Portsmouth school board elects chair, vice chair and officers; renews superintendent authority and names delegates

The Portsmouth Public School Board on Jan. 9, 2025 unanimously elected Dr. Cardell Patillo as chair and Lakisha Atkinson as vice chair and approved a slate of administrative appointments and committee assignments at its reorganizational meeting.

The moves — procedural but required annually — included election of Kathy Chambers as board clerk, appointment of Brenda Stewart as deputy clerk, designation of Theodore Folt as the board’s agent for physical concerns and Dr. Bracey as deputy agent, and reauthorization of the superintendent’s annual authority to assign or reassign principals, teachers and staff during the school year. The board also named delegates and alternates to several external bodies, including the Virginia School Boards Association convention, the Governor’s School, WHRO and the Access College Foundation.

Why this matters: the reorganizational votes set who will lead the board and represent Portsmouth Public School Division in regional and statewide forums for the coming year, and the superintendent-authority resolution renews an annual administrative power that allows the superintendent to make personnel assignments during the school year without separate board action on each placement.

The board opened with a roll call that established eight members present and one absent. After nominations and a voice/roll-call process, the board recorded the following formal outcomes (all actions below passed by unanimous vote among members present unless otherwise noted):

- Election of chair: Dr. Cardell Patillo was the only nominee and was elected chair by roll-call vote. (Outcome: approved.)

- Election of vice chair: Lakisha Atkinson was nominated and elected vice chair. (Outcome: approved.)

- Election of clerk: Kathy Chambers was nominated and elected school board clerk. (Outcome: approved.)

- Election/appointment of deputy clerk: Brenda Stewart was nominated and approved as deputy clerk. (Outcome: approved.)

- Superintendent authority: The board reauthorized the superintendent’s annual authority to assign and reassign principals, teachers and staff throughout the school year; the board chair noted that this authority must be renewed each year for it to remain in effect. (Outcome: approved.)

- Agent and deputy agent for physical concerns: The board named Theodore Folt (described in the meeting as the division’s current CFO) as agent and Dr. Bracey as deputy agent for handling physical concerns for the division. (Outcome: approved.)

- Superintendent designee in absence of superintendent: The board designated Mr. Folt as the superintendent designee to handle day-to-day responsibilities in the superintendent’s absence. (Outcome: approved.)

- Delegates and alternates: The board appointed delegates and alternates to multiple external groups. Among those named in the meeting record were: Irene Boone as delegate (with Leticia Sessoms as alternate) for the Virginia School Boards Association convention; Dr. Jacqueline Walker as director for the Governor’s School with Miss Betrell as alternate; Dr. Walker as the board’s representative to WHRO with Lakisha Atkinson as alternate; and Lakisha Atkinson as delegate with Leticia Sessoms as alternate to the Access College Foundation. The board also confirmed representatives for the CTE advisory body and regional educational consortia; the meeting packet circulated to members contained the full list of committee assignments. (Outcomes: approved.)

Board members discussed committee assignments and said the chair will appoint special committees; the board voted on statutorily required board-and-commission assignments. The chair explained plans to expand the Committee for Equity and Inclusion’s activity and to increase representation on special-education advisory bodies.

The board then voted to enter a closed session under the provisions of Section 2.2‑3711 of the Code of Virginia to consider personnel matters, limited to the assignment, performance and resignation of specific school employees as permitted under subsection A.1. A roll-call motion to enter closed session passed by unanimous vote of members present.

The reorganizational meeting was procedural in tone: nominations occurred by hand-raise, little debate followed the nominations, and roll-call votes were used to record each formal approval. The board chair and vice chair emphasized the annual nature of the superintendent authority item and circulated committee-assignment sheets so members could compare last year’s and this year’s appointments. The board chair noted an upcoming agenda item involving a disciplinary case that will appear under executive content in board documents.

The board did not adopt any new policy language at the meeting; the actions recorded were elections, appointments and the routine annual reauthorization of administrative authority. No substantive policy deliberations or contested votes were recorded in the transcript.