Ms, Blythe,

My name is Dan Casey, and I'm the metro columnist at The Roanoke Times. I'm hoping you can answer a couple of questions about Virginia school board candidates and school board meeting policies.

First, I noted that the VASB Candidates Guidelines (2015) state that Virginia school board elections are nonpartisan by law. Can you point me to the section of the Virginia code that makes that requirement? I've been unable to find that.

The second issue concerns policies regarding the public comment section of school board meetings. Has the VASB recommended that boards disallow or limit partisan political candidates, campaigning for nonschool board offices, to make speeches during school board meetings? I'm interested in an data about how many school board in Virginia have such a policy.

I hope to get answers to these questions by 2 p.m. Monday, which is shortly before my deadline for Tuesday's column. Thank you in advance for those.

Sincerely,

Dan Casey
The Roanoke Times
(540) 309-0425