In 2021, when local school divisions were hosting classes virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rich Lieberman’s son was one of the few remaining Spotsylvania County students attending in person.
But Lieberman began to pay more attention to division policy after the school board voted to have all students attend school virtually.
“My son is deaf and legally blind with other ancillary issues,” Lieberman said. “You can imagine what ‘virtual’ means. It’s nothing.”
That experience inspired Lieberman to launch a campaign for the Lee Hill District School Board seat in 2021. However, he was defeated by incumbent Lisa Phelps, who announced in May she is not running for reelection this fall.
Lieberman is back on the ballot for this year’s election, and he’s not alone. There are three candidates in the Lee Hill District, all of whom have positioned special needs students near the forefront of their platform.
Rich Lieberman is making another run for the Lee Hill District school board seat in Spotsylvania County after he was defeated by Lisa Phelps in 2021. (Photo courtesy of Rich Lieberman)
Gabrielle Sulzbach Pickover, an educational diagnostician in Fredericksburg City Schools, is a former special education teacher in Spotsylvania. She worked at Battlefield and Parkside elementary schools from 2005-11.
Todd Rump, who lost bids for the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors in 2017 and ‘21, interned at Chancellor Elementary as a school social worker. He also spent nine years with Rappahannock CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), whose mission is to ensure every child in the region grows up in a safe, permanent home.
“That experience kind of encouraged me to pursue this new objective,” Rump said … “Working with kids in the community made me realize there are challenges that kids are going through, and I’ve had a positive impact on a lot of kids through those two endeavors.”
Pickover said she wants to return the focus in the school division to the students. She was also a special education teacher in Fredericksburg before being promoted to diagnostician two years ago.
In her new position, she performs testing on students who might have a learning disability. The position was division-wide in 2024-25, but this year she will be in the preschool and Gladys West Elementary after FCPS hired additional diagnosticians.
“Being from the world of special education, I like to know that all learners are included,” Pickover said. “Inclusion is very important.”
Fredericksburg educator Gabrielle Sulzbach Pickover is making a run for the Lee Hill District seat on the Spotsylvania County School Board. (Photo courtesy of Gabrielle Sulzbach Pickover)
In addition to the desire to ensure that special needs students have a rewarding experience in SCPS, Lieberman, Pickover and Rump all discussed with the Free Press, issues of school board civility, developing a stronger relationship with the board of supervisors and the extent to which school divisions should be involved in social issues such as housing, food insecurity and teen violence.
Lieberman said while he had high hopes that the current Spotsylvania School Board would be less contentious when three new board members took office in 2024, he does not believe that is the case.
“It’s still bad,” Lieberman said. “I talk about the April school board meeting with people with the political endorsements on both sides arguing and fighting so bad, kids were afraid of our board.”
Pickover said the tenor of the county’s school board is one reason she decided to get involved and run for the seat. Pickover said when she worked in Spotsylvania previously, the actions of school officials were not a prominent issue.
“There was a lot of civility,” Pickover said. “When people disagreed, they were able to talk about it and work it out and try to compromise. Now, it feels like people are digging into their point of view and not willing to view the other side … I’m trying to get the partisan stuff out and focus more on the kids.”
Despite Pickover’s pledge to be nonpartisan, she is anticipating an endorsement from the Spotsylvania Democratic Committee.
Rump said the reputation of the school board is is “utter chaos,” and he believes his calm demeanor can be an asset to the division and Lee Hill’s constituents.
“When I was kind of looking at what opportunity I had for public service, I think the school board became more appealing in having the opportunity to restore some credibility and some faith in the institution of the school board,” Rump said. “You go door-to-door, and you can talk to people and there’s not a lot of credibility in the institution. So, feeling like I could play a small role in restoring some of that credibility was appealing to me.”
Each of the three candidates said they agree with Superintendent Clint Mitchell’s approach toward building an amicable relationship with the board of supervisors by attacking a nearly $47 million budget shortfall incrementally. Pickover said if the school board throws “the kitchen sink” at the supervisors during budget season, “there’s a whole resistance to everything.”
“We can’t stand up and say, ‘You guys are horrible and you’re not funding schools,’” Lieberman added. “It doesn’t work. You have to actually work collaboratively. I told Dr. Mitchell that he took one of the things I was going to talk about in my campaign off the table because he started doing that.”
All three candidates said they have empathy for the increasing number of children living in poverty throughout the division. All students in SCPS schools will have free lunch this upcoming school year because of the Community Eligibility Provision, a program that allows free meals for students in high-poverty districts.
Lieberman and Pickover agreed that it is difficult to address a student’s educational needs without their physical needs being met. Lieberman suggested more private-public partnerships to accomplish this goal.
Rump, meanwhile, said the school division’s resources may be stretched too thin to manage issues beyond the classroom.
“I think with local law enforcement, we ask too much of them beyond their expertise,” Rump said. “I would say the same thing with the schools. There are social workers, there are counselors … but I would see them as more triage people to help families, experts that can put them in the right positions to address some of those issues that are outside of the school.
“I think there are a lot of challenges Spotsylvania schools are dealing with and not enough resources. I think until you can address all those issues, you’re stretching our resources too far to go out into the community to address some of those issues.”
Lieberman said Lee Hill voters should choose him because he’s the only parent on the ballot, as well as a businessman who negotiated seven-figure deals.
“I don’t come from a bureaucracy,” he said.
Lieberman said he learned from his run in 2021. He acknowledged that lewd social media comments he made proved damaging to his campaign but added, “I could’ve deleted it and nobody would have known about it. I chose to own it. I think most of the voters seem to understand that now.”
Rump said voters have “three distinct options.” Pickover said that level of competition is beneficial to the Lee Hill District and the county.
“I think it brings people’s attention to the issues, and I feel the more people that compete, the better,” Pickover said. “I feel like more people are talking about what’s important.”
Rump said his experience providing oversight to nonprofits and other advisory positions distinguishes him from the other candidates. He said he’s made decisions that have had a substantial impact on others.
“I think that’s one of the main jobs of a school board member — providing oversight, providing direction and I [have a vision],” Rump said. “It’s academic excellence … “I think every parent that sends their kids to school wants them to excel academically.”
