BREAKING NEWS: Stafford Board of Supervisors Cancels This Afternoon's Joint Meeting with School Board
Superintendent Thomas Taylor informed School Board members this morning
by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors this morning cancelled a joint meeting with the School Board scheduled for this afternoon.
Division superintendent Thomas Taylor communicated the news to School Board members in an email this morning.
“The Board of Supervisors has canceled their participation in tonight's meeting,” Taylor wrote.
The School Board will still meet this afternoon to discuss budget matters, as well as questions from the supervisors about maintenance projects that have been completed or deferred (and why they were deferred).
The cancellation of the joint meeting comes two days after the School Board decided to continue construction of elementary school 19 at Brooke Point High School, despite pressure from supervisors to build the school at Embrey Mill instead, and two days after the Board of Supervisors voted to defer advertising a public hearing on issuance of bonds to pay for construction of high school 6, elementary schools 18 and 19, and the rebuild of Drew Middle School.
Monica Gary, Aquia district representative to the Board of Supervisors, told the Advance that her preference was to keep the meeting.
“I found out after the decision had been made that I was not given all the relevant information by our chair when asked whether I would like to cancel,” Gary said. “The reality is that both Boards need to be accountable, professional, and stop politicizing our children’s future.”
The meeting for this evening is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. The only item on the agenda is the school division’s budget for fiscal year 2025.
School Board members also learned shortly after noon this afternoon that the Courthouse Community Center, where the scheduled meeting was to be held, would now be closed.
The meeting will instead be held in the School Board chambers at the Alvin York Bandy complex.
In a statement provided to the Advance, School Board Chair Maureen Siegmund said, “I was not aware of the meeting being cancelled prior to receiving [an email from Supervisor Meg Bohmke] around 9:30 this morning. I'm deeply disappointed that not only did the BOS pull out of this meeting so close to its scheduled start time, but that the County Parks & Rec Department would also rescind our meeting space.”
“We will still hold the meeting; however, it will take place in our School Board Chambers,” Siegmund continued. “Our board has important topics to discuss around our FY2025 budget and our school's capital & maintenance needs. We will continue to put forth a good faith effort to meet with the supervisors and develop a budget that satisfies both the county’s and the school division’s priorities. We just hope that the Board of Supervisors will acknowledge how important the schools are to the community.”
This story has been updated to include a statement from Maureen Siegmund.
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