Lynchburg City Council to appoint three members for school board next week (2024)

The Lynchburg City School Board has three seats up for grabs as the city council will make a decision next week who will serve on the board going into next school year.

Over the past week, Lynchburg City Council conducted interviews to decide who will fill the seats of District 2 representative Sharon Carter, whose tenure has come to an end; District 1 representative Randy Trost; and District 3 representative Atul Gupta.

Each potential candidate had the opportunity to give their pitches to city council over the past week.

Atul Gupta was the only candidate interviewed for District 3. Gupta told city council he sees the value of education in his own life, in moving to the United States more than three decades ago.

Gupta said giving back to society is why he took on the responsibility of serving on the school board.

“My focus has been, will always be kids first, then the employees; given an opportunity, it would be an honor to serve for the next three years,” he said.

District 2

The candidates in District 2 are: Jordan Nesbitt, Jibri Poe and Mark Tinsley.

Nesbitt said she’s a “Sandusky Mom” who really got involved when the school board considered closing T.C. Miller and Sandusky elementary schools as part of a facility master plan to address declining enrollment and aging school buildings.

“... Through working with those people, alongside those groups, kind of unintentionally threw me in a deep dive into how things work here in Lynchburg,” she said, adding in the process of learning more about the school system, she found a passion.

“I want to be involved in making a better LCS for the future.”

Poe said not only does he work for the city, but he’s a product of LCS; and he mentioned the city is something he believes in, which played a factor in running for school board appointment.

“To be honest with you, above all of those things, I feel motivated and pushed … not so much about school board, but Lynchburg in general. Being a person that has a lot to give and wants to be productive, what better way than to be on a school board?” he said.

Poe also believes he brings “a different dynamic” to the current school board.

“I realized that our city schools have a certain population, and that population is about people that look like me and we can’t ignore the numbers,” he said.

Tinsley, who’s been a resident in Lynchburg for many years and college professor, said his mission is to serve his community as a school board member.

“Several friends over the years of serving the school board have testified just how much of a blessing it was to their lives,” he said.

“Just how much they got out of it and how much they really felt that they were able to give back to the community, I want to do that as well.”

District 1

Daryl Conner said his passion is to see students mature and work toward the future during their time in school.

“My passion is to see our school system begin to teach employment maturity. Many times our students graduate from high school and they’re not ready for college or employment, they’re just not mature enough and that’s my passion, to see them become more mature in those areas,” he said.

Patrick Earl said the reason he wants to be a member of the school board is to make a difference and work to fix the problems in the division in a collaborative way.

“I want to make a difference for my son who attends school, my daughter who will attend LCS and all the kids,” he said.

Elizabeth Jenkins, a licensed clinical social worker in Lynchburg, said she would like to be considered for the board because of concerns she has heard from children and parents.

“My thinking is, if it’s bothering me then why don’t I try to do something to make things a little different,” she said, also mentioning there’s children in her neighborhood who go to private schools instead of LCS.

“That’s an enormous number of kids for a block and a half, so I’m wondering why, what is it?” she said.

Ken Kowalski said in the last five years, he has been asked by members in the community to put his name in the hat for the school board.

When asked what his priorities would be, Kowalski said he doesn’t come in with an agenda.

“I just feel that at this point, it might be helpful to the board as it considers any changes they may or may want to make on how we do education here in Lynchburg, and I would like to be considered for that opportunity,” he said.

Joseph Malloy, a retired engineer, said one of the things he brings to the table is his history working with budgets, working collaboratively with teams over his career and familiarity with LCS.

“I’m not completely coming in blind and one of the main things I tried to get across three weeks ago is, my three children went through Lynchburg City Schools … and they really got a first-class education and that leaves me with a large debt to Lynchburg City Schools,” he said.

Selina Morgan said her heart is the children. Over the last several years, Morgan said she’s been able to view LCS through different lenses in working in the division and with children and believes this can help her as a board member.

“I think that the Lynchburg City Schools families want to know that they matter and that their values and ideas team within the city are all one and we share those as well,” she said.

With her mother being a teacher, Nettie Webb, an engineer, said she grew up knowing the struggles of teachers.

“I think that perspective, that understanding of what works and what [doesn’t work] for teachers is something that I can bring to the school board because there seems to be a disconnect on what works in education, what is the best practices of education and what you need to do to implement education policy,” she said.

Brandy Gibbs, a mother who lived in Lynchburg for almost 20 years, said her familiarity and experience with the city and the school system would be an asset to the board.

“I’m very familiar with the town. And I have family members that are educators in Bedford County, Campbell County, Amherst County, and so I’ve got a little door into the window of education and think that with what my knowledge is, I can probably help the broken system that exists currently,” she said.

Looking ahead

The new terms for the three school board members will begin July 1 and expire June 30, 2027. City council meets for an afternoon session at 4 p.m. and at 7 p.m. for an evening session where they will make their decisions on the three appointed seats.

Following the reappointment, the school board will meet for an organizational meeting to elect the next chair and vice-chair of the board.

The school board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 9 in the school administration building.