CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The Albemarle County School Board held a public hearing on its open Rio District seat on Thursday, the final step before it decides who will fill that seat.

The board will announce its selection for the Rio seat at this Thursday’s meeting, one of the many items in what looks to be a critical meeting as the board continues to navigate the school division’s current crises.

“It is a packed meeting with a lot of good information,” School Board Chair and White Hall representative Rebecca Berlin told Cville Right Now.

Three applicants are vying for the spot — former Rio representative Leslie Pryor, Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee Daisy Rojas, and ACPS Family Council co-representative for Albemarle High School Jennifer Ortuño.

Four people spoke at Thursday’s hearing. Three of them knew Pryor personally and advocated for her to be placed back on the board. One of those speakers was Xavier Jackson, Senior Pastor of Chapman Grove Baptist Church, where Pryor is an active member who is involved in a number of committees and associations.

“Sister Pryor has a determination for the success of self, family, community, and our church that is most admirable,” he said.

Megan Mitchem, a parent who lived in Rio, spoke first, advocating for Rojas and arguing the board should not appoint Pryor due to her losing to Jim Dillenbeck, the most recent Rio representative who resigned last month, in last November’s election.

“Daisy is the only candidate who possesses both professional and lived experiences an ACPS parent that can impact meaningful change for our community,” she said. “It would be a disservice to our electoral process to appoint a board member who did not win the general election to replace the person who did.”

Mitchem then drew a comparison between Pryor and Dillenbeck, both of whom applied for the open Rio seat following the death of Chuck Pace in Dec. 2024. Dillenbeck had been defeated by Pace in the prior November’s election.

“When Mr. Dillenbeck made the same argument following Mr. Pace’s untimely passing, it didn’t make sense then either,” Mitchem said.

Mitchem also expressed concern over a lack of communication from the board and division to Woodbrook families in regard to recent events including the arrest of fifth grade teacher Nicholas Clark in March on child pornography charges and Woodbrook principal Christie Isaiah being placed on leave in September. She told the board the Woodbrook community “demanded” a Woodbrook specific town hall be held.

Berlin said she spoke with Mitchem before Thursday’s meeting and offered to be the point of contact with the board for Woodbrook parents until a new board member is seated.

Among the other agenda items for this Thursday include an update from Dr. Nanci Perez, President of HYA, the search firm conducting ACPS’s Superintendent search, with public listening sessions set to begin Nov. 17 through mid-December.

Acting Superintendent Dr. Chandra Hayes will provide an update on the work the Virginia Department of Education has directed her to perform. Berlin said she and Hayes had contacted the VDOE before the county’s Board of Supervisors sent their own request for a review of the division as part of its Oct. 15 resolution, which called on the School Board to tighten its mandated reporting policies and increase transparency.

Berlin said she and Hayes have met with the VDOE twice and will do so again Monday.

“They have been very helpful and very supportive,” Berlin said of the department.

The VDOE has directed the board to hire an outside consultant to review ACPS’s policies and practices, with a focus on four areas — central office structure and effectiveness, a review of HR, mandatory reporting and FOIA policies and processes, climate and reporting culture, and next steps for implementation and continuous improvement.

As part of the process of selecting a vendor, Hayes has crafted a scope of service that has been shared with a number of vendors. Their replies with be discussed with the VDOE on Monday, then the board will select a vendor in closed session on Thursday, with the review set to begin immediately.

Thursday’s meeting with also include an update on the plan to develop an office of compliance and constituent services, which the board directed her to establish following the Supervisors’ resolution. Berlin said the office, which will include a director of compliance and coordinator, will provide another place for people to take their feedback, while also having an audit function to review ACPS’s operations.

“In a way, the work that the VDOE is asking us to do and that we want and need to do is almost the starting point for it,” Berlin said. “And then this office of compliance and constituent services will continue that work now and in the future.”

The office will also work to modernize ACPS’s data and establish a centralized system, making it easier to monitor metrics and fulfill FOIA requests.

“We don’t have what I would just say are 21st century data systems,” she said. “We’re tracking all that data, but we’re tracking it in a way through Excel Spreadsheets and other types of documents that you can’t, that aren’t easily searchable individually, as well as across pieces of information.”

Thursday’s meeting with also includes updates on the grading policy, a presentation on the usage of technology in elementary schools, and a vote on potential changes in priority in the capital improvement plan. The meeting will begin in closed session at 4:30 p.m., followed by the open session at 6 p.m.