Fredericksburg School Board Begins Updating Norms and Protocols, But Work is Unfinished
The Virginia School Board Association is facilitating the School Board's update of its governance norms and protocols.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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During a two-and-a-half hour meeting on Monday, the Fredericksburg School Board worked on updating its existing governance norms and drafting new ones, but did not officially adopt anything—nor did it have time to delve into a list of 20 protocols.
The protocols—which, along with the norms, were last updated in the fall of 2024 and most recently approved in January of 2025—cover such topics as how to develop meeting agendas, how to respond to staff or community comments, and expectations for participation in professional development, meetings, and conferences.
The meeting was scheduled to start at 6 p.m., but went into recess until about 6:30 as board members waited for newly re-elected Ward 4 representative Malvina Kay to arrive.
Kay, who has been on the board for 34 years, indicated this fall that she recently started a new job, making her availability to attend the session uncertain.
In the end, all current board members and the two incoming members—Ward 1 representative Andy Wolfenbarger and Ward 3 representative Annie Langdon, who both will take office in January—participated in the session, along with superintendent Marci Catlett.
Chair and outgoing Ward 1 representative Matt Rowe called for the work session in August. “I think it’s important to take the time to revisit these expectations together in a public and dedicated setting,” he said at the time. “It gives us the opportunity to ensure we’re operating with the same understanding that we continue to uphold the level of professionalism and accountability that the community expects from us.”
Samantha Bosserman, deputy executive director of the Virginia School Board Association, facilitated Monday’s session. She started by asking participants to use one word to describe their feelings going into the session. Answers ranged from “motivated” and “excited” from Langdon and At Large representative Jarvis Bailey, respectively; to “hopeful” and “open-minded” from Ward 2 representative Katie Pomeroy and Catlett, respectively; to “tired, if I’m being honest,” from Kay.
Participants discussed how individual board members should represent themselves when speaking in public and who has the authority to speak on behalf of the board.
Bosserman reminded board members that they “will always have their School Board Member hat on, no matter what. Participants felt the norms should include a request for board members to “be mindful about the implications” of any comments.
They also discussed how board members should request information from staff and in what cases the information received should be shared with the rest of the board.
Kay said that sometimes at School Board meetings, other members reference information that she did not receive or have time to digest.
Bosserman stressed that all requests from board members for information or reports from staff should go to the superintendent first. There consensus around the idea that if fulfilling an individual board member’s request has the potential to take a considerable amount of staff time, the full board should endorse the request before it goes further.
Bosserman suggested that Catlett could keep the entire board informed of requests from individual members through a weekly newsletter.
On the subject of generating significant work for staff, Pomeroy brought up the fact that requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) require more work for staff when School Board members use their personal accounts, instead of their school-issued accounts, for school division-related email correspondence.
All board members have school division email addresses, but Kay and Bailey also correspond from AOL and Gmail addresses. Kay said she received approval from a prior superintendent to use her personal email address, which she said she is able to access consistently while traveling for work. She said she thought the system was set up to forward emails sent to her school address to her personal address, but that this wasn’t actually happening until recently.
She added that when she does receive emails from people she doesn’t know, she assumes the sender has a problem with something and forwards the email to the superintendent.
Bosserman said that the VSBA “strongly suggests” that School Board members use their school-issued email accounts, specifically so that they can be responsive to FOIA requests.
Bosserman also said that regarding requests for information from staff, “it is imperative that trust of intent exists behind every request.” If board members do not trust their colleagues, they will find reasons to question why a request is being made, she said.
Participants agreed to combine two of the existing norms into one, emphasizing that the work of the Board is “policy and governance” and that Board members should focus on this work and “not interfere with the day-to-day operations of the school system, which is the responsibility of the superintendent.”
In addition to tweaking the existing norms, the board considered a list of 10 potential new norms proposed by Rowe. The top three, which participants discussed on Monday, are:
Public Service and Humility—Reaffirm that board members serve the community, not themselves, and that decisions should reflect humility, responsibility, and the public trust.
Commitment to Mission—Ensure all actions align with the division’s mission to educate and inspire every child, every day.
Stewardship of Taxpayer Resources—Emphasize prudent spending, reasonable budgeting, and making sure public funds support essential student needs before anything else.
Participants on Monday decided to expand #3 to include resources other than “taxpayer resources.” Catlett and Kay said the Fredericksburg Education Foundation has recently been working hard to raise funds for the division through community partnerships and grants.
All participants agreed that there was “no question” about the importance of Rowe’s #1 proposed new norm, and #2 was also added as a new norm.
The norms and protocols most recently approved in January of 2025 will remain in effect until the board finalizes and votes on the new set, Bosserman said. This will occur during future work sessions and meetings.
As a wrap-up question, she asked participants to use one word to describe their feelings at the end of the session.
Responses ranged from “anxious” from Langdon, who said she struggles with leaving work uncompleted; to “unfinished” from Pomeroy and interim Ward 2 representative Elizabeth Rehm; to “positive” and “hopeful” from Catlett and Bailey, respectively.
Bailey said the work accomplished on Monday “is not new,” but represents “the work of the board.”
“Everything we do is transparent,” he said. “I don’t want anybody to think this [work] is new.”
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