Warren County Severs Ties With Virginia School Boards Association

Warren County School Board members on Wednesday, Sept. 6, voted 4-1 to end the district’s membership with the Virginia School Boards Association.

Board Chair Kristen Pence, Vice Chair Ralph Rinaldi, and board members Antoinette Funk, Andrea Lo, and Melanie Salins were present at the meeting. Lo voted against leaving the VSBA, which describes itself as a voluntary, nonpartisan organization of Virginia school boards that promotes excellence in public education through advocacy, training, and services.

“Looking at the big picture, I do think that the VSBA is more aligned with us than not aligned,” Lo said in explaining why she thought the Warren County School Board should remain a VSBA member. 

The main points of the VSBA’s legislative positions, said Lo, are that it lobbies for local support for schools and supports funding from state and local governments, including for infrastructure, broadband, employment, and school safety, among others.

“So, I just think legislatively, they are still pulling for most of the things that would help us more so than not,” Lo said. 

The School Board’s majority, however, sees benefits to leaving the VSBA.

For instance, Funk pointed out that Warren County wouldn’t have to pay the yearly membership fee of $9,353 plus the $10,200 to use the online school board management software platform provided through the organization. The $19,553 total paid for using the platform and the cost of the VSBA membership fee is higher than the $12,000 the School Board would pay if it chooses to use the BoardDocs platform on its own, she said.

Funk also said that because the School Board currently uses its attorneys to develop local policies, “I’m kind of like, what are we getting from it [the membership]? I’m looking at budgets here and stuff.”

Rinaldi agreed though he acknowledged that the VSBA does provide some services that are worthwhile. But he said, “The return for what we’re putting in and what we’re getting” don’t add up.

“Then I look at our geographic location, and there are other counties here in the valley that sort of get snubbed by [VSBA] also,” said Rinaldi. “And who knows this county better than everyone in this room? I don’t see the benefit at this time.”

Salins, the board’s delegate to the VSBA who for a year has advocated for Warren County to end its membership with the organization, listed several reasons for leaving the group, including that it “is constantly telling us to water down our discipline rules.”

She also said that the VSBA “is not in favor of notifying parents about just about anything at all. They take common sense, and they train it out of us as hard as they possibly can. And then you elect officials in Richmond, and they go down, and they lobby using your taxpayer dollars to make sure that those changes that you wanted to see made are not made.”

Additionally, the VSBA basically caters to the richer counties in the state by advocating more for what they want, according to Salins, because the VSBA “is interested in the communities with the billions-of-dollars budgets.”

Salins also said that the VSBA “loves to bully” her when she asks what she said are non-controversial questions during VSBA meetings or trainings. And she added that there are “tons of alternatives to their pieces of training.” 

“As for their policy services, we left those last year,” said Salins. “The VSBA is responsible for many of the policies or lack thereof that are creating the problems that you are seeing in our school system today. Why would we want to continue to pay for those policies?”

At the same time, according to Salins, legislative priority changes she submitted to the VSBA on behalf of the Warren County School Board all were rejected. “They do not give a reason why; they did not ask questions; they did not give any discussion period whatsoever,” she said.

However, Lo said it’s not fair to say that the VSBA is responsible for Warren County School Board policies.

While the Warren County School Board has followed VSBA policy positions for a number of years — instituting some policies that disagree or are inconsistent with those of the VSBA and some that did not — Lo said, “Part of that is just due to it having built up over many years, predating all of us that are currently on this board.”

Lo said there’s a need for the School Board to work with its attorneys to review existing policies to ensure they make sense and are in line with the board’s values. 

“I think that is part of the conversation that we were having earlier that needs to happen,” she said, “but I wouldn’t put that at the feet of the VSBA. I think that’s our responsibility as a school district to address those.”

Lo said she wasn’t disagreeing with Salins but said she “just came to another conclusion.”

Having put in a substantial amount of time and effort into being a delegate for the VSBA, Salins said it’s busy work, and it’s wasting her time. “It is wasting this community’s time. It’s wasting this community’s money. You gotta know when it’s time to cut bait, and it is time to cut bait.”

The Warren County School Board’s contract with the VSBA ends in March.

More votes

In other action, the School Board unanimously approved its consent agenda items, which included an item to authorize the superintendent to request that the Warren County Board of Supervisors increase the School Board’s fiscal year 2023-2024 Operating Fund Budget by $112,847 in Category 61000 – Instruction. 

Contingent upon the Board of Supervisors’ approval of the additional appropriation request, a new position of Behavior Coach assigned to Special Education in Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) was also approved.

The consent agenda approval also included items to approve Warren County High School’s overnight wrestling and cross-country trips, as well as Skyline High School’s overnight wrestling tournaments.

The School Board also unanimously approved the addition of the Student Support Position contract and its grade 42 salary scale. WCPS Personnel Director Jody Lee said the interim position will allow newly hired district staff to accept a contract as they work toward their licensure while filling a WCPS vacancy. 

“This could also help accommodate those who are working on their degrees in our ‘Grow Your Own’ program as they enter the final stages of their degree program and/or student teaching,” Lee said.

WCPS also received permission from the School Board to purchase Chromebooks for the district’s Technology Department totaling $284,972. Funding for this purchase will come from the Virginia Public School Authority technology grant, according to WCPS Technology Director Tim Grant, who said the department is in need of replacement Chromebooks for students and staff. The cost covers hardware, product protection, and licensing for 767 Chromebooks, he said.

Click here to watch the Warren County School Board Meeting of September 6, 2023.