Southampton County school board approves special-education annual plan and routine expenditures; debates 2025-26 calendar and hears instructional, safety and ID

The Southampton County Public Schools board approved its special-education annual plan and the March bill list and heard several routine program and facilities requests, while devoting extended discussion to the proposed 2025-26 academic calendar.

The special-education annual plan was presented by Dr. Taylor, director of special education, who described the plan as an agreement between the local division and the Virginia Department of Education. "The annual plan is just a flow through operation...application between the local school board and the Department of Education," Dr. Taylor said. The plan documents included an interagency agreement with the sheriff’s office signed in November 2024, a stated maintenance-of-effort requirement, and program funding allocations. Dr. Taylor told the board the division’s maintenance-of-effort amount for special education this year is $5,900,000 and that floating funds for staff salaries, materials and equipment total $654,237; she said the division funds 27 special-education positions from those sources. The plan was moved by Mister Smith and seconded by Miss Lane; the board voted to approve the plan.

The board also reviewed the preliminary expenditure report for March and approved the March bill list. The finance report presented a revised local operating budget figure and month-end expenditures: the packet showed a revised local operating budget (as reported in the meeting materials), expenditures through March 31 and a remaining balance; the presenter said 60.94% of the local operating budget had been expended as of the report date. A motion to approve the bills as presented was called and the ayes carried.

Use-of-facility and travel requests were approved by the board with routine votes. The Franklin Southampton Concert Association (represented by Mrs. Carolyn Bill) asked to use school facilities for several concerts and requested fee waivers; the board approved the requests and noted the association had provided proof of insurance. Coach Travis Parker requested a school bus and approval for a football team visit to Chowan University on May 31 (30 students, five chaperones); a motion by Mister Scott to approve that trip passed.

Academic calendar: board members discussed the proposed 2025-26 calendar at length. Committee members including Dr. Taylor and Mr. Bill Hatch presented a staff-vetted option that the division’s staff had selected from two committee drafts. The recommended calendar is a traditional schedule with 182 instructional days, two weeks at Christmas, three days at Thanksgiving, an early dismissal on election day and a four-week spring break. Several board members said nearby divisions now use a 180-day calendar that would permit a full Thanksgiving week off and would allow the division to use asynchronous or virtual days for weather makeups. Supporters of the 182-day calendar said the extra days are intended to reduce learning loss and to provide built-in time for delays and unplanned closures. Board members asked for the underlying survey and staff input used by the calendar committee before future votes; a motion to adopt the staff-recommended calendar was made and discussed during the meeting.

Instructional update: Miss Gracia Deloitte presented the division’s instructional report and detailed Virginia Literacy Act implementation items. The spring testing window was described as opening April 21 and closing May 15, with score entry due by May 30; the division’s literacy plan submission is due June 30 and must include planned 4–8 implementation for 2025-26. The division has requested licenses for programs including Lexia, Zearn and Ignite and said it would work with the Virginia Department of Education on funding for those purchases.

Maintenance, operations and transportation: Mr. Bailey reported facility and transportation updates. The division will pilot new student ID cards that can be tapped on buses to notify parents when a child boards and disembarks; the division will receive four new fiscal-year 25 buses within the next one to two weeks, Mr. Bailey said. As part of an ongoing safety-grant project, administrators and front offices will receive emergency-button devices tied to the Southampton County Sheriff’s dispatch that operate over the school Wi‑Fi network; window film, lighting and fencing work and security-system upgrades are also in progress.

Ending: Board members approved routine motions on the record and asked staff for more documentation on the calendar committee’s survey and alternatives. The board did not change the division’s practice of having the calendar committee lead the selection but several members asked for at least two readings on future calendar proposals and for committee materials to be shared earlier in the meeting packet.