By Charlotte Matherly, contributor
At the Rockingham County School Board’s first meeting since President Donald Trump took office, one teacher had a question: What happens if U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement raids a school in Rockingham County?
Christina Burke, an English language-learning teacher at Wilbur S. Pence Middle School, urged the county’s school board to create a plan. She runs the school’s intensive newcomer program, where she works with kids who are new to the United States.
“We need to know what we can say to our students to reassure them and how we as educators can protect them in the event of an ICE presence at our schools,” Burke said during public comment. “We need guidance on how our district is communicating with immigrant families, ensuring that they have the information they need, especially if family members are at risk of deportation while their children remain in the U.S.”
Burke’s request came after Trump rescinded former president Joe Biden’s directives for the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is now allowed to enforce deportation and immigration laws in sensitive areas, including schools.
“Many of our immigrant families, as well as our students, are feeling fearful and uncertain about their futures,” Burke told the school board. “These concerns extend to our teachers, who are worried about how we can best protect and support our students in these challenging times.”
She also asked the board more generally to consider policies that take into account the needs of new Americans and English language learners. For example, Burke said she learned only a day before a recent field trip that students would need a permission slip to attend, and there wasn’t enough time to translate the slips, get them to students and have them return it before the trip.
“Policies should be inclusive and flexible, ensuring equitable access to opportunities and support for every child we serve,” Burke said.
School board members didn’t address Burke’s concerns during the meeting.
More books banned (some partially)
For the first time since the district began reviewing the list of books temporarily removed from shelves, board members voted to partially reinstate a couple of titles — meaning they will be available for some grades, not others.
“Nick and Charlie” and “This Winter” by Alice Oseman, which are both based on characters from the popular LGBTQ-themed “Heartstoppers” graphic novel series, will be returned to library shelves only in high schools. The books are banned for lower grades. The district’s Content Review Committee had recommended keeping both books.
With no public discussion, the board also voted to ban two other books.
The committee had recommended removal of “Identical” by Ellen Hopkins, which the board unanimously followed. It was a different story for “Living Dead Girl” by Elizabeth Scott, which the board voted 3-1 to ban, against the committee’s decision. Jackie Lohr was the “no” vote.
District eyes budget increases for 2025-26
All of the district’s departments have submitted their wishlists for the 2025-26 budget.
Together, the requests total more than $21.7 million, but Chief Financial Officer Justin Moyers said he doesn’t expect all of them to pass. Because the General Assembly is still working through the state’s budget process, local aid remains uncertain.
Moyers attributed the biggest increases to special education, salary increases and requested new personnel positions.
The district will also have to shoulder $615,000 to cover its food service budget next year. Moyers said that’s typically supplemented by the federal government, which also provides free lunches to some schools. Pandemic relief money helped offset those costs but has run out.
Money is lost on every meal, which costs the district $3.85 but is priced at $2. The supplemental funding is supposed to soften that blow.
“During Covid, we were getting higher reimbursement rates,” Moyers said. “We were able to kind of not worry about it at the time, but now that that’s over, we need to go back and revisit how we want to fund food service.”
He said he isn’t willing to cut school lunch expenses or meal portions to lessen cost. The district can find room in the budget to cover that, he said.
Various division proposals also add up to more than $7.4 million. Moyers said the biggest pieces include supplementing salaries and assistance for adaptive special education classes and hiring full-time substitute middle school teachers, plus more elementary math teachers.
That’s part of Superintendent Larry Shifflett’s focus on improving the district’s math instruction by hiring more teachers and, in turn, allowing them more time out of class to plan their lessons.
“We’re trying to make sure our kids are getting the best math instruction possible, because that’s very important to us,” Shifflett said of the roughly $5 million that’ll go toward that program. “It’s a significant ask. There’s not any state money that would come to us to offset it, so it’s going to be a local decision, but we’re going to advocate for that because I believe it’s the right thing to do by our students and it’s the right thing to do by our teachers.”
Many of the other new personnel requests center on special education and English learners.
Cell phone policy expanded
The board also updated a policy to restrict students from using cell phones on school field trips unless the principal gives permission beforehand. The policy will also now include elementary school students.
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