June 16, 2008
Style has more on Wolf’s legacy
As news circulates that three-term School Board representative Carol A.O. Wolf failed to qualify for the November ballot, Style Weekly has details on her consistent advocacy for children with disabilities and for government accountability. Norma Murdoch-Kitt will be the only candidate on the ballot for the 3rd District School Board race; Murdoch-Kitt failed to qualify for the ballot last election and ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign against Wolf.
“I’m done,” says Wolf, emotional after discovering on Monday that 14 of her petition signers had been found not to meet the requirement of being registered voters in the 3rd precinct where she serves.
She says she will not mount a write-in campaign to retain her seat: “It’s not respectful of the system — of the process.”
“Ultimately, it’s me. I talked about accountability,” Wolf says, noting her eleventh-hour attempt to make the election filing deadline last Tuesday after losing a petition sheet full of names. Wolf congratulated Norma H. Murdoch-Kitt, who will now run unopposed for the seat.
During her three terms in office, Wolf pushed the school system to comply with federal with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Late last year, she was appointed as the lone member of a School Board subcommittee charged with finding money to help the school system comply with that law and a lawsuit settlement.
Most recently, Wolf lobbied City Council and Mayor L. Douglas Wilder for additional money to pay for improvements to bring the school system into ADA compliance.
Both versions of the budget (Wilder and Council are at odds over whose budget is legal) include $5 million earmarked exclusively for ADA improvements. That money is in addition to approximately $2 million Wolf’s subcommittee helped secure from other sources.
“I was a voice for responsibility and reform and I shall continue to be,” says Wolf.
Does Carol have a doctorate?? If so I say Carol A O Wolf for superintendent. Otherwise it is a very sad day for Richmond Public Schools. I am disgusted that the only fighter for students with disabilities will not be in office to see the schools come into compliance.
The parents of Richmond Public Schools lost a voice on the school board today. Not only did Carol represent her district well , she was the go to school board member for any parent. No parent concern was too small or too big for Carol to treat it as the most important concern. We could always count on Carol to follow through with these requests/concerns. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to say that about my school board member or any other.
What a huge loss for the students and parents of RPS. But I give a big round of applause to Carol and heartfelt thank you to her for the 6 yrs she has provided me and other parents a voice on our school board. By the way, isn’t that what the board members should be doing? Funny, they don’t. Why?
James, I agree. Carol Wolf has helped our family the most and she is not even our district School Board member. She has advocated for students all over town and she listens to the parents. She doesn’t blame students and parents for the failings of downtown administration.
And what about the audit? If it weren’t for Wolf and West, the rest of the School Board would have allowed RPS to continue ripping the public off. Remember the others didn’t think an audit was necessary.
Carol Wolf isn’t a cheerleader for RPS –we pay enough RPS employees to do that– she is a worker and a fighter trying to fix what is wrong or broken in the system.
We need more like her, otherwise, students and parents will have no one to turn to.
“She said several people encouraged her to mount a write-in campaign but she won’t decide before the first of next week.” From the TD http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-06-17-0037.html
Dear Friends & Citizens,
I need to decide by this coming Wednesday whether to mount a write-in campaign or to sit this one out and allow Norma Murdoch-Kitt to have a “walk-on” to serve as Northside’s School Board member for the next four years.
I have already heard from so many of you who have called, dropped by or sent e-mails urging me to battle on for a multitude of reasons. Many of you have offered to help.
Serving on School Board involves far more than simply representing one’s district, therefore I am asking to hear from citizens throughout the city. I would appreciate it if you could let me know what district you live in when you post a comment.
In addition to asking for your help with this decision, I would most appreciate hearing from citizens across the city concerning their thoughts are on what the SB’s priorities should be during the next few months leading up to election.
Please weigh in with what you think of the Richmond School Board and what you would like to see happen to improve the quality of education in the City of Richmond.
Respectfully,
Carol A.O. Wolf
Third District Member
Co-Chair Student Disciplinary Committee
Member, Finance Committee
Member, Legal, Legislative, Policy and Communications Committee
Personal e-mail: Wolfies@aol.com
“I need to decide by this coming Wednesday whether to mount a write-in campaign….”
Carol Wolf, I hope you decide yes. You have consistently listened to and been the voice of the people. You are a true student advocate.
Why should Wolf want to run for re-election? Four years of Doug Wilder and George Braxton would certainly pluck the nerves of even the most stalwart of souls.
True, she’s the only one on the board who doesn’t go into bureaucratic babble-talk the minute they are asked a serious question.
Her colleagues not only do not have the answers they need to run the school system — they don’t even know the right questions to ask.
Wolf knows how to ask questions and that is precisely what we need in that school board room.
I am glad she fights so hard for our children and citizens with disabilities and glad that she was the one who asked the mayor and City Council to launch the audits.
True, she is not well-liked by her colleagues. But, as I heard her say at a meeting tonight: “Better to be hated for the right reasons, than to be loved for all the wrong reasons.”
With the exception of Mrs Wolf, The present Richmond City School Board will most likely be charactorized as the worst city school board in the history of Virginia.
2009 proposed legislation HJ 245 Virginia Constitutional amendment; supervision of schools by local government & administrative officer.
Patrons- Poisson & Hargrove
Summary as introduced:
Constitutional amendment (first resolution); school boards. Amends Section 7 of Article VIII to state that the General Assembly may provide by general law or special act that responsibility for supervision of schools may be exercised by a local governing body and the locality’s chief administrative officer rather than a school board.
Full text:
01/18/08 House: Presented and ordered printed 082032688
Status:
01/18/08 House: Presented and ordered printed 082032688
01/18/08 House: Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
01/25/08 House: Continued to 2009 in Privileges and Elections by voice vote
“I was a voice for responsibility and reform and I shall continue to be,” says Wolf.
Thanks for the headsup, FYI. ~ Carol