When is a motion to renew really a vote to quit?
The conservative majority of the Orange County School Board strikes again
The Orange County School Board voted 3-2 to withdraw from the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) at its May 20, 2024, meeting. Although many people around town have never heard of the VSBA, let alone thought about its merits, Orange resident Sara Shotwell Jaeger, who has a son in the public schools, is among those upset by the board’s decision.
Jaeger considers the board’s vote, passed during a work session with no time allotted for public comment, “a coordinated plot of verbal deceit.” She is incensed by the gamesmanship of Chelsea Quintern (District 4), who moved to renew membership in the VSBA and then voted against the motion, as did Chair Melissa Anderson (District 1) and Vice Chair Darlene Dawson (District 2). Jack Rickett (District 3) and Sandy Harrington (District 5) voted in favor of renewing.
“This move circumvented public comment on the matter, which is the well-respected best practice before important votes,” Jaeger wrote to me in a preview of remarks she plans to deliver during public comment at the board’s June 3 meeting. “For a board that claims transparency and ‘speaking for their constituents,’ this board’s extremist triumvirate certainly appears to be deliberately silencing public voices, instead acting on their own thinly veiled political agendas.”
The board’s decision severs its longstanding tie to the VSBA, which describes itself as “a voluntary, nonpartisan organization of Virginia school boards [that] promotes excellence in public education through leadership, advocacy and services.” However, some right-wingers in Virginia have begun tagging the organization as a liberal lobbying group.
The Charlottesville-based organization provides numerous services to dues-paying boards, including analysis of new state policy positions that school boards must understand and adopt, training sessions for both new and seasoned board members, legal aid and an annual conference in Williamsburg for all its members. Representing policy positions that VSBA members vote on, the VSBA lobbies in Richmond on behalf of public education. It also provides assistance when a school board is searching for a new superintendent of schools.
To date, the annual cost of VSBA membership and services to Orange County Public Schools has been under $15,000—a comparatively small amount in the school division’s multimillion dollar budget.
I called and emailed the VSBA several times last week but so far have received no response. I wrote to all five board members about the surprising decision to quit the VSBA and received substantive answers from three of them.
In response to my inquiry , Quintern wrote, in part, “Our board discussed our VSBA membership during the January reorganizational meeting, but this agenda item was prompted by the pending contract renewal, which happens annually. The VSBA specifically serves school board members, not administration, teachers or members of the public. Maybe we should be asking them why the VSBA doesn’t allow single board members to join. I refuse to co-sign with any associations that don't serve our interests directly, especially when funded by taxpayers and exempt from FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) laws.”
Dawson emailed me that she has not participated in any VSBA training sessions, “mainly because I’m such a new board member.” However, during her campaign, she attended trainings hosted by various other organizations, including the Noah Webster Educational Foundation, which, she said, “I’m sure you will hear characterized as ‘extremely partisan right-wing,’ but I never saw that. It was all focused on the law.”
Despite not having attended any VSBA meetings, Dawson derides what she calls the organization’s penchant for “group think.” In a lengthy document detailing her views, she wrote that the organization has lobbied in favor of gun control. She finds this objectionable, because Orange County is a “Second Amendment Sanctuary,” a designation passed by the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 2019. “Why is a school board association involved in gun control laws?” she asked.
Harrington, a retired school finance and business administrator who moved back to Virginia several years ago from California, opposes the rhetoric that Quintern, Dawson and Anderson espouse. In a phone conversation, Harrington told me she wasn’t surprised that those three board members voted against renewing membership in the VSBA, but she had wanted the public to have a chance to weigh in before the vote. She said she has participated in VSBA trainings and found them valuable—and hopes to attend more before Orange County’s membership expires.
“I learned the role of the superintendent and the board members, how [the superintendent and the board] complement each other, how they support each other, and how the board has an oversight level of responsibility,” she said, noting that school boards can either accept or disregard the VSBA’s guidance and recommendations.
“My concern is that, from a policy perspective, we may not be aware of, or update, [state] policies as legally required or appropriate in a timely manner, and that could lead to legal complications,” Harrington said.
In general, she added, board members “need to make decisions based on what is in the best interest of the organization as a whole, not on their specific partisan or special interests. I believe truly that we need to be open and transparent in that process. We have to remember this is about our students and their education and not about stupid adult stuff going on in our society.”
Leaving the VSBA is a “horrible” decision
All of the current board members are in their first terms. To get a longer perspective, I called Sherrie Page, who served on the board for a dozen years before losing to Dawson last year. Page said that quitting the VSBA is a “horrible” decision: “I don’t think people realize the implications” of the move, which she said will deprive Orange County of a voice in the VSBA’s lobbying efforts and cut off access to the VSBA’s trainings and policy expertise.
Page decried what she considers the politization of the school board, which she said has taken the focus away from what’s best for the county’s children. She fears that the board’s descent into partisan politics might cost the county good teachers and even cause Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dan Hornick to think twice about staying here.
The Orange County School Board meets at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 3, at the Taylor Education Administration Complex in Orange. Expect a long night with lots of comments from the public about the VSBA decision. To join the fray, contact School Board Clerk Laura Byram (lbyram@ocss-va.org) by 2 p.m. on the day of the meeting to get your name on the list for public comment.
Still frame from a video recording of the May 20, 2024, Orange County School Board meeting. From left: School Board Clerk Laura Byram, Superintendent Dr. Dan Hornick, and board members Chelsea Quintern, Jack Rickett, Melissa Anderson, Darlene Dawson and Sandy Harrington.
This is a yikes at so many levels! Excellent article.
The VSBA lobbies for gun control, supported the shutdown of schools to the detriment of children during covid and pushed to mask kids. Good riddance to bad rubbish.