School board approves surplus funds use, personnel incentives and operational items

At the meeting, the Prince Edward County School Board approved a package of administrative and operational items that included acceptance of county carryover funds for capital improvements, authorization to participate in a regional fuel consortium, and several personnel and surplus‑property actions.

Virginia Jones said the county is returning a portion of carryover funds to the schools after a reported surplus. She reported the division’s surplus figure of $2,787,230 and said the county was returning half, which she identified as $1,039,101.50 to the school division’s capital improvement program (CIP). The board moved to accept that allocation for CIP improvements; the motion was approved unanimously.

The board also considered a prospective incentive payment tied to a General Assembly initiative. Jones described the expected program as a one‑time bonus based on Standards of Quality (SOQ) positions: she requested appropriation of funds to cover incentives for full‑time employees ($1,000 per eligible SOQ position) and a smaller amount for part‑time staff (proposed $500). She noted the governor had not finalized approval of the bonus at the time of the meeting. The board voted to appropriate funds as presented.

On operations, the board approved participation in a fuel purchasing consortium and authorized school division officials to complete the fuel bidding process on the division’s behalf. The board also approved a delegation of signature authority in the superintendent’s absence to Richard Good (identified in the meeting as assistant superintendent for operations) and Virginia Jones.

Other administrative approvals included continuing the division’s long‑standing practice of not charging tuition for out‑of‑town students (the board approved policy JEC‑R to that effect), and authorizing the surplus and auction of older buses; staff reported individual buses as candidates for surplus due to mechanical issues and repair costs.

Several routine technology and records items were approved: the board approved a technology‑use policy reading, a technology surplus list for disposal, and designated Virginia Jones as a records officer for the division’s records retention processes (with an additional records officer identified to serve with the Library of Virginia). The board approved the personnel report and upheld a discipline committee decision as presented.

Most items were approved by voice vote with “all in favor” recorded; specific roll‑call tallies were not recorded in the discussion notes for each motion.