UPDATE: SBMA Rejected! Fairman Lone Vote Against VSBA

Last night at the April 22 the York County School Division Board meeting, Chair Lynda Fairman cast the lone vote against obtaining policy services from the nonpartisan Virginia School Board Alliance (VSBA). Fairman stood alone as her fellow board members supported the VSBA over the newly-formed and explicitly conservative School Board Member Alliance (SBMA).

As rumored last week, the York County School Division (YCSD) was expected to backtrack on the vote taken in March to obtain policy services from both the nonpartisan VSBA and the partisan SBMA. The attempt to reverse course was placed on the Board agenda as “unfinished business” and addressed at last night’s meeting.

Fairman tried to use parliamentary wrangling to erase the past vote and wipe the slate clean but her efforts were challenged by other board members and a community member in the audience who had come prepared with his own copy of Robert’s Rules of Order. Clarifying comments from the School Board’s legal counsel set the matter straight after Fairman’s confusing efforts to bully her way into a new vote. The previous choice from the March meeting was amended to remove SBMA and instead remain with the trustworthy VSBA. Despite earlier backing for SBMA, Kim Goodwin and Zoran Pajevic joined VSBA supporters Mark Schafer and James Richardson in voting affirmatively.

Only after the vote in March to obtain services from both policy organizations did the new SBMA announce that it has an “exclusivity clause” which would prevent the school division from paying for both. By backtracking on the March vote, the York County school board would have effectively been ratifying three members’ individual choices over the vote of the whole board and opening itself to legal peril, as SBMA does not offer legal review of proposed school policies.

YCSD has been a member of VSBA for many years and obtains legal guidance on new policies from the new organization, among other benefits. VSBA is used by almost every school district in Virginia. On the other hand, SBMA is a brand new organization founded by disgraced school board member Sherri Story after she came under fire for racist social media postings. Prior to a presentation by Victoria Manning (also a school board member who came under fire for racist comments) on their services in March, the SBMA scrubbed its website of right-wing content in an attempt to allay concerns raised by York Count residents.