Kermit Dance running for re-election to Manassas school board

Kermit Dance said if he is re-elected to the Manassas City Public Schools School Board his job one will be to push for a new school to replace Baldwin Elementary School.

Dance said Baldwin is “old, dilapidated and sub-standard” compared to other city schools.

“There’s an inequity in sending kids to a school that is nowhere near what we’d expect a school to be,” he said.

Dance said the school’s classrooms are too small and when it rains, it’s too noisy for children to hear their teachers. Teachers also have to compete with a noisy heating and cooling system which again makes it hard for children to hear their lessons.

“The kids cannot really focus on the teacher like they need to,” he said.

Dance said he fought to keep the issue in front of the school board throughout his first four years on the board and will continue to further the cause.

“This has been on the back burner since I got onto the school board, I’ve helped bring it back to the front burner,” the 61-year-old Dance said. “Hopefully I can get it to the point where we can move forward  and and actually constructing a new school.”

A couple of things need to happen to get a new school. Dance said if he is re-elected he will fight on those fronts as well.

One of the things that needs to happen is that the school board needs to get permission from the Manassas City Council to buy property at Dean Drive where there are existing buildings that could house the school system’s central office.

“Our monies are controlled by the city council ... we’re pretty much at their mercy,” Dance said. 

If the school system could get the new property, it could use land off Tudor Lane where the central offices now stand to build the school, Dance said.

“It solves a lot of issues in terms of getting us started,” he said.

Building on land at Baldwin is unacceptable, Dance said.

“That is not a feasible plan because the new building would only be 22 feet away from the old building, so again, you’re adding another obstruction to learning,” said Dance, who retired, after 23 years, from the Manassas school system.

The property the school board is looking to buy has been appraised at $5 million, but is up for sale at $2.5 million, Dance said.

“We already have that money in our account and we could pay cash,” Dance said.

Another obstacle is getting a nod from the city council to borrow the money it would take to build a new school.

Dance said he will immediately start to lobby the council to authorize a bond referendum to build a new elementary school.

“I’m going to make it a part of my campaign,” he said.

Dance said his 17 years as an assistant principal at Osbourn High School and six years as assistant at Dean when it was a middle school, give him a perspective  that others may lack.

“I’m kind of an insider who’s bringing a perspective to the board other persons don’t have,” he said. “I know things and also have contacts and relationships that are a result of my being a professional educator for so long in Manassas.”

One of the accomplishments Dance is proud of is an anonymous survey he helped institute that allows teachers the chance to tell what they think needs to be done to make things better.

He said he believes the survey will help the central office understand the needs of “troops in the trenches.”

Another initiative Dance championed was one to allow early daily dismissal for seniors at Osbourn High School if they had enough credits to graduate.

“I gave seniors the option if they want to of shortening their day. It allows them to get out early and go to work or start saving money for college,” Dance said. 

“I relieve the seniors, provided they are on target to graduate and it does not jeopardize their graduation, to have that freedom to start transitioning beyond high school.”

Senior reporter Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.