CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors received the School Board’s response to the resolution supervisors passed last week, but have not scheduled a November meeting between the two bodies, Board of Supervisors Chair Ned Gallaway said during Wednesday’s meeting. Gallaway said, despite the School Board’s request, no such meeting was imminent.
“At this point in time there is not a scheduled joint meeting between the two boards scheduled for November,” Gallaway said during the meeting. “However, I would say that it would be premature to even be discussing that until they have a full opportunity to discuss, as a board, the resolution that was passed.”
The School Board meets Thursday, its first full opportunity to discuss the resolution supervisors passed at a special meeting last week.
“Then, we’ll see how it goes from there,” Gallaway said.
Gallaway spoke for about three minutes on the topic during Wednesday’s meeting, acknowledging receipt of the School Board’s letter. While the School Board response letter went out via ParentSquare and to the media Saturday, Gallaway said supervisors received it Monday. He noted that the School Board did make public the scope of its independent investigation into the division’s response to the Michael Swiney case, something supervisors had asked for in their resolution.
Swiney is the former Hollymead Elementary School staffer indicted on 20 counts of sex crimes against students at the school.
“There are plenty of items in the resolution that the School Board has yet to discuss, which they’ve also acknowledged in a public statement saying they would be doing so with more detail at their meeting scheduled for (Thursday),” Gallaway said. “Expecting they will do that (Thursday) then we will see how it goes from there.”
During a special meeting Oct. 15, the board unanimously passed a resolution that formally requested the school board, among other things, confirm that adequate protection is provided to safeguard mandated reporters, establish an anonymous whistle-blower reporting mechanism, develop and publicize a crisis-management plan, and have an independent audit to evaluate its FOIA compliance.
The board also formally sent the resolution to the Virginia Department of Education, and requested a review of Albemarle County Public Schools’ compliance with mandated-reporting laws and related regulations, as well as technical assistance, monitoring support or division-level review as deemed appropriate by the VDOE.
The Albemarle County School Board in a letter sent out Oct. 17 that the Board of Supervisors formally received Oct. 19 thanked the county’s Board of Supervisors for its Thursday resolution regarding legal issues within the school division and requested the two bodies schedule a joint work session in November to further discuss the topic.
“The Board of Supervisors expressed their hope that the resolution would be received as an offer of support,” School Board Chair Dr. Rebecca Berlin wrote in a statement on behalf of the board Saturday. “We do receive it that way, and we accept that offer. The School Board and the Board of Supervisors serve the same families, and the work ahead calls for both bodies to work closely together on behalf of the people of Albemarle County.”
