Coraggio Consulting
Chesterfield County School Board Business Meeting, Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Date: Tuesday, January 6, 2026
Place: Chesterfield County School Board, Virginia
Length: 29m (video)
Official meeting video (Swagit): https://chesterfieldschoolsva.new.swagit.com/videos/371240
Official minutes (BoardDocs, on the Feb 10, 2026 agenda for approval): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/chesterfield/Board.nsf/pfiles/DR7PM46539F0/$file/DRAFT%20MINUTES%20-%202026.01.06%20Business%20Meeting.pdf

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-24. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:05] Good evening, everyone. We will begin tonight's meeting with a closed session, which will be held in the public meeting room's conference room. Madam Clerk, please announce the items to be discussed therein. It is my understanding that the school board desires to enter into a closed session in accordance with Section 2.2-3711.A of the Code of Virginia, the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and specifically under Subsection 1, the discussion and consideration of personnel disciplinary matters, And number seven, consultation with legal counsel pertaining to an actual or probable litigation.

[00:00:38] Members of the board, you have just heard the items requested to be discussed in closed session. Do I have a motion in that regard? I make a motion to enter into closed session. Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Ann Coker. Aye. Jenna Darby. Aye.

[00:00:54] Dominique Chatters. Aye. Stephen Pronto. Aye. Lisa Hudgens. Aye. We are now in closed session. Do I have a motion to reconvene in open session? I make a motion to reconvene in open session.

[00:01:10] Is there a second? Second. The board is now in open session. Madam Clerk, would you please read the resolution certifying the closed session? Now, therefore, it be it resolved that the school board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies, And two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the school board, the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the school board.

[00:01:45] Is there a motion to adopt the resolution? I make a motion to adopt the resolution. Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Ann Coker? Aye. Jenna Darby? Aye. Dominique Chatters? Aye. Stephen Pronto?

[00:02:01] Aye. Lisa Hudgens? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the personnel matter? In case number 2025-26-43-HR, it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld.

[00:02:18] Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, would you please call rolling the motion? Ann Coker? Aye. Jenna Darby? Aye. Dominique Chatters? Aye. Stephen Pranca? Aye. Lisa Hudgens? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel matter?

[00:02:36] In case number 2025-26-44-HR, it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld. Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Ann Coker? Aye.

[00:02:52] Jenna Darby? Aye. Dominique Chatter? Aye. Stephen Pronto? Aye. Lisa Hudgens? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel matter? In case number 2025-26-45-HR, it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld.

[00:03:11] Is there a second? I second. Madam Clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Ann Coker? Aye. Jenna Darby? Aye. Dominique Chatters? Aye. Stephen Pronto? Aye. Lisa Hudgens? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel matter?

[00:03:26] In case number 2025-26-46-HR, it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld. Is there a second? I second. Madam Clerk, would you please call rolling the motion? Ann Coker. Aye. Jenna Darby.

[00:03:42] Aye. Dominique Chatters. Aye. Stephen Pronto. Aye. Lisa Hudgens. Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel matter? In case number 2025-26-47-HR, it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld.

[00:04:00] Is there a second? I second. Madam Clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Anne Coker? Aye. Jenna Darby? Aye. Dominique Chatters? Aye. Stephen Pronto? Aye. Lisa Hutchinson? Aye. The motion carries. Is there a motion regarding the next personnel matter? In case number 2025-26-48-HR, it is recommended that the superintendent's recommendation be upheld.

[00:04:25] Is there a second? I second. Madam Clerk, would you please call roll on the motion? Ann Coker? Aye. Jenna Darby? Aye. Dominique Chatter? Aye. Steven Pronto? Aye. Lisa Hutchins? Aye. Well, good evening, everyone.

[00:04:41] I'd like to call the January 6, 2026 School Board Business Meeting to order. We will now have an invocation by Mrs. Coker, followed by the flag salute, led by Dr. Darby. Before tonight's invocation, we pause to remember retiree Dr. Stephen Holbrook, who recently passed away.

[00:05:02] Dr. Holbrook served Chesterfield County Public Schools for seven years, beginning as an international educator in residence and retiring as an instructional specialist for the Office of Secondary Education. Please join us in a moment of silence to honor his memory.

[00:05:23] Thank you. Let us pray. Gracious God, we thank you for the gift of the new year and for the opportunity to gather in service to our schools and our community. We're grateful for the trust placed in us for the students, families, educators, and staff whose lives are touched by the work we do. As we begin this year, we ask for wisdom to guide our decisions, patience to listen with

[00:05:58] understanding courage to do what is right especially when the path is not easy help us to lead with integrity humility and compassion always keeping the needs of our students at the center of our work bless our schools and safety with safety our classrooms with curiosity our educators with strength and our students with hope and purpose may our discussions be respectful our actions thoughtful, and our service reflective of love and grace. Amen. Please join us at this

[00:06:35] time in the Pledge of Allegiance. We will now open the floor for nominations from the board for the election of chair of the school board for the 2026 term. The elected chair will serve until

[00:07:15] the board's January 2027 organizational meeting, at which point the election of a new chair will take place? Dr. Murray, I would like to nominate Lisa Hudgens as chair for the 2026 year. Lisa Hudgens, do you accept the nomination to serve as chair until the board's January 2027 organizational meeting, at which point the election of a new chair will take place? I do. Are there

[00:07:47] any further nominations? Ms. Chatters. I'd like to nominate myself for the position of chair for the 2027 year. And I assume you accept your nomination. Are there any other nominations?

[00:08:06] Hearing none, the nominations are closed. Madam Clerk, please call roll on the nomination of Lisa Hudgens to serve as chair of the Chesterfield County School Board for the 2026 and until the board's January 2027 organizational meeting. Ann Coker. Aye. Jenna Darby. Aye. Dominique Chatters.

[00:08:30] nay steven prompta aye lisa hudgens aye lisa hudgens will serve as chair of the chesterfield county school board for for 2026 and until the board's january 2027 organizational meeting

[00:08:48] congratulations thank you dr murray so i uh i'd like to thank i'd like to take a moment to um

[00:09:48] thank my colleagues for the confidence that you guys have placed in me i'm honored and i'm humbled by this opportunity to serve as chair i'm grateful for your trust and i approach this role with a deep sense of responsibility seeking god's wisdom and guidance and committed to leading with integrity humility compassion to not give a nod to your prayer and and a focus on what's best for our students i look forward to working with this board our superintendent and our staff in

[00:10:26] a spirit of respect, collaboration, and service to our students and our community. Thank you. So, the floor is open for nominations from the board for the election of vice chair of the school board for the 2026 term. The elected vice chair will serve until the board's January 2027 organizational meeting, at which point the election of a new vice chair will take place. I would like to nominate Stephen

[00:11:01] Paranto. Are there any other nominations from the board? Madam Chair, first ask Stephen if he's. Thank you. Mr.

[00:11:17] Paranto, do you accept the nomination to serve as vice chair until the board's January 2027 organizational meeting, at which point the election of a new chair will take place? I do. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:11:34] Are there any further recommendations, nominations? Hearing none, the nominations are closed. Madam Clerk, please call roll on the nomination of Stephen Paranto to serve as vice chair of the Chesterfield County School Board for 2026 and until the board's January 2027th organizational meeting. Ann Cooker? Aye. Jenna Darby? Aye. Dominique Chatters? Nay.

[00:12:09] Stephen Paranto? Aye. Lisa Hutchins? Aye. Stephen Paranto will serve as vice chair of the Chesterfield County School Board for 2026 until the board's January 2027th organizational meeting.

[00:12:28] Congratulations.

[00:12:44] The consent agenda includes... Madam Chair. Excuse me. I apologize. If I might thank this board and my colleagues, I greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve as vice chair for this upcoming school year.

[00:13:07] I have, in the past two years, thoroughly enjoyed working with you, with Dr. Murray, his cabinet, teachers, and above all of those, our students who I think were educating the best and brightest that we have to offer. And I greatly appreciate the opportunity to humbly accept this chair. It does not go by me. And also, I want to thank my family, who I think they said they're going to be home watching today. I don't think they typically watch, but I think they're watching today and I just want to thank them you know we as board members are

[00:13:45] out a lot in the evenings and during the day and we tend to miss some things because of our commitment to this board and they are at home constantly a great source of support and strength for me and so for that I hopefully they're watching thank them very much and look forward to what we are going to roll out here in 26 for the benefit of all of our students so thank you thank you so the consent agenda

[00:14:15] includes agenda adoption approval of the minutes december 18 2024 work session december 18 2024 business meeting memo memo memo number zero zero one dash 26 appointment of school board representatives to committees and regional programs appointment of clerk and deputy clerks

[00:14:40] Resolution to the bond clerk and deputy clerks, appointment of the agent and deputy agent, resolution to bond agent and deputy agent, authorization of signatures in absence of superintendent, school board approval of the superintendent's designees to attend meetings in the superintendent's absence, setting of meeting dates, times, and places, memo number 002-26,

[00:15:12] Recommended personnel actions, memo number 003-26, acceptance of new grants, memo number 004-26, approval of a resolution giving authority to the school board attorney to division the circuit court for issuance of a writ of special election to fill an expected vacancy on the school board. Are there any additions or corrections to the consent agenda? Madam Chair, There's just one item to note.

[00:15:45] The approval of the minute should reflect December 18th, 2025 work session and December 18th, 2025 business meeting. My fault. Thank you. And I read it incorrectly. So are there any requests from a school board member to separate an item from the consent agenda for discussion or individual action?

[00:16:13] Hearing none, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll on the motion.

[00:16:29] Ann Coker. Aye. Jenna Darby. Aye. Dominique Chatters. Aye. Stephen Pronto. Aye. Lisa Hudgens. Aye. The motion is approved. Next, we have public comment. For this meeting, citizens were given the option of submitting their comments online or in person.

[00:16:50] Comments submitted via the online form were sent to the board prior to the start of tonight's meeting, posted to the board doc site and will be included in full as an addendum to the meeting minutes. In-person comments will be summarized by the board clerk and included in the official meeting minutes.

[00:17:09] Documents submitted along with in-person comments will, upon request, be distributed to the board but not included as part of the board's official minutes. Madam Clerk, would you please announce this evening's in-person speaker? Madam Chair, we have one speaker this evening, and that is Jason Rodriguez.

[00:17:28] Each speaker will have four minutes to address the board. There's a timer set up on top of the podium that will turn green when you begin speaking, yellow when you have 30 seconds remaining, and red when your time has expired. As a reminder, no personal belongings other than a cell phone and speaker notes are allowed at the podium. Please have your materials organized in a manner that as you arrive at the podium, you are prepared to start speaking.

[00:17:49] Please note that comments equivalent to campaigning for any public office are in violation of school board policy 1110 are prohibited. May we have Jason Rodriguez. Good evening, school board.

[00:18:05] Good evening, superintendent. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Jason Rodriguez. I'm not only a parent of children within the county, but I also am a teacher at Carver Career and College Academy. I come from a union family, and I'm a proud member of the Chesterfield Education Association and serve as a building representative. I hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday season, and we look forward to the new year finishing out the 2025-2026 school year, providing an exceptional education to our students.

[00:18:34] The CEA is continuing to offer CPR classes, with the next one being held on $1.29, $60 for non-members, $30 for members. Sign-ups began yesterday. Excuse me. CEA looks forward to our continued communication and collaboration throughout the new year as we work towards collective bargaining.

[00:18:52] We will continue to talk with staff about what they would like to see in the new contracts, and we also look forward for more leaders within our educational support professionals administration and supervisory cohorts who would be interested in spearheading the bargaining efforts for those staff members. Our new initiative that provides cash stipends to building reps and board members is moving forward. We hope to engage even more members in the work of the union. Our new supplemental insurance partner, Optivize, will be joining us our first site visit of the year tomorrow at Enon Elementary. The staff at Enon will be the first

[00:19:32] to see all of our new benefits available to them. We are excited to add this new value for our members. This month, we are planning our annual Virginia Education Delegate Assembly. It will take place from April 16th to April 18th in Virginia Beach. Attending this event helps our members participate in the democratic process of governing the statewide union.

[00:19:52] This is also a great opportunity for members to hone their leadership and rhetorical skills. I know that our members who came back from the Delegate Assembly return as better, more inspired educators. We'll have some members requesting professional development leave to attend, and we request that you permit our principals to grant us leave so that we can join in this important process.

[00:20:13] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez. Madam Chair, that concludes this evening's public comment. Thank you, Madam Clark. Next, we have this evening's superintendent's report. Dr. Murray? Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:20:29] Fifth graders at Alberta Smith Elementary recently had the opportunity to explore future career possibilities through a hands-on experience called the game of life, modeled after the classic board game many of us remember. Through this activity, students were encouraged to think about choices, responsibilities, and many of the different paths their futures could take. In this video, we see how students approach the game we all play and how early experiences like this help spark curiosity,

[00:21:02] confidence, and big dreams. We call this the game of life. It's a chance for fifth graders to explore different careers and opportunities outside of high school. It will start in their classroom by graduating high school before they come to the real world of careers. It's in both the gym and the cafeteria. They have spent the past month exploring and researching different careers and what makes this event really special is that it's all hands-on and interactive. So rather than

[00:21:42] kids just reading a research paper, they have come up with activities that are all hands-on that Fourth graders and other fifth graders can come today to explore the career. After they decide to get hired at one of the careers, just like the game of life, the board game, they can go to one of the four spinning wheels to learn the fun opportunities in life, life emergencies, learn what car they might end up with and what house they'll get.

[00:22:08] And then the person in their class with the most money is the winner. We encourage them to go around to at least 10 different tables to see different careers and experiment with the different activities then come back choose a career they're interested in and they can get hired from there they have a little wallet so they get hired with like say you're a marine biologist you get seventy thousand dollars pretty good start so they have seventy thousand dollars to start from there they'll go into the cafeteria and spin our wheels to decide if they are getting a promotion or maybe they've lost their job and they have to pay five hundred dollars or their car broke down or they got called for jury duty things like that so there's lots of

[00:22:46] of different scenarios where they could have to give money or return money or give it back vice versa. So it kind of is all comes together at the end to see who wins, who gets the most money.

[00:23:06] Always wanted elementary school students to explore career options after they leave high school, whether that's college or trade school or whatever that might be for them. And this is just a fun opportunity for them to start exploring that now. Everyone always talks about what do you want to be when you grow up so this is just great for them to start that in fifth grade and we wanted it to be hands-on and something fun for them so

[00:23:46] that just became the game of life we could not have done it without our resource team each of the resource teachers were instrumental in making this happen miss Matt like my other co-counselor miss Oakley they've all been so helpful like getting everybody together the resource team though I can't stress enough how awesome they were they let us get the fifth graders out of their regular classrooms they broke into all different resources based on their careers like the gym our gym teacher had lots of the sports coaches and the like sports medicine people we have a fishing charter person in here so that's really cool so they all kind of got to be involved in it a little bit more this year getting to work with the kids and helping

[00:24:24] them come up with activities that are related to the field that they teach in which has been really cool it's never too early to start thinking about it people ask kindergartners and first graders what they want to be when they grow up so might as well start now i know that when they get to to middle school and high school, they do even more career exploration.

[00:24:42] So I think any time is a great time to start exploring those opportunities. Thank you, Dr. Murray. Board members, is there any discussion? Mr. Pronto?

[00:25:01] Thank you, Madam Chair. Alberta Smith is a fantastic elementary school led by Dr. Klein. We can say doctor now, so she has officially been hooded. So congratulations to her and the resource team. what a phenomenal job to have our fifth graders start thinking about, if not already, what does that future hold? And you think of fifth graders, it seems so far away that they would be thinking about what job they might like. But, you know, asking the question to get their minds thinking, I think, is extremely important. The charter fishing guy, absolutely. That sounds like a lot

[00:25:38] of fun. I think that one was a marine biologist. So, you know, these just aren't, I want to be, you know, a football player or a hockey player, although those are great ambitions too, we have some real world jobs out there that these kids are talking about. So I think it's fantastic and hats off to the resource team again and Alberta Smith for putting this on. Ms. Coker?

[00:26:03] And how creative, right, to use the game that they have played and all the teachers and we've played in our younger years so just great to bring that aspect to educating our students and for that kid that spun the wheel and said let it be a car priceless great job next we have items for board review madam clerk would you please read the items for this evening madam chair tonight's agenda

[00:26:39] includes the following items for board review number one magisterial district improvement funds FY 2026, number two, board committee reports, and number three, pre-K update, November 2025. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next, we have this evening's superintendent's remarks. Dr. Murray.

[00:26:58] We will be thrilled that I don't have a typical list. We were together just three school days ago when we met last, so tonight I will just highlight for the community that this is budget season, And at the end of January, we will begin our town halls.

[00:27:15] We'd love to see folks engaged in that process, coming out and talking directly with you all and with our staff. And then secondly, I just want to send a warm welcome back to all of our staff, students and families as we look forward to finishing out our school year very strong beginning right now.

[00:27:38] That's all I have, Madam Chair. school board members are there any announcements or comments miss chatters thank you madam chair i wanted to start by thanking the salem church elementary school students who have been sending their letters for advocacy it is really great to see our kids learn to advocate for themselves and what they want in their schools so there is a nice long list i am tallying it so thank you salem church elementary it goes from things about school lunch or bullying and bathrooms so they are

[00:28:13] covering the gamut and i will be visiting uh miss wade to talk more with these particular students and then secondly i wanted to thank our building administrators for how they handled election day today i know that wasn't what we would have preferred to have happened today but i visited all of my schools to see how we were doing the process and i'm pleased with how we took care of our students to try to keep them isolated from any voters that were coming in the building and i appreciate all the work that went into it and the work from the registrar's office thank you

[00:28:44] the next school board meeting will be a budget work session held here in the public meeting room at 4 p.m on january 22nd 2026 if there are no if there is no further business we need a motion to adjourn so moved madam clerk would you please roll call on the motion and coker i jenna darby Aye.

[00:29:14] Dominique Chatters. Aye. Stephen Prontan. Aye. Lisa Hudgens. Aye. The motion carries. The January 6, 2026 School Board Business Meeting is adjourned.

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