All six contenders running for the three open seats on the Mathews County School Board took part in last Wednesday’s PATH candidate forum, fielding a range of questions covering everything from the division’s declining enrollment, parental involvement in curriculum and textbook adoption, to the teaching of American history and the need for CTE programs.

Stan Grice served as moderator for the event hosted by People Aging in Their Homes and held at the Cobbs Creek Arts Center. The following night, all six candidates took to the stage again, this time at the Gwynn’s Island Civic Center in a G.I. Civic League forum where they addressed many of the same issues.

The Gwynn’s Island forum, which was moderated by Tyrone Hudgins, also included an opportunity at the end for the county’s candidates for Clerk of Court, Commonwealth’s Attorney, Commissioner of the Revenue and Treasurer to briefly introduce themselves to the public. The two candidates for Mathews Sheriff spoke at last week’s Gwynn’s Island forum, which also featured the nine Mathews Board of Supervisors’ hopefuls.

At both forums, school board candidates seemed to be in agreement about many of the topics that were brought up.

In his question about enrollment, Grice pointed out that Mathews High School had a graduating class of 111 students; a decade later, that number dropped to 61. He asked what creative role school board members could take in addressing declining enrollment, and its impact on everything from budgetary issues to class offerings and extracurricular activities.

Many of the candidates encouraged residents to volunteer in the schools in hopes of retaining and attracting students. “Be involved and be energetic,” Sharon Frye said, who said the county should encourage a positive atmosphere in the schools, where students can grow and have fun.

The issue of declining enrollment calls “for an all-hands-on-deck approach,” said Dr. Mari Gibbs. She spoke about her efforts to institute the Power Hour Challenge, encouraging people to volunteer at least an hour a week to the schools, anything from helping tutor students to serving as “lunch buddies.” Power Hour, she said, currently has 24 volunteers. “We can do better,” she said.

On Thursday night, Gibbs suggested “rebranding” Mathews County Public Schools to get the word out about all the good things going on in the schools. “Let’s find our bright spots,” she said.

During Thursday night’s forum, candidate Calvin Morgan said that the board needs to determine first why enrollment is declining, considering county population has been fairly steady the last few years. He suggested sending out a survey, finding out why families have opted for homeschooling or sending their children out of the county for their education.

Desmond Smith said that the new superintendent Dr. David S. Daniel is working on several ways to address the problem, including conducting a community survey. One area he suggested to boost enrollment is by building up the division’s athletics programs, including a return to the MHS football program. In both forums, Smith brought up the loss of football and his desire to see its return. He also mentioned successful MHS volleyball coach Pat Moughon, saying that students came from outside the area to go to school there and play for her.

Enrollment, Smith said, is a multi-faceted problem. “The solution is also multi-faceted,” he continued. Improving the physical plant was also on his list, saying that several of the schools are in need of some “TLC.” Improving the facilities, he said, also improves safety. “If they don’t feel safe, they don’t learn,” Smith said.

“I think we do need to find out the reasons for everybody leaving,” Tina Bull Broaddus said, adding that the division needs to continue to hire and retain quality teachers to make the division attractive to families.

The school board and board of supervisors working together would also be helpful, along with boosting community engagement with the schools, Broaddus said.

“I think it is a collaborative effort” for all involved, getting the school board, supervisors and the community to work together to address the issue, Mary Kathryn Diggs said. “We need to be a welcoming community, as we have been in the past,” she said, to encourage small business and young families to locate in the area. On Thursday night, Diggs said there is a need for more opportunities in business and jobs in the county to attract young families. Additionally, she said there has been some talk of school consolidation to address declining enrollment.

On encouraging parental involvement, Frye responded with “an emphatic ‘yes.’” “Parents, they’re the bottom line … I would make an extra effort to get these people involved.”

“The first and primary teachers of children are parents,” said Gibbs. “Of course they should have input.” She went on to discuss the efforts that the school board has made in recent years to expand the community’s review of textbooks.

“The parent is the ultimate teacher of the children,” said Morgan. “We encourage them to come in and review” the textbooks. He then brought up PTAs as a way to increase parental involvement in curricula. “Maybe that should be brought back,” he said.

Smith echoed Gibbs’s and Morgan’s comments about parents being the child’s first teachers. With textbooks coming from only a handful of large companies, he said, it is helpful to review the content. Many teachers, however, use sources other than textbooks to teach their classes, as long as the material is aligned with the state’s Standards of Learning. All parents have access to the SOL curriculum through the Virginia Department of Education website, he pointed out.

“Not to sound repetitive, the parent is the first and best teacher” of children, Broaddus said. “We need parents involved in every aspect of their children’s education.” The state SOL website is a valuable resource, she said. And textbook adoption is available to everyone, “even grandparents should get involved,” Broaddus said.

“I echo what these people said tonight,” Diggs said. “Of course, parents have to be there for their child.”

On the role of Career and Technical Education, Gibbs said that one of the key reasons the school board hired Dr. Daniel as the division’s new superintendent was his interest in building up the Mathews High School’s CTE program. She said he has already reached out to Gloucester and Middlesex to work on collaborative efforts on regional CTE offerings.

She pointed out that MHS has auto mechanics shop space that has been vacant since the program is no longer offered. That space, she suggested, could be used to hold a regional program, with the other divisions kicking in some of the cost. “It is in its infancy stages,” she said of the cooperative effort. “Not everybody is going to college,” she said. “We must make this happen for the overall health of the county.”

“This is a topic near and dear to my heart,” said Morgan, who served for seven years as the carpentry teacher at MHS. He pointed out the difficulty in getting qualified teachers; an auto mechanics teacher, he said, might make $40,000 to $50,000 a year, while the same person could make twice that amount working in the private sector.

“There’s so many opportunities in CTE,” Morgan said. Like Gibbs, he also spoke about a regional approach to teaching these courses. “Perhaps we can share from locality to locality.”

Smith said the issue is also near and dear to his heart, having worked for three years as a career coach at Rappahannock Community College. CTE is “definitely something we need to encourage.” He pointed out that for someone to teach a tech course like auto mechanics at the college level, all they have to do is take two classes; at the high school level, they are required to have a bachelor’s degree.

On the teaching of history, all the candidates agreed that what is taught needs to be accurate. Frye went on to speak of her concern that the 1619 Project book is in the “non-fiction section” at Mathews Memorial Library, something she took issue with. She claimed it was not an accurate book. “People, wake up, they are changing history,” she said. “They are trying to revise history and make America look bad.”

An interesting moment took place in last Thursday’s meeting. During a pause in the conversation, a member of the audience rose up and took issue with the school board candidates, calling them “tedious” and “boring.” Once the outburst was over, Hudgins took back the meeting and asked the next question, about the candidates’ willingness to take part in board training.

All indicated they were willing to take offered training, including Broaddus who prefaced her remark with … “not to be repetitive or boring,” which drew some laughter from the audience.

The final question at the Gwynn’s Island forum addressed requiring students and faculty to take Covid vaccines or return to wearing masks. None of the candidates was in favor of mandating either.

After a break, the candidates for Clerk of Court (Carrie Cullison and Elizabeth Brown), Commonwealth’s Attorney (Conrad Bareford III and Marie Walls), Commissioner of the Revenue (Les Hall and Christian Collier) and Treasurer (Wendy Stewart) were given an opportunity to make brief comments. Clerk of Court candidate Susan Ripley was not present. No questions were asked, but the public had the opportunity after to speak with the candidates one-on-one to ask questions.