Spotsylvania School Board Archives

Parents, School Board Member Ask Courts to Review Decisions Around Hiring of Spotsylvania Superintendent

October 24, 2022October 23, 2022 Eric Burk

Two legal efforts are challenging the Spotsylvania School Board’s decision to hire former Greene County Administrator Mark Taylor as superintendent. Two district parents are asking the Spotsylvania Circuit Court to review that decision, seeking an injunction block Taylor’s appointment, and school board member Nicole Cole is appealing the Virginia Board of Education’s (VBOE) decision to license Taylor as a superintendent, according to WJLA.

“We intend to show under that code that the actions of the Spotsylvania County School Board were both capricious and an abuse of discretion in direct violation of Va. Code Section 22.1-87,” plaintiffs Jeffrey Glazer and Christina Ramos said in their petition against the school board.

Virginia Board of Education Certifies Spotsylvania Superintendent Candidate

September 17, 2022September 16, 2022 Eric Burk

The Virginia Board of Education (BOE) voted six to two to certify Mark Taylor, allowing him to be appointed by the Spotsylvania School Board as superintendent.

Taylor’s opponents criticized his close ties to new board Chair Kirk Twigg, racial Facebook posts allegedly made by Taylor, and his application for licensure which didn’t include relevant experience as an educator, instead seeking to qualify under an option for candidates with a master’s degree, three years of experience in a senior leadership position, and a recommendation from a school board.

Battle over Spotsylvania Superintendent Spills into Virginia Board of Education Meeting

August 24, 2022August 23, 2022 Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia – The Virginia Board of Education postponed certifying Greene County Administrator Mark Taylor for Spotsylvania County supervisor in its August 17 meeting after parents and school board members offered public comments criticizing Taylor’s qualifications and his ties to school board chair Kirk Twigg. School board member and former chair Dawn Shelley said Taylor hadn’t received a recommendation from the school board, which hadn’t voted in public meeting to select Taylor out of the two finalists.

“Whatever the Department of Education received from the chairman of the Spotsylvania school board was fraudulent. The application was incomplete,” Shelley told the BOE.

Virginia’s Spotsylvania School Board Reverses Vote on Removing Explicit Books

November 18, 2021November 17, 2021 Eric Burk

The Spotsylvania County School Board has rescinded a vote to begin removing explicit books from its libraries just a week after unanimously passing the motion. The 5-2 vote came after public outcry and an hours-long public comment period.

“I admit that we may have made a hasty vote to remove sexually explicit materials without the appropriate discussions about what was already in our policy,” member Lisa Phelps said in WFVA video of the meeting.

Spotsylvania County School Board Passes Motion to Remove Sexually Explicit Material from Libraries

November 11, 2021November 10, 2021 Eric Burk

The Spotsylvania County School Board voted six to zero, with one member absent, to remove “sexually explicit” material from school libraries. During public comment in the Monday school board meeting, parent Christina Burruss called attention to content on school library web app Destiny Discover.

“My daughter is a freshman at Riverbend High School and it was just brought to my attention of the books they have online there for the children to read. I went on there by accident and found that the first page that all of the books were listed was broken down into mostly LGBTQIA related fiction stories,” Burruss said.

Roundup: Fight for Schools Submits Petition to Recall Loudoun School Board Member Beth Barts; Other Virginia School Board Updates

August 26, 2021August 25, 2021 Eric Burk

Fight for Schools PAC announced Wednesday that they have collected 158 percent of the signatures necessary to ask a court to recall Loudoun School Board Member Beth Barts.

“For five months, Loudoun County has been at the center of local, state, national, and even international media attention. Much of this is due to the actions of Beth Barts. She has shown a complete inability to comply with the law, her own code of conduct, and the basic decency that accompanies being an elected official in the United States of America,” Fight for Schools Executive Director Ian Prior said in a press release.