Walter Scott, of the Smith River District, will serve as chairman of the Patrick County School Board and Rob Martin, of the Dan River District, will serve as vice-chairman.
The board held its reorganizational meeting at its Jan. 19 meeting.
Sarah-Leigh Collins was reappointed as clerk of the board and Stephanie Lawson was named Deputy Clerk.
The board also approved committee appointments for the upcoming year.
Martin will serve on the School Health Advisory Committee and Parks and Recreation Committee.
Scott will serve on the Career-Technical Advisory Committee/Builders Association and Building Committee.
Martin and Scott will serve as the Virginia School Board Association (VSBA) voting delegates, and on the Liaison Committee along with Schools Superintendent Jason Wood.
Shannon Harrell, of the Blue Ridge District, will serve on the Gifted Committee. Harrell, Wood, Derek Smith, and bus representatives will be on the Transportation Committee.
Ryan Lawson, of the Peter’s Creek District, was appointed to the Special Education Advisory Committee and the Building Committee.
Amy Walker, of the Mayo River District, will serve on the Employee Insurance Committee and the Parent Advisory Committee along with Wood.
The Budget Committee will be comprised of Wood, Scott, Shannon Brown, Katina Hylton, Andrea Cassell, and Principal of Woolwine Elementary School Jeannie King.
In other matters, the board:
*Reaffirmed and adopted the VSBA Code of Conduct.
*Reaffirmed and adopted Robert’s Rules of Order.
*Discussed the school system’s budget and the upcoming budget season. Wood said the calculation tool for the school’s budget was released in December with the Required Local Effort (RLE), or Required Local Match (RLM), being $6.9 million.
“We have shared that with the County Administrator, and we will schedule our joint committee meeting with the Board of Supervisors in February,” he said.
For the current fiscal year, Wood said the board has been very conservative with its spending the first semester.
“As of December, we’ve only spent around 35 percent of our non-personnel budget, which is good knowing that we are anticipating an increase in AEP (American Electric Power). So, we’re not excited, but we’re waiting to see what that increase will be for January,” he said.
Based on the school’s figures and enrollment, Wood said it appears like the RLE/RLM number that was requested is all the division will need.
“So, I know that they approved in our budget an additional $100,000, but I told them that as we move into the spring that I do not think that we’ll have to ask for that to be appropriated. So that would be $100,000 savings for the county,” he said.
*Approved personnel report as amended.
*Heard an update on grants and grant applications.
*Approved the consent agenda.
*Discussed the one percent sales tax project list.
*Approved the Patrick County High School (PCHS) Program of Studies.
*Approved the 2023-2024 School Calendar.
*Approved the Special Education Plan.
*Approved the addition of three school buses to the Feb. surplus sale.
Amy Walker attended the meeting virtually via Zoom.
