Campbell’s announcement was made public today. He will officially accept the award on June 27 at the annual Virginia Middle and High School Principals Conference and Exposition in Williamsburg.

Campbell retires the end of this month, and on July 1, now-Assistant Principal Forest Jones will become ALMS principal.

“I am just overwhelmed by this award,” he said June 14. “I work in a great city, with great teachers, great parents and outstanding young people, and I feel fortunate to have been along for the ride.”

Members of the state educators’ nominating committee who chose Campbell were impressed by his discipline-deriver leadership abilities, they said; his creativity and commitment to students’ academic achievement and life skills’ advancement.

Salem School Superintendent Dr. Alan Seibert pointed out that Campbell’s “great humility” is at the root of his God-given gifts, “and while this will be a tough honor for him to accept, it is extremely well deserved.”

Campbell is an Augusta County native who graduated from Buffalo Gap High School and Emory & Henry College. He began his educational career as a teacher in 1972 in Roanoke City Schools, teaching geography and social studies, serving as assistant principal and then principal of Lucy Addison Middle School.

He also coached four sports before he became principal there in 1989. A year he became ALMS principal.

Campbell said he never expected to be a principal for as long as he has. “I think any time you’ve been in a job for a long period of time it speaks to the consistency of what you’ve done,” he said.

Regarding discipline, Campbell said he believes young kids want to be discipline and parents expect kids to be. He added, “I just never wanted to lose the respect of the kids.”

Three of his former assistant principals he mentored have climbed the ladder of leadership in Salem. Seibert became superintendent, Margaret Humphrey became South Salem Elementary’s principal, and now Jones will take over for his boss.

Andrew Lewis Middle School has consistently received the state’s Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence. This year was the third straight year ALMS won it.

Connie was an active member of the West End Presbyterian Church in Roanoke. She loved camping, playing cards with her Canasta friends, and traveling. Preceding her in death were her parents, Lawrence McCoy and Mary Jane Arthur Amos.

Connie Amos Thurston

Her surviving family includes her loving husband of 44 years, David L. Thurston; son Daryl L. Thurston and fiancée Christine E. Whitehead; daughter Jessica L. Thurston and boyfriend Zachary C. Carmen; brother Richard McCoy Amos and wife Jean; and many nieces and nephews.

The family would like to extend a special thanks to Dr. Gerald Schertz and the nursing staff at Blue Ridge Cancer Care, and Carilion Hospice. A funeral service was held Jan. 5 in the John M. Oakey & Son Chapel in Salem, with interment following at the Amos Family Cemetery in Boones Mill. Pastor Tony Ward officiated.

Memorial contributions in Connie’s name may be sent to either the American Cancer Society at 2840 Electric Rd., Suite 106-A, Roanoke, VA or to the West End Presbyterian Church, 1200 Campbell Ave. SW, Roanoke, VA 24016. Online condolences to the family may be made at www.johnmoakey.com.

Proceeds from the sale of plates after the first 1,000 will go to support Salem Public Schools.

The prototype for the Salem specialty license plate features the city's dove and surrounding mountains. City of Salem photo

But first, 350 people have to order and prepay applications for the specialty plates before the Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles will begin producing them.

Salem Council Member Lisa Garst came up with the idea of producing a license plate to show off their civic pride in Salem and beyond, explained Salem City Manager Kevin Boggess.

“When the concept of creating a Salem license plate came up in discussion, there was a unanimous feeling that this was something our citizens would really embrace and support,” Boggess said.

“One of the key things that sets Salem apart from other communities is our overwhelming sense of community pride,” Garst said. “When I learned that the DMV was offering custom license plates featuring municipalities, I knew instantly this was something Salem residents would love.”

Currently, only three other cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia have special plates, Garst said.

The artist’s conception for the license plate features mountains along the bottom in Salem blue, and the Salem dove logo in gold on the left side.

In order for the state to start production, Boggess said the city has to receive 350 prepaid plate applications in advance from people who have current and active vehicle registrations. Boggess said there are almost 20,000 automobiles registered in Salem currently.

He added that it usually takes DMV from 9 months to a year to get specialty plates in production and available for vehicle owners.

Mayor Randy Foley sees the potential for Salem specialty plates to bring in more businesses or visitors.

“Perhaps the plates will pique someone’s interest and influence him or her to visit Salem, or maybe even cause a business owner to inquire about our city,” Foley said.

Once 1,000 sets of Salem specialty license plates are sold, $15 of each $25 per plate paid to the DMV will be returned to the Salem School Division and earmarked for technology purchases in classrooms, said Salem School Superintendent Dr. Alan Seibert.

Seibert added, “These designated funds will allow us to increase the number and the quality of the technology tools Salem students will have access to in the future.”

Applications for the Salem license plates are available from the Salem Treasurer’s Office located on the ground floor of Salem City Hall.

Applications are also available through the city’s website, www.salemva.gov.

The board also promoted from within to fill leadership positions at the elementary schools and Andrew Lewis Middle School.

Tuesday night in a closed session, members of the school board discussed appointments and approved the changes. Overnight School Superintendent Dr. Alan Seibert contacted the administrators and made the announcements early March 10.

Leading Salem’s schools next year will be:

• Dr. Joseph Coleman, principal of G.W. Carver Elementary School and Division Director of Assessment;

• Donnie Spangler, supervisor of Adult Basic Education and AIIMS Reading Intervention;

• Trula Byington, principal of West Salem Elementary School;

• Debbie Carroll, Assistant Principal West Salem Elementary School

• Chris King, assistant principal for Activities and Instruction, Andrew Lewis Middle School

• Kristyn Shepherd, assistant principal of East Salem Elementary School

Coleman is already director of assessment for the school system and was formerly principal of South Salem Elementary and before that, Carver where he was principal from 1983-1989.

Byington is moving from the principalship of Carver to West Salem where Principal John Millard is retiring this summer after 25 years.

Carroll moves over from the assistant principalship at East Salem Elementary where she has been since 2004. She is filling Spangler’s vacancy. The director of adult education is funded by a new state grant to Salem Schools.

King has taught for 17 years in Salem and is a Certified Athletic Administrator who coached at ALMS. He will be filling the vacancy at ALMS left by Mike Akers, who is retiring after 35 years.

Shepherd is a Nationally Board Certified teacher at South Salem who was Outstanding Teacher of the Year from the Virginia Council for Learning Disabilities in 2008.

Seibert said more than 20 internal and external candidates were interviewed as part of the search process to establish the Leadership Team for 2010-2011.

The superintendent said additional adjustments in roles and responsibilities will be necessary in the months ahead, but added the net result is a reduction in the current Division Leadership Team “that will provide savings in salaries and benefits to help close the budget gap and ultimately save the jobs of other employees.”

For the complete story, read the March 11 issue of the Salem Times-Register.

Seibert gave out the state figures to Salem City Council and the Salem School Board when they met March 3 to discuss upcoming finances and programs. The following day he issued a press release reacting to the proposed state budget cuts. He said the cuts are threatening to set back K-12 public education four years, to levels not seen since 2006. Salem Schools would likely need to make “especially painful cuts,” Seibert said.

The superintendent pledged every effort would be made not to lay off teachers and other personnel, and instead, to close the anticipated budget gap through natural attrition – people retiring or leaving the school system for other reasons, and their positions not being filled.

About 80 percent of Salem School’s annual budget is made up of salaries and benefits for its employees, like other school divisions in Virginia. Much of the remaining 20 percent is for fixed costs such as utilities, maintenance and debt service.

“A reduction of this magnitude cannot be achieved without a negative impact on children,” said Seibert. “My only solace is that we have terrific people who will do everything they possibly can to help minimize the impact.”

The General Assembly’s Conference Committee dealing with the separate House of Delegates and Senate versions of the state budget are working to reconcile differences between the respective proposals.

Under what the Senate is proposing, Salem’s state aid would be reduced by 8.7 percent, which would require cuts of $1.7 million. The House’s version proposes cuts of more than 11 percent, reducing state money coming to Salem Schools by $2.2 million.

Seibert explained Salem school officials had been planning for a range of possibilities, once the amount of state aid was known, “And we will now meet the challenge.”

Salem already runs a bare-bones system, Seibert said, by providing a high-qulity education for almost $1,100 less per pupil than the average for the state’s school systems.

Salem Schools Central Office administrative costs account for less than 3.5 percent of the total school division budget, “So when you already are lean, the cuts start with meat and bone,” added Seibert.

He and other school superintendents are particularly opposed to the House Budget Bill that makes proposed cuts permanent by changing the funding formula for state basic aid to education. The Senate Bill recommends a two-year reduction to give the state’s economy a chance to recover.

“This is a problem at the state level and children should not be expected to bear the burden,” Seibert said the press release.

Starting in the fall, Seibert met with teachers and staff at each of Salem’s six schools, answering questions and asking for ideas from employees about their priorities on reductions in salaries and benefits.

According to those results, 95 percent of the 362 school employees who completed the survey said they would rather see their own pay cut in order to help keep fellow school employees from being laid off.

School personnel who responded also said they would be willing to pay part of their health insurance, instead of Salem Schools paying it.