Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Board Votes topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
School board approves VSBA conduct code and block of policy revisions, OKs cell‑tower upgrade at Mary Peake Elementary
Summary
On Feb. 12 the Hampton City School Board approved the VSBA code of conduct for board members and approved a block of policy revisions that included a communication lease agreement allowing Crown Castle/T‑Mobile to upgrade antennas at Mary Peake Elementary School; votes were unanimous.
The Hampton City School Board on Feb. 12 approved the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) code of conduct for school-board members and approved a block of policy revisions that included a communication lease agreement permitting Crown Castle and T‑Mobile to upgrade antennas at Mary Peake Elementary School.
The votes matter because they finalize policy revisions and clear a communications-site consent that staff said requires school‑board approval before work can begin on Crown Castle towers co‑located at Mary Peake. Division staff said the requested T‑Mobile upgrades involve no ground disturbance and therefore do not trigger a rental‑fee increase under the current contract.
Chief Operations Officer Dr. Dan Bowling presented the communications request to the board, saying: “T‑Mobile has requested the school board’s approval to upgrade a number of its older cell antennas on cell towers owned by Crown Castle located at Mary Peake Elementary School. There is no groundwork associated with this request, and therefore are not eligible for any rental fee increase.”
Procedural steps and votes - The board voted to move deliberation item 5.01 (the Crown Castle/T‑Mobile consent forms for Mary Peake) to the action calendar; the motion to move the item was made by board member Joe Kilgore and seconded by Jason Samuels. The motion passed by voice vote. - Action Item 6.01 (VSBA code of conduct for school board members) was moved by Vice Chair Stephanie Jackson Afongia and seconded by Joe Kilgore; roll-call votes were recorded as unanimous (see vote record below). The motion carried. - Action Items 6.02 through 6.09 were approved by a single block motion (moved by Vice Chair Stephanie Jackson Afongia; seconded by Jason Samuels). The block included policy revisions and the communication lease agreement listed as 6.09; that block motion carried by unanimous roll call.
Votes at a glance - 6.01 VSBA code of conduct for school-board members — Mover: Stephanie Jackson Afongia; Second: Joe Kilgore; Vote: Solfanja/Afongia (aye), Dr. Tina Banks Gray (aye), Anne Cherry (aye), Joe Kilgore (aye), Dr. Richard Mason (aye), Jason Samuels (aye), Dr. Reginald Woodhouse (aye); Outcome: approved. - 6.02–6.08 Various policy revisions and new GBP reading specialist policy — Mover: Stephanie Jackson Afongia; Second: Jason Samuels; Vote: unanimous; Outcome: approved as part of block. - 6.09 Communication lease agreement for Mary Peake Elementary School (Crown Castle/T‑Mobile consent forms) — Mover to move to action: Joe Kilgore; Second to move: Jason Samuels. Final approval: included in block 6.02–6.09 and recorded as approved by unanimous roll call; Notes: staff said no ground work and no rental fee increase under current contract; Crown Castle consent forms were presented for board approval so work may begin.
The board took no roll-call votes against any item; motions carried as described above. Under the public-comment protocol, board members did not engage directly with commenters on these items during the meeting; staff will follow up on questions that require research.
No ordinance, statute or grant action was taken; these were internal policy approvals and a contract/consent action related to existing communications-site agreements.
