New school division HR director approved by School Board

The Warren County School Board, during its Wednesday, May 17 work session, unanimously approved three action agenda items, including a recommendation for a new school division director of human resources.

School Board Chair Kristen Pence, Vice Chair Ralph Rinaldi, and board members Antoinette Funk and Andrea Lo were present at the work session. School Board member Melanie Salins was absent on Wednesday.

Warren County Public Schools Superintendent Christopher Ballenger (right) recommended Jody Lee (left) as the new HR director for the school division. Lee, who is currently the assistant principal at Skyline High School, received a unanimous vote from the School Board to begin the new job on June 1.

Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) Superintendent Christopher Ballenger introduced and recommended Jody Lee, who was born and raised in Front Royal, Va., and graduated from Warren County High School in 1992. 

Lee earned a bachelor’s degree in 1997 from Frostburg State University and was hired by WCPS as a teacher and coach in 1998. Lee later became dean of students at Warren County Junior High School in 2004 before earning his master’s in educational leadership from George Mason University in 2006. 

He became the assistant principal at Skyline High School when it opened in 2007 and has continued to serve in that capacity since then. He lives in Warren County with his wife and two children.

The board voted unanimously 4-0 to accept Ballenger’s recommendation to hire Lee for the HR director position, which he will start on June 1.

After thanking the board for its support, Lee said that as a life-long resident of Front Royal, he’s “invested as can be” in WCPS, where he said many of his life influencers, including teachers and coaches, had a positive impact on his life.

“I look forward to working with a great team,” Lee said. “I know how important it is to bring good people to our school system and also to retain them, and that’s going to be my focus. I’m looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead.”

Lee is stepping in for outgoing HR Director Shane Goodwin, who has been named Frederick County Public Schools’ new Assistant Superintendent for Administration.

The School Board also voted 4-0 to approve a solid waste removal contract totaling $95,472. Bryan Helmick, who is the incoming facilities director for WCPS, made the recommended action to the board to approve the annual service agreement for solid waste removal and dumpster service with Republic Services, which also holds the current agreement for solid waste pick-up and dumpster service that’s scheduled to expire on June 30. 

The WCPS Facilities Department put the contract out for bid, said Helmick, and Republic Services was the only bidder with a price of $95,472. The 2022 cost for waste pick up was $92,475.22, he said.

“I guess with fuel and everything, they had to go up, I guess,” said Rinaldi prior to the School Board’s vote to accept the proposed contract.

Helmick explained that WCPS has also added a lot of pickups. “When our contract with them first started, we had a one-day-a-week schedule to pick up,” he said. “We’ve gone to two and three days a week for most schools now.”

At the same time, Helmick said that the summer schedule expanded from one day a week to two days a week to cover the expanded school lunches program during COVID-19.

In the last action item, WCPS Transportation Director Aaron Mitchell (above) recommended, and the board concurred, that it approves new radios that will be installed in school buses and all student transport vehicles. The purchase price of $32,410.13 from T Mobile was unanimously approved.

Mitchell said that the Transportation Department is attempting to update its current 20+ year-old radio system and wants to use the push-to-talk radio equipment.

“This would allow us to have radio transmission via cellular service, as well as wifi,” he said. “Our testing of different products showed T Mobile’s service served our needs best.”

Work Session topics

During its work session portion of the meeting, Mitchell also discussed a $13,600 grant award that WCPS received from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) for bus driver incentives and retention. 

Mitchell presented the board with four proposed options to consider for distributing the funds that are based on employee attendance. No motion was needed at the meeting as the item was only up for discussion.

While it’s a one-time grant, Mitchell said he hopes that WCPS could continue to incentivize drivers by using funds remaining from either unfilled or unneeded subcontracts, for instance.

Ballenger told School Board members that because it’s a salary-related item and the funds have to be expended by June 30, the board should probably consider it for action during its June meeting.

Mitchell said he wants to reward employees “because they did the right thing for no other reason than to do the right thing.”

Board member Funk agreed, saying she would like to see incentives given to employees who miss four or fewer days, noting that while situations do occur when a driver misses 10 days, that’s a lot, she said.

Lo pointed out that she thinks the options are fair since no one would be penalized for having to take off more than four days.

Another item discussed during the work session by WCPS Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Heather Bragg was the draft grant applications for Title I, II, III, and IV federal funds.

Bragg said the applications must be presented to VDOE by July 1. “However, we don’t yet have this year’s funding levels,” so the applications are based on this year’s numbers, she said, adding, “they will be adjusted for when we do get the state’s final numbers coming to us for these federal funds.” 

The Title I-A, II-A, III-A, and IV-A applications seek federal funding to improve basic instructional programs, teacher and principal training and recruiting, support for language instruction for English Learners, and increase the division’s capacity to provide all students with access to well-rounded education, said Bragg.

Bragg also presented the second reading of the WCPS Revised Policy JED Student Absences/Excuses/Dismissals policy, which the division attendance committee worked on throughout the 2022-2023 school year to draft.

Members of the attendance committee included division and school administrators, school counselors, and attendance officers, and the revised policy has been shared with school attendance committees for feedback.

Bragg said that one of the goals has also been to make the policy more readable and understandable for parents.

Ballenger presented the last discussion item on restructuring WCPS Special Services, which he proposes being split into two separate programs: Special Services and Pupil Services.

“We want to make it more manageable by reducing the complexity of the department, reducing inefficiencies, responding to new demands, developing more effective programs, increasing accountability, and increasing student services provided by WCPS,” he said.

Under the Special Services umbrella would be special education, including speech therapists, psychologists, occupational and physical therapists, the pre-kindergarten program, the jail program, the medical homebound program, and the Learning Center’s tier II. Certain positions also would be reclassified.

Another goal for Special Services would be to have a registered nurse who oversees the nursing program. “We want to provide a stipend for that position,” said Ballenger, noting this would be an addition to the budget.

Pupil Services would be pulled out as a standalone program and would include most of the division’s alternative education settings, including Diversified Minds, Brighter Futures, and after-school programs, among others. The principal position also would become similar to the principal/director position at the Blue Ridge Technical Center, according to Ballenger.

The restructuring “would give us the opportunity to separate these two programs,” Ballenger said. “It’s really cumbersome right now.” And the separation would permit WCPS to be better able to serve students and create better programs, he said.

Watch the School Board’s work session in its entirety on this exclusive Royal Examiner video.