The Mathews County School Board has approved a reshuffling of two of its top administrators for the coming school year, moving Mathews High School principal Alexis Foster to Lee-Jackson Elementary, and installing that school’s administrative leader, Drew Greve, as the new principal at MHS.
The action was taken following about an hourlong closed session at the end of Tuesday night’s meeting in the MHS media center, a meeting that went ahead with social distancing measures put in place in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
In another administrative change, the school board accepted the resignation of Thomas Hunter Middle School assistant principal LeAnne Shields for the 2020-2021 school year, a post she has held for the past two years.
“Tonight, the board has supported some significant administrative changes for the 2020-2021 school year that will aggressively and effectively move the division into the 20’s decade by maximizing the strengths of our administrative personnel,” school board chairman John Priest said, reading from prepared remarks. “Our focus remains on providing the safest and best learning environment for all our children.”
The board’s vote on the personnel matters passed by a 4-1 margin. School board member Desmond Smith cast the lone “nay” vote. In response to a question following the meeting, Smith said that he will support the will of the board, but that he personally couldn’t vote for the change.
Greve has been the principal of Lee-Jackson since 2008. Prior to that, he served as assistant principal and, for five years, was the school’s guidance counselor. In 2018, he was awarded his Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree from George Washington University.
A 1996 graduate of MHS, Foster joined the school’s staff in 2009 as assistant principal under David Malechek, coming to Mathews from Gloucester County Public Schools, where he was a sixth grade science teacher at Page Middle School.
He stayed on in 2011 when Albert Green was named MHS principal and in 2015 when Toni Childress was chosen for the school’s top administrative post. Foster was named interim principal in February 2018 following the resignation of Childress; the appointment was made permanent in May of that year.
At the same time Foster was named interim principal, Lee Ann Bray was brought on to serve as assistant principal at MHS. She will stay on in that post for the 2020-2021 school year.
Foster holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Hampton University and a second master’s degree from the College of William and Mary in educational policy, planning and leadership.
In other personnel actions, the school board approved the resignation of Lee-Jackson kindergarten special education teacher Kristina Glenn, the retirement of Lee-Jackson art teacher Vanessa Fry and the appointment of school nurse Karri Murphy and Thomas Hunter Middle School math teacher Kimberly Parks, all for the 2020-2021 school year.
Calendar
The school board also adopted its calendar for the 2020-2021 school year, beginning before the Labor Day weekend and ending on June 4, with MHS graduation planned for Saturday, June 6, 2021.
The school year is set to begin on Aug. 31, although school board members acknowledged that plans may change as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 closures. At present, Mathews County Public Schools are scheduled to resume following spring break on April 7; however, that may change, superintendent of schools Nancy Welch indicated.
On the matter of the COVID-19 closures, Welch said that teachers are working to keep students on task during the break, although she said they will not be penalized for not completing assignments during this enforced break.
She is also working on ways to ensure that students have internet access during this break so they can continue to work from home.
Plans are also in the works for security improvements to the entrances at MHS and Thomas Hunter, with vestibules to be installed over the summer at both schools.
The school board also approved two new classes at THMS (Beginning Strings, and Personal Growth & Development) and a dual enrollment class at MHS (English: Survey of American Literature and World Literature) for 2020-2021.
In other matters, the school board went ahead with a proposal to allow for students to take one or more classes at MHS while otherwise being home schooled. The hope is that this will allow for greater offerings of Advanced Placement classes. While these students will be permitted to take part in activities like band, art and CTE courses, they will not be permitted to join in VHSL sports. They will, however, be allowed to take crew, which is not on the list of VHSL sports.