BREAKING: YCSD School Board Retreat Cancelled… Again

The YCSD School Board rescheduled retreat has been cancelled. A new time and date for the retreat has not been selected or announced.

In a hastily scheduled Special Meeting of the YCSD School Board on Wednesday, May 29 at 5 p.m. the newly appointed Board Chair, Kimberly Goodwin, requested a vote on delaying the Board’s retreat scheduled for Friday, May 31. According to Goodwin, who had assumed the Chair position a little more than 24 hours prior, the reason for the cancellation was so the board could prioritize teambuilding, code of conduct, board norms and protocols, and come to a consensus on training topics.

The retreat, now twice-cancelled, had courted controversy for the training sources that had been chosen by the former Board Chair Lynda Fairman. The original Board retreat agenda listed Mr. Michael Sylvester, Esq., Founding Freedoms Law Center and Ms. Sherri Story, School Board Member Alliance (SBMA) Executive Director as presenters. Board member James Richardson stated in a previous Board meeting that in his opinion Mr. Sylvester lacked experience. The YCSD Board Attorney, instead of Sylvester, could have done the training at no cost, Richardson pointed out. Having Ms. Story from SBMA provide training appeared to be a violation of Board policy BHB, in Richardson’s estimation.

Story expressed her dismay and disappointment about the decision to cancel the retreat in a social media post:

A special meeting yesterday is called, the Republican majority outs [sic] the chair and the “NEW” chair sends me this message: “I would like to hold off on having training this Friday 5/31 until the Board can have a retreat to decide its goals/objectives and plan going forward. It is important to me that all board members have input regarding any collective training.”

So the CHAIR of YORK COUNTY, Kimberly Goodwin, decided within 12 hours of her board vote to UNDO a legal vote of the entire board!! HOW ABOUT THAT!

Does the VSBA believe that the CHAIR of a board has the power to undo a vote of the entire board??

The vote to cancel the retreat was 3-0. The motion was made by James E Richardson and seconded by Mark Shafer. Richardson, Shafer, and Goodwin voting in favor. Former Board Chair Lynda Fairman and Board member Zoran Pajevic did not attend the meeting.

When a new time and date are selected, it will be posted on #SaveYCSD.