South River School Board Race Heats Up — Mathews Responds to Pence Letter on Policy Vote Process

In a 7/25 letter to you, my opponent has poured whitewash over her voting record.  She stated that …  “In 2021, the Virginia Department of Education, not the Virginia School Board Association, as incorrectly stated by my opponent, released model policies pursuant to § 22.1-23.3 of the Code of Virginia.”

Essentially, she asserted that when the School Board voted to impose a pro-transgender policy on the schools in August 2021, her vote was not in response to the anti-parent Virginia School Board Association’s (VSBA) pro-transgender model policies but rather it was a necessary response to Virginia and Federal non-discrimination law. That is contradicted by the facts.

The Agenda for that School Board meeting and the wording of the motion that passed 3-2, with my opponent being one of the majority of the vote, may be viewed online on the School Board’s website.

Agenda item 4b was “Approval of May 2021 VSBA School Board Policy Updates – Mr. Smith”  The Agenda provided an “Explanation and Summary” that said, “In May 2021, VSBA submitted 45 policies for consideration by the Warren County School Board.  A chart showing all the updated policies has been prepared by staff.”

The motion that passed was “I move the May 2021 VSBA Policy Updates be approved for inclusion in the Warren County Public Schools Policy Manual as recommended by staff with the exclusion of policy GAA.”.

Leslie Mathews
Candidate for South River School Board

Incumbent Kristen Pence Responds on Public School Policy Guidelines, Counseling Resources, Parental Review

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