

lol, how much weight have you lost over the past couple weeks doing

[BJWilliams]

Dr Gerdes is a good friend of mine from my high school. He joined the faculty there just after I graduated but I came around to visit and got to know him since he taught my younger sister for her last three years there. I was thrilled when he came on the faculty at Liberty and I am very happy to see him get this position. Surprised, but definitely happy. BTW, have you met his wife? Ay Chihuahua...now THAT's marrying up.

[El Scorcho]

So, does anyone have any answers as to why city council decided to make this change? I don't think it would have happened with the full council being present to vote, but all the same, it's certainly a significant change. I'm not entirely convinced it was a good thing to do, LU prof or not.

[Libertine]

I don't think it makes much impact at all other than budget estimates and the hiring / firing of the superintendent. The Va SOLs have pretty much rendered local school boards obsolete.

[Purple Haize]

There had to be some type of schicanery going on. I would like to see who voted for what. Tom Webb is a HIGHLY respected educator. He would have been the last person on the board that I would have said was "replaced". I believe Bill S said it best about a rotten smell in Denmark. I am more upset/shocked/suprised/startled that he was let go not so much who replaced him. Maybe Tom just didn't want a house with a swimming pool?

[El Scorcho]

I am more upset/shocked/suprised/startled that he was let go not so much who replaced him.

I think (and hope) that's the general consensus. It doesn't seem that anyone really cares about Gerdes, but more that council replaced Webb. Seems like a stupid move on the council's part to me, but I guess we'll find out just how stupid.

[Sly Fox]

Without even knowing any of the characters involved in this situation, I can tell you that politics can get very ugly. And school politics can be particularly nasty.

[Purple Haize]

So I read in the article that not even the whole board/council was there to vote and that there was an understanding that the issue would be tabled till August. I wonder if any of the three members voting for removal have any commonalities. hmmmmmm

[Sly Fox]

Here's a follow-up:

Lynchburg School Board's newest members ready for 'next level'

By Annie McCallum
amccallum@newsadvance.com
June 29, 2007

They both are civic-minded Lynchburg residents, proud parents and community members who say they just want to become more involved. Mary Ann Barker and Darin Gerdes are the city school board’s newest faces.

The controversy surrounding Gerdes’ appointment - he replaces board vice chairman Thomas Webb - has shifted focus away from why the two new board members pursued their positions.

Click Here for Full Story

[ALUmnus]

I don't know how many people have been following this, but the letters about the whole school board fiasco have not let up for a single day since it's happened, and now they're starting to turn their attention to Darin Gerdes, going on the attack. Webb must have had tons of friends, because the number of people outraged by this is unreal.

http://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... 7671213581

[LUconn]

Web site antics
I followed the suggestion of a recent letter writer and went to the student Web site of Darin Gerdes, who was controversially appointed to the School Board recently.
He is from New Jersey and he states that morals and ethics are low in that state. He also asserts that the women there have larger moustaches “than I could hope to grow.”

Hilarious. Man, I say we vote this guy to mayor or something.

[TDDance234]

Surprisingly, not much hatred being spewed at Liberty. I expected much more from Lynchburg--not even one monogram comment!

Pishaw.

[BJWilliams]

I can just feel the love from the city over this one...(starts singing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" from The Lion King)

[PAmedic]

more on this one:

http://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... 4811&path=

Garrett speaks out on Gerdes


By Matt Busse
mbusse@newsadvance.com
July 5, 2007

Lynchburg City Councilman Scott Garrett on Thursday defended his recent controversial vote to appoint Liberty University professor Darin Gerdes to the city school board.
Speaking to 100 people at Peakland United Methodist Church, Garrett reiterated reasons he has given since the June 26 vote, saying Gerdes brings business and financial expertise to the school board.

[Fumblerooskies]

It's pretty sad when one's signature becomes longer than one's posts....

[SuperJon]

I just thought the same.

[RagingTireFire]

Unfortunately, Webb was the real deal. A highly-qualified guy with a great work ethic and in it for the right reasons. It wasn't Gerdes decision on who to replace but it's sad that the guy that got put out was the kind of person I'm sure Gerdes would have wanted to work with.

[El Scorcho]

I really do hate that it's come to taking shots at Gerdes when the anger really should be focused on the council. Gerdes didn't do anything wrong outside of exercising his rights as an American to participate in local politics.

[LUconn]

As predicted, this issue has moved from the "outrage" of Webb not being reappointed, to Gerdes and his personal beliefs.

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... ws!letters!

City can do better

I write to present facts about Lynchburg’s newest member of our School Board, Darin Gerdes.
All these facts have been drawn directly from text on Mr. Gerdes’ Web site, http://home.regent.edu/dariger.
According to his resume online, Darin Gerdes has never held a teaching or administrative position in a public school system.
He has taught in a private school named Stonebridge. From the school’s Web site, it was established “to restore the Christian character of the Republic.” During his five years teaching at this school, the school graduated a total of 79 students.
He received his B.A. from Liberty University, and his M.A., M.B.A., and Ph.D. from Regent University (founded by Pat Robertson.) None of his degrees is in the field of education. He lists no experience in managing a for-profit or nonprofit business on his resume.
The following excerpts from the academic papers section of his Web site speak to his educational and social philosophy:
“The multiculturalists are actively working on making a number of historical shifts in the history books. They want to tell history from the feminine perspective since it was written by men or they want to tell it from the Afrocentrist perspective because it was written by white men. Like Marx, these revisionists wish to fabricate a history that suits their objectives and meets their social and political goals.” (From “An Examination of Postmodernism”)
Lynchburg can and will do far better than this. His appointment was a mistake and should be reversed.

ROB VAUGHN
Lynchburg




A ‘recess appointment’

I want to express my disappointment in my Ward IV representative, Joe Seiffert, for the underhanded way that he, Jeff Helgeson and Scott Garrett appointed Darin Gerdes to the School Board.
I would never have thought that an appointment as important as that of a member to the School Board would be done with two members of the City Council absent. From everything I have read and understood from talking to various people connected to this sad event, this was a “Bush recess appointment,” the only way to get someone on the School Board who would perhaps not have been approved, for obvious reasons, if all the City Council members had been present. And why would they want to replace Thomas Webb, who was held in high enough regard to have been elected vice chairman of the School Board? As the excellent editorial in the local newspaper pointed out, we still have no answer to this essential question.
In addition to my shock at the way the appointment was made, I find disturbing that these three City Council members have put on a public school board a man whose higher education (at Liberty University founded by Jerry Falwell and Regent University founded by Pat Robertson) and eight years of teaching have all been at institutions with Bible-driven religion right philosophies.
The religious right has consistently and aggressively sought to discredit and undermine public education and challenged the very notion of a free public education for all Americans. It has a goal of infiltrating public institutions with members who will push its biblical agenda. Which makes the fact that Gerdes ran for City Council in Virginia Beach in 2004 even more interesting! Therefore I question the motives of those involved in putting Gerdes, a creature of the religious right, on a public school board.
Garrett, for one, keeps trying to justify his vote by claiming that Gerdes, whom he had not even met before, brings business and financial expertise to the School Board. It is time to put this deception to rest: Gerdes has no such expertise whatsoever. Diplomas in no way equate with experience.
Naturally I have also to disagree with Councilman Bert Dodson’s remark that “education is education, whether private or public.” Private and public educations cease to be similar if and when religion is introduced into the mix. Public schools teach evolution, a science central to all modern biology teachings and do not propagate the farce that the Earth is 6,000 years old. Biblical schools teach creation science or intelligent design, which are both faith-based fairy tales. That is a huge difference.
As a result, I sincerely hope Darin Gerdes will have the decency to resign to allow this festering wound to heal. That would be the Christian thing to do.

BETSY GRZYBOWSKI
Lynchburg

Man, Grzybowski drops the bomb shell. I'd love to see her walk into the biology offices at LU and say that outloud.