Goff wants to stop wasteful spending

Retired Culpeper minister and educator Richard Goff wants to put his experience to work for the Culpeper County School Board.

Richard Goff, 61, a longtime pastor for Brandy Baptist Church and retired substitute teacher, is running to represent the Cedar Mountain District during the Nov. 3 election.

He faces challenger and incumbent Elizabeth Hutchins.

The two will go head-to-head for the second time in four years.

Hutchins won the Cedar Mountain District seat during the 2005 election.

Here’s what Goff had to say during a recent interview with the Star-Exponent’s editorial board.

CSE: Tell us about yourself and why you’re running for School Board office.

Goff: “I’m running because of the need of the students of Culpeper County. That’s my No.1 priority. I’m running No. 2 because of the staff members of the people who serve those students.

I’m running No. 3 because of my concerns about micromanagement within the school system. And No. 4, I’m running to make sure the different team combinations between the School Board and the Board of Supervisors partnerships continue.”

CSE: What are some of your priorities for Culpeper County Public Schools?

Goff: “I think we have definitely got to focus completely on the students at all times. We’ve got to try to retain as many programs as possible. Foreign languages, for example, have been cut back some and the concept of Virtual Virginia is great and I appreciate it to no end. The classroom sizes have increased. The compensation of employees in terms of any type of increase has been nonexistent in the last three years. Eventually this economic upheaval will be called. This of course has reduced the turnover rate. At one point in time we had a 25 percent turnover rate. The turnover rate has decreased. There’s nowhere to go. I’d rather talk about cutting expenses rather than talking about cutting programs. First thing we need to do is cut the fines. The current School Board budget builds in fines. CCPS has been fined. The state water control board fined them $3,500 and they also had to buy another $50,000 filter for Emerald Hill. There were five written warnings on there before the five written warnings, if I read that order right.

“Fines are just something you just can’t do. It’s not smart and when you do encounter a problem like that, it’s better to go ahead and fix it.

“A way to increase your revenue strengths is to explore the grants in detail. Another way is to set up a development committee to explore fundraisers.”

CSE: What are your thoughts on renovating Culpeper County High School?

Goff: “I think CCHS needs renovation. There’s no doubt about it. It’s 40 years old. I think that the better of the two plans is the shorter term, lesser amount plan ($20 million, two-year). I do not think the $40 million plan (12-15 years) is the way to go on that. I think the better way to do this is to approach it and market it extensively. We need to have extensive breakout of facts. It’s got to have a lot of documentation. The people here want that. They will read that. I think the multi-year plan is a big mistake. It’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of things will change during that time. The whole idea is that this needs to be promoted.”

CSE: What are your overall thoughts of the school division?

Goff: “I think Culpeper County in general is an above average community. I like the school system. I have a very positive opinion of it. I have an overall positive opinion of the board members and anyone who is willing to serve on these boards. I have a much more (higher) opinion of them than I did four years ago. I have tremendous respect for anyone on there. I don’t agree with everything that they’ve done. I do like the new school superintendent. I’ve got to. She grew up in the same zip code that I did. She went through the same public school system that I did.

She went to the same college that I did. And she went to the same university that I did. She is me, in a lot of ways.”

CSE: What do you think about the Standards of Learning tests and the No Child Left Behind Act?

Goff: “Of those two, the SOLs are probably the most important. I feel that there needs to be some form of testing. No Child Left Behind, I can leave behind. But the SOLs, there have got to be these basic skills because society is much more complex. The (NCLB) can’t succeed. We need to keep pushing everything to the limit. When we balance it, we should put the heavier weight on SOLs.”

CSE: If elected, what would you change about the school system?

Goff: “I want to make sure the focus is on the students. We have got to do something with the compensation. I think we have to do something with it this year. Staff turnover is expensive.

Twenty-five percent turnover costs us a lot of money. Have we forgotten about the MGT efficiency review? I composed a 50-page document. This shows a schedule of funds that we can save. Another thing I haven’t seen around here is alternate compensation strategies. We have not gotten into the concept of incentives. We have not gotten into the concept of merit pay.

Right now it’s not worth discussing because we can’t give anybody any incentives. We might have to cut them. We need to get into more joint discussion between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board. It’s much better than four years ago.

“I want to see more graduate seminars in the county. A plan isn’t a plan without a budget. They’re different, but they’re connected. A budget is not a budget until you define where the money is coming from.”

CSE: If the money’s not there, how do you give raises and retain teachers?

Goff: “We have to start drawing those people who are leaders like those in the Education Association. The organization needs to reach out more to the schools. And the School Board members need to reach out to them. That will create mutual understanding where each one is coming from. It’s just a matter of re-adjusting your priorities. You’ve got to make the environment suitable and conducive and rewarding to their retention. First thing you’ve got to do is let them tell you what it is. They need to be able to feel like they can tell the School Board members what they feel they need to stay here. And it’s not just money.”

CSE: Do you think the School Board should consider bringing back activity buses for after school student athletes?

Goff: “I think a cost analysis should be done. It should be brought forward through the superintendent and the superintendent should make a recommendation.”

CSE: What sets you apart from your challenger? Why should people vote for you?

Goff: “I have major board experience from another board different from the School Board that has a different type of fund infrastructure. It’s not a governmental board. I know that the funds have to be obtained in order for them to be spent. We can’t spend money that we don’t have.”

Candidate profile schedule
Tuesday: Profile, School Board - West Fairfax (John Cerio vs. Bob Houck)
Wednesday: Uncontested School Board (George Dasher, Leanne Jenkins)
Thursday: BOS - Stevensburg (Dewayne Payne vs. Bill Chase vs. Gardiner Mulford)
Friday: Uncontested BOS, (Brad Rosenberger, Larry Aylor)
Saturday: Va. District 30 (Ed Scott vs. Matt Carson)
Sunday, Oct. 18:  Attorney general (Steve Shannon vs. Ken Cuccinelli)
Monday, Oct. 19: Lieutenant governor (Jody Wagner vs. Bill Bolling)
Tuesday, Oct. 20:  Governor (Creigh Deeds vs. Bob McDonnell)
Wednesday, Oct. 21: Endorsements for School Board
Thursday, Oct. 22: Endorsements
for Board of Supervisors
Friday, Oct. 23: Endorsement
for Va. District 30
Saturday, Oct. 24: Endorsements for lieutenant governor, attorney general
Sunday, Oct. 25: Endorsement for governor
Tuesday, Nov. 3: Election Day