By Charlotte Matherly, contributor
School safety, employee retention and student behavior are some of the main focuses for the Rockingham County School Board over the next five years, according to a blueprint in the works Superintendent Larry Shifflett presented at Monday’s meeting.
The comprehensive plan, which encapsulates the school board’s main objectives through 2029, will define this board’s goals and, potentially, its legacy. The three newest board members, who now make up a majority of the board, will wrap up their first terms in 2028 while Jackie Lohr and board chair Matt Cross are up for reelection in 2025.
“I wanted to just sort of brainstorm, talk about ideas, ask the board literally, ‘What will be your legacy?’” Shifflett said. “When you’re no longer a board member, what do you want to point to and say, ‘I was a part of executing that thing or building this program?’”
Six major components headline the plan: safety, academic excellence, employee retention, sense of community, student behavioral health and wellness, and stewardship.
The board has taken actions related to some of those priorities, such as hiring a school safety coordinator, but others are more ongoing projects, like creating a culture of belonging for all students and families and redistricting attendance as necessary to best use RCPS buildings and money.
Other notable additions include launching the lab school with JMU and Blue Ridge Community College, securing a site for the agricultural land lab, increasing security on buses, allowing additional planning time for elementary teachers, increasing working conditions, building a drug awareness program and educating students on the mental-health pitfalls of cell phones and social media.
Board members didn’t discuss the comprehensive plan at length on Monday but plan to solicit feedback from teachers, parents and the community before drawing up a final draft.
Board member Jackie Lohr said she’d like to see more of a focus on enrollment projections for the coming years so the district can plan ahead for where it’ll see the most growth.
Dress code changes to come
Board chair Matt Cross floated an audit of the county schools’ dress code, mainly in an effort to weed out outdated and unenforceable requirements.
Cross said he’s interested in revising the rules on hats in particular. Current policy prohibits students from wearing hats inside the building.
Burgoyne said if the district removes some clothing types from the banned list — like yoga pants, for example — and leaves it up to teacher discretion, they’re “setting everyone up for the cell phone thing,” in which implementation varied by classroom and there was no district-wide enforcement.
She also said one piece she’s not willing to budge on is that clothing should not show anyone’s midriff or belly button.
The board will solicit feedback from school employees on dress codes for students, administrators and teachers.
Also of note
RCPS began the school year with 11,726 enrolled students as of Friday, Shifflett said. That’s just over the projected 11,702 students and surpasses enrollment from this time last year by nearly 300.
Beau Dickenson, the social studies supervisor, presented to the school board on its involvement in Democracy 250 Project, a national and Virginia-wide initiative to celebrate 250 years of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. It’ll explore civic engagement and democratic ideals, as well as commemorate and teach students about Sept. 11, 2001.
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