CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Albemarle School Board at-large representative and Vice Chair Allison Spillman ended her time on the board on Thursday, addressing the community one last time during that evening’s school board meeting.

Spillman, who was elected to her seat in November 2023, previously announced her resignation during a work session on Aug. 4, citing the toll her time on the board has taken on herself and a desire to spend more time with her family.

During her remarks on Thursday, Spillman mentioned personal attacks that have been levied toward her and those associated with her, and how her children were “dragged into political attacks about things they had absolutely nothing to do with.”

“There was a moment during one of the most difficult periods of this service, when ACPS security called me to tell me that because of the threats we were receiving, ‘We have eyes on all your kids,'” she said.
”Think about that for a minute. I’m a mother of five. And while I was sitting in this seat, trying to do the work that this community elected me to do, I also had to process the reality that security personnel were watching my children at school because people were making threats connected to my public service.

“No elected position should require a family to normalize that.”

Later, Spillman reflected on the tense school board meeting that occurred in October, following the controversial decision to allow conservative speaker Victoria Cobb to speak at a Turning Point USA meeting at Western Albemarle High School.

Spillman, the parent of a transgender student at WAHS, found herself in the middle of the controversy after a Facebook post she made comparing TPUSA to the Klu Klux Klan. Many during public comment at the following board meeting targeted her directly, calling on her to resign and criticizing her and her husband as parents as well.

“One person accused my husband and I of having misguided love for our child,” she said. “Another accused parents of transgender children of castration and genital mutilation.”

But following the public comment section, Spillman recalled meeting with supporters afterward, many of whom commended her for standing up for LGBTQ+ students and emotionally shared their own experiences and struggles.

“That night was one of the hardest nights of my life, and it was also so damn worth it,” she said. “Because that’s what leadership is supposed to look like.”

Now, the Albemarle School Board is accepting applications for a new at-large member, who will finish out Spillman’s term through 2027.

The board is accepting applications for her position through Aug. 21 at 5 p.m., which can be directed to school board clerk Christine Thompson. The board will then conduct candidate interviews Sept. 10, before holding a public hearing during a special meeting the week of Sept. 14.

The board will make its appointment on Sept. 24. A regular work session is scheduled for that day.

The last time the board had to fill an unexpected opening, it was shortly after the death of then-Rio Representative Chuck Pace on Dec. 20, 2024. The board filled his seat just over a month later on Jan. 23 following a public hearing that day.

The board selected Leslie Pryor to fill the seat out of a pool of seven candidates, including current Rio Representative Jim Dillenbeck, who eventually took the seat after defeating Pryor in last November’s election.

When asked if she was planning to apply for the current opening by Cville Right Now, Pryor said in an email on Tuesday she had not yet made a decision.

Due to this current opening being for the at-large position, anyone registered to vote in Albemarle County can apply for the role.

The opening comes as the school division continues to deal with public scrutiny following the arrest of Hollymead staffer Michael Swiney.

During her comments, Spillman once again denied she knew anything about Swiney’s investigation until the night before it was made public, and made it a point to defend her fellow board members.

“These are good people,” she said.
”They care deeply about the students and our schools. They do not come here with some ulterior motive. They’re not sitting around plotting how to hurt children or teachers or families. 
They are human beings trying to make extraordinarily difficult decisions in an extraordinarily difficult environment. They do not deserve the vitriol that has been directed at them.”

Thursday’s meeting came just hours after Swiney made an appearance in court Thursday morning. During which, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney W. Lawton Tufts told the court had reason to “question the trustworthiness” of Albemarle County Public Schools.

Tufts alleged the division has been less than forthcoming with information during the criminal investigation and claimed it mishandled mandated reporting of a separate incident.

Multiple speakers during Thursday night’s public comment referenced Tuft’s comments questioning ACPS’ trustworthiness.

“Those are not my words. Those are not words of an angry parent. Those are the words of the Commonwealth Attorney stated in court,” parent Jimmy Belew said. “If that doesn’t concern every person sitting on this board, I don’t know what will.”

The meeting’s final item of business was passing an update on the division’s new policy on professional boundaries, which was passed last month in response to Swiney’s arrest. The changes define a one-on-one meeting as an intentional, isolated encounter between an adult and individual student outside of typical instruction, often in an office or closed room with a window.

The second change added an amendment requiring parents to submit a written request to their child’s principal in writing in order to access their electronic communications within ACPS, as opposed to automatically CC’ing parents on all communication.