Joii West Goodman

Independent candidate

How can Buckingham County increase its student Standards of Learning scores to become a fully accredited school division with fully accredited schools?

It will take us on a united front as a community to be serious about the success of our children and community to ensure accreditation, consistency and accountability.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing Buckingham’s schools and how do you intend to address it?

There are many challenges facing our schools, children and community.

These issues are not simply relegated to the Buckingham community. One of our largest challenge is consistency with our schools being accredited.

This is not just something that affects our children, teachers and staff but also our community. In order to address this challenges I would bring together community agencies, business and churches with a strategy of early childhood developmental program with a concentration on reading and math skills.

Months ago, Division Superintendent Dr. Cecil Snead said that the division’s cafeterias were losing money. What steps need to be taken to improve financial stability for the division’s cafeterias?

Well, that is a problem that many school divisions in Virginia and across the country have faced. There are reports of schools that have 90 percent of their students on free or reduced lunch.

It will take a concerted effort on the part of the leadership with input from teachers and parents to solve this challenge.

I am about bringing people together to affect positive committed service.

Last summer, the school board voted to enact a policy calling for the random drug testing of students participating in extracurricular and athletic activities. Do you see value in this new policy?

I am a veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry as a combat medic as well as a certified and licensed occupational therapy practitioner, so I know full well the importance of individual rights of privacy.

On this issue I believe that the safety of our children, teachers and staff is of the [utmost] importance. So there is definite value in any policy that will protect our educational culture.

Independent candidate Russell P. “Pete” Gowin did not respond.