Southampton County School Board, staff plan for ’24-’25 school year

The Southampton County School Board gathered for a special work session in the Southampton High School library on Monday, July 15, to discuss plans and priorities for the 2024-25 school year.

Following are some highlights from the meeting.

MISSION AND VISION REMAIN THE SAME

The board discussed making changes to Southampton County Public Schools’ vision and mission statements but ultimately decided to leave them unchanged for the 2024-25 school year.

The school division’s vision and mission statements read as follows:

“The vision of Southampton County Public Schools is that all students will be successful, productive, lifelong learners in an ever-changing world.

“The mission of Southampton County Public Schools through the combined efforts of the staff, students, families and the community is to ensure a quality education in a safe environment that will prepare students to be successful learners and productive citizens in an ever-changing society.”

Each of the eight board members present for the work session — only Donna Rountree was absent — talked about what they would like to see for SCPS over the next three to five years, and there was a significant focus on facilities.

POSSIBLE CHANGES TO ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Superintendent Dr. Gwendolyn P. Shannon provided some insight into the potential organizational structure of the school division for 2024-25.

“The chief academic officer position will be vacant for this year,” she said. “I don’t plan to fill that position right now. Because of the budget cuts, we’re going to need that money, so I’m trying to save as much money as I can, and a lot of the savings is going to come from attrition, so that’s where we are.”

She indicated that SCPS is in talks with a company regarding outsourcing maintenance, custodial and janitorial services.

“To be honest, we thought we were ready to bring it to the board, but we, right now, are in discussions about the health insurance,” she said. “The health insurance is $228,000, and I’m thinking if we can (adjust) that $228,000 in health insurance, we may be able to move forward with that particular company.

“But with that company, for our legacy employees, we want to be able to continue to offer them health insurance for themselves at zero cost,” she continued. “But in order for us to do that, it’s going to cost $12,000 per employee, and we’re proposing that 19 of our employees join their workforce, and so that ends up being $228,000.

“So what we’re going to do is go back, talk to our employees, see who really wants to continue and who doesn’t, and then if they continue, who plans on taking health insurance and who does not, and then that will help us to determine whether or not we can move forward,” she said.

School Board Member Denise Bunn questioned why the school division would pay for the health insurance of individuals who are no longer employed by the division.

“I want to do right by our employees,” Shannon said, “and if we are going to go with a third-party company, I want to at least give them the opportunity to, first, work for that particular company and not be out of a job, and then second, one of the perks of working for Southampton is that employees have zero-cost insurance. So for legacy employees, if they are going to continue with that company, I really would like for those employees to have zero-cost insurance.”

She indicated that Will Melbye’s position of chief operations officer will remain for right now.

She said that if SCPS enters into an arrangement with the company it is talking to, the division will no longer need the maintenance supervisor position nor the custodial supervisor position.

“We are also beginning talks about outsourcing transportation services,” she said, noting that depending on the model agreed to in those talks, the need for someone managing operations within the division could be enhanced.

STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

The board discussed at length what it wants to see in its strategic plan for 2024-25.

For budget and finance, the board talked about producing a written report that shows the cost of moving to pay employees twice a month. This would involve a cost analysis and return-on-investment report.

Echoing Shannon’s comments from earlier in the meeting, the board encouraged exploring the outsourcing of maintenance, custodial and transportation services.

For community relations, the board had a wide variety of ideas. They included making improvements and updates to the school website; creating an opt-in for digitized distribution of the division newsletter; holding board listening sessions that could piggyback off of parent/teacher conferences; having journalism students highlight successful SCPS alumni, including NFL players, through written and video content; and more.

For facilities and management, the board discussed drafting an updated capital improvement plan; exploring the possibility of outsourcing services; and establishing an ad hoc facilities committee that includes two board members and two central office personnel that would report back to the school board.

For instructional programs/student achievement, the board discussed continuing Saturday school, before school and after school offerings; continuing presenting the instructional report; continuing with Virtual Virginia or similar online services; partnering with Franklin to offer career and technical education classes that SCPS does not offer; exploring automotive mechanic training, including looking at a private funding source; exploring training for physical therapy assistants; exploring JROTC and a behavioral health tech program.

For human resources, the board discussed having HR updates at each board meeting and exploring mental health training for teachers and staff.

For food service, the board discussed continuing to address food insecurities and partnering with outside entities to provide meals for the weekend. The board talked about partnering with the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore to use school sites for food distribution, to educate students on where food comes from and to help set up field trips allowing students to perform service work.

The board discussed exploration of a farm-to-table program at all elementary schools and partnering with Virginia State University, Virginia Tech, a co-op or a similar entity to conduct a student assembly focused on farm-to-table matters and career readiness.

The board also talked about partnering with the Virginia Farm Bureau to offer instruction on agriculture in the classroom.

For board development, the board discussed the goal of board members attending and participating in at least two board professional development opportunities conducted by state or national organizations supporting school boards.

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