When the Caroline County Board of Supervisors and the school board held a joint meeting on May 27, school officials mentioned a lack of trust that the supervisors would keep their word regarding a promise to build a new elementary school.
In particular, school officials were apprehensive that if they allowed the supervisors to follow through on a plan to add four to six classrooms and a gymnasium to Bowling Green Elementary School and expand Madison Elementary, they would back out of their pledge to construct a new school.
During this past Tuesday’s board of supervisors meeting, one supervisor signaled that he doesn’t trust his colleagues to keep their word, either.
Jeff Black of the Western Caroline District voted against a Memorandum of Understanding with the school board that states the board of supervisors’ intentions for Bowling Green and Madison but does not mention a new school.
“I’m going to vote ‘no’ on this and the reason why I’m voting ‘no’ is we don’t have any guarantee of a new school,” said Black, a teacher at Spotsylvania High School. “Even though we’re saying verbally we do, we don’t have it in the motion. So, I have very little faith that it will happen … It was my understanding [that renovations] would not be in lieu of a new school, and I feel that’s slipping away from us.”
Mattaponi District Supervisor Floyd Thomas said the plan for a new school is not “slipping away” and reiterated that it will happen in the future. Reginald Underwood of the Reedy Church District and the board’s attorney both noted that the new school was not in the motion on May 27 to expand the two elementary schools and allow the school board to use reserve funds totaling $994,607 to add “learning cottages” or trailers to BGE.
Thomas later stated in a Facebook post that both boards and the community should come together to discuss the timetable for the renovations at the two schools and where a new school would be located.
“The county’s ability to borrow $50-$100 million or more will help determine what we do,” Thomas said.
Black was not the only public official with stern words for the supervisors.
On Wednesday, during the continuation of a school board meeting from Monday night, School Board Vice Chair Lydell Fortune expressed displeasure that the supervisors presented a plan to address school overcrowding, noting the differences in responsibilities between the boards.
Fortune was dismayed after the school board sent a letter to the supervisors stating their vote to keep pre-k students in their home schools, but 12 days later, the supervisors presented a plan suggesting otherwise.
“This action raised concern, not only because it disregarded our board’s decision, but because it overlooked or misunderstood this board’s constitutional role as the body tasked with the supervision of public education,” Fortune said. “The school board is a duly elected body, elected by the citizens of Caroline, not a body appointed [by the supervisors], such as the planning commission.”
School Board Chair Calvin Taylor of the Port Royal District said he knows the supervisors have a tough task because he served on that board for 20 years. But he said both boards must learn their jobs and “stay in our lane.”
“We’re going to have to come to the table and be honest with each other and put our personal feelings aside,” Taylor said. “There is no place on either of these elected positions for people who have axes to grind.”
Fortune went on to suggest a joint retreat between the boards so that they could get to know one another and discuss any philosophical differences. He said it appears that although there are three first-term members on the school board, past “friction” is impeding progress in working together.
School Board member JoWanda Rollins-Fells of the Reedy Church District said the friction predates her nine-year tenure. Rollins-Fells said both boards must hunker down and be willing to engage in a “productive struggle” to figure out the best way forward for students in the division.
“A lot of our problems could be resolved if we look at communication,” she said.
In other school board business, the board approved the school renovations, adopted the fiscal year 2026 budget and presented statistics on staff vacancies heading into the 2025-26 school year.
The overall budget is $65.3 million, a nearly $2 million increase from last year. A total of $18.9 million — a $1.2 million increase — came from local funding.
The county’s five schools have a combined 23 vacancies remaining for the upcoming school year, including 17 teachers (eight at the high school).
