Community activist Bill Thomas is considering moving to Hampton so he can run for the city’s school board.
He currently lives in Suffolk.
The Hampton University official is a staunch conservative who believes that opening charter schools would force public schools to increase their standards and performance.
He’s detailed his disdain of public schools and the current state of education on radio, TV and in print columns published in local newspapers including the Daily Press.
Thomas in his 11th year as HU’s associate vice president for governmental relations. He also serves on the Christopher Newport University Board of Visitors.
The state of public education has him so agitated the he’s seriously considering moving to Hampton in time to file for candidacy ahead of the May 2012 election, Thomas told me last week.
He’s already involved in the Hampton community and has plenty of contacts, Thomas added.
At a civic engagement forum last week sponsored by Hampton Watch, he said four strangers slipped him pieces of paper with the same simple note scratched on each: “Please run.”
The support surprised him.
“People see me sometimes as a controversial figure; it’s not typical for people to agree with me,” he said. “Most people are against me, they say I’m against children and public schools, which I am.”
He clarified that he’s not against children. Read Full Article at Daily Press
