The Spotsylvania County School Board made changes to the division’s instructional calendar and set a new lineup for the regular meeting agenda during a five-plus hour meeting on Monday night.
Superintendent Clint Mitchell asked for the board’s approval in restructuring its regular meeting agenda, pushing public comments to later in the order.
“One of the things I have observed in my time,” said Mitchell, “is that the business of the board gets lost in our meetings. Earlier this evening I heard the public comment about the need that we ensure public comments stay and remain where they are… but the business of the board does not get done.”
Too much time is being spent on public comments, said Mitchell, and not enough time for board and committee reports.
“It’s not that we don’t want to hear from the public, but the opportunity to provide the community to hear the board’s business and that doesn’t happen,” he said. “Why do we have board meetings if we can’t get through the agenda items we need to get through?”
The proposal pushes public comments, the consent agenda and informational items to after board member announcements, committee reports and the superintendent’s announcements.
“I’m willing to give it a try,” said board member Carol Medawar, who represents the Courtland District. “I hate keeping our staff here so late though.”
Board member Megan Jackson (Livingston District) was the lone vote against the change.
“I like hearing from the public before I have comments,” she said. “I do worry about it going later, especially when we have student speakers. In order for our meetings to be more efficient and less chaotic, people just have to take personal accountability and that goes for public comments and board members.”
The revisions to the agenda were approved 4-1, with board members Lisa Phelps and April Gillespie absent during the vote.
Veterans Day no longer a school holiday
A resolution to approve instructional calendars for school years 2025-26 and 2026-27, saw the board cycle through a number of revisions and discussions.
Maria Lewis, SCPS director of teaching and learning, gave the board the results of a recent calendar survey. With 1,023 responses, 56.8% of which were parents and guardians, the majority preferred calendar option “C”.
“It’s not easy to develop a calendar that is inclusive of various voices in the school community,” board chair Lorita Daniels said. “This gives us an opportunity to raise awareness about some of the other cultures that are prevalent in our communities.”
Mitchell added that he was “inundated” over the recent Thanksgiving holiday with additional comments from the community, teachers and staff about the Thanksgiving break, which is only three days in the draft “C”.
“I got to a point where I just started to copy and paste the same responses, because the reality was, it was the same comment that most constituents wanted a full week of Thanksgiving off.”
State guidelines require 180 days and 990 hours. To give a full week off at Thanksgiving, Mitchell said that two days would have to be taken elsewhere in the calendar.
Mitchell stressed to the board that “for every decision that we make when we look at those two days, there’s going to be a detrimental effect on the other parts of the calendar. I want to remind the board that this is an instructional calendar.”
He pointed out that having an unexpected closure due to weather makes balancing the calendar tricky. Mitchell then presented the board members with two additional drafts like the popular “C” option but with two changes.
The “D” calendar would make Veterans Day a school day and keep Sept. 22 as a professional development day. The “E” calendar would keep Veterans Day as a day off and make Sept. 22 a full school day.
Both options include Feb. 13 as an “unencumbered” day with a full week off for Thanksgiving.
Mitchell, who recommended calendar option “D,” acknowledged the work that went into making Veterans Day a day off for the school district but recalled how much he enjoyed spending that day in the classroom when he was a principal.
“It was a really proud day for me and for families, to be in school with the military parents,” he said. “I love Veterans Day in school with kids and parents.”
The September professional development day was to be used for training teachers in new standards and programs as proscribed by VDOE.
“I don’t want to take away the training for staff that is sorely needed,” said Nicole Cole. “That’s why I support draft D.”
“We have a huge veterans population,” remarked Phelps. “I live it. We are close to Quantico and Dahlgren and … I’ve heard nothing but good things of veterans being able to take their children to Veterans Day ceremonies.”
Phelps noted that she had worked on getting the day off for the school system for years but that she was proud it finally happened. “And now to sit up here on the dais and put in other religious holidays to take Veterans Day off, it’s bothersome to me,” she said.
After a round of substitute motions, including the suggestion of a calendar “F” and “G” and a lengthy discussion about why certain breaks are named after seasons and not religious holidays, the board came back to the vote. After several failed motions, calendar “D” was approved 6-1, with Gillespie voting against.
