A Spotsylvania County school bus aide charged with 11 felonies related to the alleged molestation of disabled children.
A Spotswood Elementary school third-grade teacher arrested on school grounds and charged with drug possession, child endangerment and neglect.
A Cedar Forest Elementary behavioral specialist convicted of assault for striking a child with a shoe, and a Spotsylvania Middle School theatre teacher hired despite a protective order in place against him in Fauquier County.
All of these incidents occurred in Spotsylvania County Public Schools within the past year, prompting school officials to examine the division’s hiring process.
School board member April Gillespie of the Berkeley District made a motion during Monday night’s meeting to approve a third-party audit of the SCPS Human Resources Department, but the motion failed 5-2.
Lee Hill District representative Lisa Phelps was the only board member to support Gillespie’s motion, with the others stating that changes to the hiring process implemented earlier this year will not only protect children in the division but will serve as a model for other school districts to follow.
“If anything, we should probably be celebrating the changes our HR staff has made,” Courtland District representative Carol Medawar said … “They just don’t deserve this admonishment. I don’t even know what to call it.”
Phelps said she’s refused to support any personnel packet containing new hires since Miguel Velasquez Velasco was arrested after the alleged bus incident in late September.
That includes a packet approved by a 5-2 vote on Monday. Phelps said she voted against the packet because it does not uphold “the standards and the values that our school division has.”
Gillespie said that while she cannot publicly discuss information obtained during closed session, she is not confident in at least one person who was approved in Monday’s packet.
“According to our new processes, we now see who has previous charges, we now see who is labeled a sex offender. We now see all of that, which we previously did not have that information when we voted for candidates,” Gillespie said. “We are receiving individuals who we are hiring that … have been tried for sometimes heinous crimes, and they get hired to work with your children every single day.”
Board members said that in the past, they voted on personnel packets, fully trusting recommendations from the HR department. But now they can see a job candidate’s background check information before giving final approval.
SCPS also requires all newly hired and rehired employees to have fingerprinting completed and to complete the Spotsylvania Department of Social Services (DSS) central registry form prior to being recommended for approval to the school board. The fingerprints are sent to the Virginia State Police and the DSS form goes to the state DSS.
The division directs its HR directors to check applications for all responses pertaining to abuse and/or neglect. Job candidates who have lived outside of Virginia for five years must submit an out-of-state child abuse and neglect registry check for each state in which they’ve lived.
If there is a record of arrests, charges, dismissals, and/or convictions, relevant results are reviewed by the chief human resources officer to determine if the candidate is eligible for hire based on state code and an assessment of their record. The assessment includes a review of the nature and gravity of the offense, the time that’s passed since it occurred and the nature of the job being sought.
Battlefield District school board member Nicole Cole and Chair Megan Jackson of the Livingston District said they voted against Gillespie’s motion for a third-party audit because of the modifications to the hiring process that are now in place. Cole also advised community members not to trust accusations made by Phelps and Gillespie regarding the most recent personnel packet.
“Now that they don’t have the power to bully our leadership, they are putting out misinformation to try to break your confidence in this school division,” Cole said. “Please don’t go for the okie doke. We’ve already changed, modified our HR policies … I will be voting ‘no’ on this because it’s just another attack and we need to support our staff who have gone over and beyond the whole time I have been on this board.”
After Gillespie’s motion failed, she said, “It disgusts me to sit on this board with you guys.”
Parent Jennifer Petersen said during public comment that she is dismayed the board voted against the audit, given the serious nature of the offenses allegedly committed by school personnel in the past year — particularly the Velasquez Velasco case. Phelps questioned, “Why does this board even exist?” if it doesn’t discuss serious topics openly.
Gillespie said she recommended the audit because in her nearly four years on the board, HR has been unable to provide answers to disciplinary questions about employees when inquiries are made. She said whenever a new superintendent is hired, “everything is wiped clean.”
“There’s nothing for them to go off of,” Gillespie said. “There’s no employee discipline records. Nobody has ever been disciplined here … but we have people who have been tried for crimes against students in our schools.”
Gillespie went on to say that school officials typically want to address positive developments and ignore “real-life” crisis situations that are “tearing people’s lives to shreds.”
“What if it were your kids, how would you feel?” Gillespie said. “What if it was your kid, God forbid … that was deaf, mute, non-verbal and couldn’t tell you what happened to them? What if it was your child that was too scared to say something?
“I have dealt with event after event of parents coming to me saying their children are being abused and harassed and targeted in the schools and they have proof, they have bruises, they have all this stuff, but [Child Protective Services] and the sheriff’s office [say], ‘Nothing to see here.’”
In other business on Monday, Del. Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg) presented a resolution to Superintendent Clint Mitchell commending him for his service to the school division. House Resolution No. 714 was co-patroned by Del. Bobby Orrock (R-Spotsylvania). Cole attended the meeting and presented the resolution to Mitchell.
The resolution highlighted Mitchell’s educational background, his experience in school leadership in other parts of Virginia, and his participation on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s chronic absenteeism task force. It also noted that Mitchell is Spotsylvania’s first Black superintendent in the division’s 150-year history.
The presentation wasn’t without controversy, however. Phelps suggested it was a political ploy, and Jackson lamented that she was unaware Medawar had contacted state legislators to put the resolution in motion.
