Carpenter endorsed for school board
Sterling Hening also considers running
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

Carpenter

Midlothian School Board member Jim Schroeder has endorsed Patty Carpenter to fill his seat this fall. Citing family and work responsibilities, Schroeder announced last year that he would not run for the Midlothian seat he has held since 1994.

"Patty has worked very well with people in her community association where she is president and with parents and staff at Bettie Weaver [Elementary School]," said Schroeder. "She did a great job on helping to pass our school bond [referendum]."

Carpenter is also a member of the Chesterfield Republican Committee. Though school board positions are generally thought to be non-political, county Republicans endorsed a school board candidate for the Dale District last year.

Carpenter and Schroeder have been informing county Republicans of his endorsement. "I have a lot of member support already," she said.

Carpenter co-chaired Homeowners for Quality Schools, a citizen group that supported improving county schools, before serving as chair of Citizens for Chesterfield Students, an organization established to gain support from Chesterfield residents for the $231.2 million school bond issue that passed with 87 percent approval in 2004.

Hening

"That experience was the most rewarding I've ever had," Carpenter said. "It started me on the path to becoming more interested and involved in Chesterfield County."

Carpenter owns a company that wholesales and distributes import spa products while also serving as vice president of marketing for Sabaispa, which imports spa products from Thailand. She has an associate's degree in merchandising and a bachelor's degree in marketing.

She is now in her fourth year on the board of directors for the Rosemont community, having been president for two years. Her husband Dean works for Kodak. Carpenter also serves as president of the Bettie Weaver Elementary School PTA where her two sons attend.

Sterling Hening is another potential candidate for school board in the Midlothian District. Hening also serves in the PTA at Bettie Weaver, and two of his three children attend school there.

He is a senior manager for Capital One in the corporate compliance department, and has a bachelor's degree in finance from Virginia Tech and a master's in business administration from the College of William & Mary.

In 2002, he became a graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond, a leadership development program, and is now chairman of the Henrico Business Council, an arm of the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce.

"I'm thinking about becoming a candidate and should decide by next month," he said.

If he runs for the Midlothian seat, Hening said he will stress better financial practices, a "forward-looking curriculum…and keeping and attracting well-credentialed teachers." He is "disappointed that risk management practices weren't put in place" to avoid the dramatic increase in price for the Genito Road high school.

"I had dinner with Jim [Schroeder]," added Hening, "and he said he wished we had met sooner, but he had already committed to Patty."