EDITORIALS

Luoni

- The school board's man in the middle

seems to have the right prioritiesYou might have missed it in the continuing furor over an anonymouselection pamphlet, but the Kanawha County school board has madeseveral seemingly small decisions that could end up with bigpricetags.Board member John Luoni has been alone in opposing thosedecisions. In doing so, he has demonstrated fiscal responsibility -a quality too often missing on the school board.With only Luoni dissenting, the board recently voted to allowDuPont Junior High to push back the beginning of its school day.Providing the extra buses and drivers for the school would cost$45,000 next year - a total that seems modest in the overall countyschool budget. And the school has been pushing for the change formonths.But there are 18 other schools with starting times later than 8:30a.m. that could seek similar adjustments in their schedules.Accommodating their requests would cost $3.6 million next year.Following the same squeaky-wheel method of policy-making, theboard has granted other requests from individual schools in recentweeks over Luoni's objections. If those requests are seconded byother schools in the same situations, the tab could skyrocket."It will just rob other areas of things they need," Luoni toldDaily Mail education reporter Bridget Bradburn. "A lot of badlyneeded maintenance items are obviously going to take a back seat."Luoni is known for demanding financial and other backgroundinformation on virtually every issue, and for peppering schoolofficials with questions before casting his vote.While such behavior can prolong school board meetings, taxpayersexpect their money to be spent with this kind of caution.It looks as though Luoni's opinion could be decisive when theboard's makeup changes next month.Returning board member Betty Jarvis has isolated herself from hercolleagues by continuing to defend the anonymous pamphlet. And newlyelected member Pete Thaw has expressed little interest in workingwith the other two returning board members, Bill Raglin and CheryleHall.Luoni could be the swing vote on many issues. The taxpayers whopay for the county school system should be pleased.