By Charlotte Matherly, contributor
Monday’s Rockingham County School Board meeting marked the end of Matt Cross’ tenure on the board after he lost his reelection bid last month. He did not attend.
In his four years on the board, including one year as its chair, Cross championed school safety, parental involvement and conservative policies.
Cross, a former school resource officer, pushed for hiring a school safety and security director and adding more officers inside schools, as well as the installation of security cameras, which was done this fall.
“As Matt concludes his service, I want to thank him for his unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of our students and staff,” Superintendent Larry Shifflett said while recognizing school board members at the last meeting of 2025. “His passion for school safety was evident in every discussion and decision, and his advocacy has helped strengthen our schools and our community.”
During Cross’ year as the board’s chair, the school board preemptively removed and banned 57 books from its library shelves, many of which had LGBTQ+ themes. After crafting policies to prohibit what the board defines as “sexually explicit content,” it solicited a group of community members to read each book. Ultimately — and often against the recommendation of its own review committee — the board permanently removed 30 of those titles.
He also led efforts to adopt Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s model policies, which sought to increase parental involvement regarding students’ sex and gender identity.
Both moves stirred debate and controversy among county residents, and resistance from members and supporters of the LGBTQ community. Students also staged walkouts last year in protest of the book policies.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment but said this summer that he was proud to champion the policies that he views as morally correct.
“I have done what was right in the eyes of God. And I’ve done what is right for parents. I’m proud of that,” Cross said.
Several of his fellow school board members, who censured him in October for posting a video of a fight among Harrisonburg students, did not comment on his departure. Cave said she’d save her thoughts for a Facebook post.
Come January, Hilary Irons will join the school board after winning more than 51% of the vote.
Also at Monday’s meeting, Rockingham County school leaders said they are preparing to review spending, as well as how schools are doing and the school district’s overarching direction as 2026 begins.
Many county schools scored poorly in newly released data by the Virginia Department of Education, which shows that Rockingham County students scored several points lower than the state average on Standards of Learning tests in several subjects — especially in English reading, writing and math.
Based on test scores, chronic absenteeism, student readiness, graduation rates and other data, many county schools were earmarked for improvement. Only five of the 15 elementary schools received an “on track” performance grade. Six were labeled as “off track,” and three were marked as needing “intensive support.”
Only two schools in Rockingham County — Broadway and Turner Ashby high schools — received the highest rating of “distinguished.”
“As a parent, this concerns me,” said Lauren Pierce who asked for the board’s response at its Monday meeting.
“It’s going to take us a little bit of time to aggregate the data and dig into it, but we’re not going to hide from it,” said Sara Horst, the board’s chair. “If there are some areas that need some attention, we’re definitely going to take a look at that.”
Horst also said she wants the school board to review its five-year comprehensive plan again, which outlines the district’s guiding values and goals. The school board will also soon revisit its budget, with a public hearing currently scheduled for Jan. 12.
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