Greenwood-born engineer Richard Lloyd announced his bid as the Republican candidate for the Rivanna District seat soon to be vacated by Ken Boyd on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors last week, and almost was immediately taken to task on Facebook for a statement that there are as many administrators as teachers in county schools.
At his kickoff, Lloyd told NBC29, “There are as many administrators as there are teachers. I mean that’s just not a good balance at all, something is out of kilter in the schools.”
Richmond Sunlight creator Waldo Jaquith immediately FOIAed Albemarle schools and learned that there are 1209 full-time teacher positions and 205 teaching assistants, compared to 1006 staff positions. Of the staff positions, which include school bus drivers and custodians, 100 are administrators.
Jaquith says he was “shocked” a number so inaccurate was reported.
Lloyd says a school board member told him there were 1062 administrators and staff, and 1,250 teachers, and he meant to include staff in the administrator category.
Lloyd, 64, spent his career working for Fortune 500 companies and doing lots of traveling. “It cuts you off from your community,” he says of his working years. “When I retired, one of my goals was to reattach to the community.”
Supervisor Ken Boyd, the lone Republican on the board, says he’ll be endorsing Lloyd because he’s “very conservative and will provide balance on the board.” His advice to Lloyd: Stick to issues that are local.
The biggest issue Lloyd says he’s heard from people is the high cost of living here, and he wants police, teachers and nurses to be able to live in the community where they work. “We become a different community when we don’t have those people here,” he says.
Lloyd takes on Democrat Norman Dill and independent Lawrence Gaughan in the November election.
