In her bid for office, Mary Martin said she is focused on school safety, creating a new watchdog post, serving as a voice for teachers, and a host of other goals.
Martin, who will face incumbent Cherie Joyce Whitlow for the at-large seat on the Henry County School Board in November, outlined her platform at an August 31 press conference.
One of the first issues Martin said she would address within the school division is school safety.
“I am thrilled that we have a resource officer in all of our schools now. It’s way overdue. What I would like to see added is a position in the school system for someone where their only job is to write grants for school safety money,” she said, adding this position would be the school safety watchdog.
Martin said the school division might have to make some cuts to its budget to cover the cost of this position, and noted that she’s “real good at that. I’m good at watching out for wasteful spending. I know how to look at that budget, and I know there’s always places you can cut.
“There’s probably some positions we could cut in order to make room for this one position which I feel is critically important,” she said.
She also hopes the Henry County Sheriff’s Office will use its quick response team – or put one together if it doesn’t have such a team – and hold training in every county school on how to be proactive with an active shooter.
“We can’t be reactive unless we are proactive first,” Martin said. “A lot of these officers are new to the schools, they don’t know their way around the schools, and this is a problem that needs to be addressed. We always need to be prepared.”
Henry County Sheriff Wayne Davis said every member of the 25 serving on the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team in the sheriff’s office “has been thoroughly trained in advanced tactical operations to include handling any active shooter situation. The training and equipment that our team has is second to none in this region. In fact, we’ve been called upon by other agencies in the region to handle high-risk tactical operations for them.
Davis added that SWAT team members have “trained numerous times within our county schools, on teacher workdays and other times, but we have never trained inside the schools when students are there.”
He also noted that every School Resource Officer (SRO) is a certified Law Enforcement Officer, “and those officers have all received training in active shooter response,” Davis said. In fact, “some of those officers have received advanced tactical training, including former members of our SWAT Team.
Davis said several of the current SROs “are former members of our SWAT Team. Not only do they know their way around the schools, but they’ve built relationships and rapport with the staff and students—not only do they know the building, but they also know the people who work and are educated inside those buildings.
“At the end of the day, we are fully equipped and thoroughly trained to handle any active shooter situation,” Davis said. “I pray we don’t, but we have spared no expense to prepare.”
Martin also supports the banning of all weapons in schools, and trades, and the enforcement of cellphone policies.
Davis said laws prohibit possession of a firearm on school property, with limited exceptions. However, “no one is allowed to carry a firearm inside our public schools other than law enforcement.”
Martin said another reason she decided to run is because it appears disciplinary policies aren’t being applied to all students fairly.
“What one child may get as a disciplinary action another child may do the same thing and not get the same thing. Discipline should be applied fairly and evenly across the board regardless,” she said.
Martin also spoke in support of parents’ rights within the school system but believes parents have responsibilities, too, and should be responsible for their children.
“Teacher salary and teacher retention, that’s an absolute. I always talk about finding ways to be better to our teachers to have more pay, keep the ones we’ve got, and not lose any, and attract some new ones. Teacher pay is always a big issue,” she said.
While she knows there are small things the board can do to help teacher morale, Martin believes it needs to do more. For example, she noted teachers have personal days.
“There shouldn’t be so many restrictions on how a teacher can use her personal days. After all, that’s what they are, they’re personal days. These are small things that the school board can do to help improve teacher morale,” she said.
Martin also has zero tolerance for bullying within the school system.
“When we read about children committing suicide because of being bullied, that is heartbreaking, and at the same time there is no excuse for it,” she said.
A new law passed this year requires principals to alert parents of students involved in an alleged incident within 24 hours.
“That’s where that parent responsibility comes in. You either handle the problem, or the school system will handle it for you,” she said.
Martin said she plans to look into how exactly lottery proceeds are dispersed throughout Virginia’s school divisions.
Last year, the lottery brought in $779.6 million. Henry County received $7.8 million while Fairfax County received $45 million.
“They say they factor in the LCI, which is the Local Composite Index, that’s the locality’s ability to pay. But if they factor that in, I don’t see how we got seven, and they got 48. This is something that needs to be addressed,” she said.
Regarding transgender students, Martin supports the laws put into place by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
While she believes there’s only two genders, male and female, Martin doesn’t have an issue with those wanting to dress as the opposite sex.
“Billy Bob can come to school dressed as Betty Jo. He can have on a red dress and pink pumps, that’s fine, but he’s going to use the boy’s bathroom and the boy’s locker room, and I don’t want to see him on the girls’ basketball team,” she said.
Martin said some of the best solutions to some of the problems the board is facing are old-school thinking and hands-on experience, and believes she has both of those.
“Let parents feel free to come to the board without fear of reprise. We want to hear from you, that’s what we need to do,” she said.
If elected, Martin promised she would donate all of her school board salary to the community. She plans to donate the money to schools, parent-teacher organizations (PTOs), fire and rescue squads, athletic boosters, and the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
“I’m in this for all the right reasons to help make Henry County schools better in any way that I can,” she said. “I wanted to be clear that I’m not running for the money.”
Martin is supported in her bid for office by State Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Moneta, Del. Wren Williams, R-Stuart, and Aaron Rawls, vice-mayor of Martinsville.
Stanley said he has known Martin for over 30 years.
“I have been honored and believe me you, she does not hold back on her opinions, how she feels about things, and if you’re not convinced of her position, she will do her best to convince you. She’ll also respect your opinion if you differ from her,” he said.
Stanley said Martin will be the candidate to remind the government that it is government that serves the people and not the other way around. He added Martin has also always been involved in community activities and advocacy.
“In my 13 sessions in the General Assembly as your state Senator, there has not been a time where she has not called up and let me know her opinion or what she thinks about a certain piece of legislation, how it will affect our localities and how it will affect our people,” he said.
He added she’s also visited Richmond numerous times on her own dime to discuss issues impacting Henry County, Martinsville, and Southside Virginia.
“I believe Mary Martin will do a good job for our schools. She is very informed, she keeps me abreast and she does leave politics aside, and I know that she’s concerned about all the things that Senator Stanley has been fighting for for years,” Williams said.
Several of the issues Martin will focus on if elected are also concerns of Williams, including public safety, parents’ rights, and the importance of (offering classes in) trades in schools.
“This is a big for me. I was on the Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC) Board, and I am proud to be a” P&HCC graduate. “We’re very much looking at more and more trades in our schools. I would like to see more trades in schools,” he said.
While he serves Martinsville, Rawls said the two communities are reasonably small, and Henry County’s success is Martinsville’s success.
“The reason I’m here is because people like Mary Martin are the folks who help us do that,” he said.
Rawls said what the area needs but lacks is a presence where it’s building relationships and interacting with the regional and state partners in government.
Rawls said he supports Martin because when he first got into politics, she was one of the first people who called him.
“When Mary called me, she wanted to talk about issues. She never tried to persuade me, all she ever wanted to do was give me context on issues, the history, things to think about as I undertake any particular endeavor, and she would become someone that I could rely on as a true source of information,” he said.
Rawls said he can rely on Martin to make decisions based on integrity and to focus on issues that truly matter, “and never get into these silly food fights.”
