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By Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
The Botetourt County School Board held a special meeting last Thursday to select its chair and vice chair for 2020.
Michelle Crook, who has represented the Buchanan District since 2017, was named chair, a role that she held in 2018. She replaced Michael Beahm, who declined to seek re-election last year after representing the Valley District for 24 years.
“This time around as chair is a little different in that all of the sudden, I’m the most senior member of the School Board, which was not the case in 2018,” she said. “We’re a young board in terms of experience, but we have a lot of energy and enthusiasm. It’s exciting to have a new perspective and new energy coming on board.”
She noted that the first year in office for the three new members who were elected last November will be a learning curb because they will be learning how the School Board conducts business. Because of that, one of her priorities is to acclimate the new members.
Additionally, she said, she will be working to support Dr. Lisa Chen, who is still in her first year as superintendent of the division. “I’m really on board for the priorities she has set for the division this year,” Crook said. Some of those priorities set forth by Chen include the budget process, which she is shifting to a line item budget for greater transparency, a capital improvement plan for the division, which Crook said is going to be “huge,” and the development of more reading specialists, specifically at the elementary level. She added that she was happy to see the establishment of a safe schools taskforce. “Keeping our kids safe is the number one priority,” she said.
Crook stressed that her selection as chair during the county’s 250th anniversary is very exciting for her. “It’s really special for me,” she said. To celebrate the anniversary, the school division will have a special seal on its diplomas and will incorporate a book on the history of the county that Ed McCoy is writing in the high school curriculum this year. “It’s very exciting to be a part of the School Board during this historic year.”
Going forward, Crook said that the division will continue to have to address the challenge of teacher recruitment. Other school divisions, she said, are having similar difficulties. “There just aren’t as many college students going into education as there were at one time,” she said. “All of the divisions are competing for these teachers. We’ve got to expand our focus in this area to recruit teachers that have the credentials to teach dual enrollment classes at the high school level because the students and parents want those dual enrollment classes if at all possible.” In an attempt to attract teachers, the school division is getting creative by expanding the territory that it recruits from. The division also reinstated its reimbursement offering for teachers who want to obtain dual enrollment teaching qualifications when Chen assumed her role as superintendent of the division. In that vein, the division is researching to start a cohort for a reading specialist master’s degree from Longwood University that would allow teachers to obtain additional credentials.
Crook added that the division still has one step correction to go for teacher salaries in order to fully catch up with where salaries should have been if it hadn’t been for the Great Recession. With that in mind, she said that the division is also looking to reduce the out of pocket cost for health insurance that has gone up over the years.
Anna Weddle, who has represented the Amsterdam District since 2018, was named vice chair of the board.
“I appreciate the board’s confidence me as vice chair. I welcome new board members Dana McCaleb, Matt East, and Tim Davidick. Although our board’s years of experience are not numerous, we all bring fresh ideas and energy to 2020. We will work together to support Dr. Chen and her team launch new programs and initiatives for our children to get a world class education in Botetourt County,” Weddle said.
The next School Board meeting is tomorrow at the Central Administration Office in Fincastle at 6:30 p.m.
