Rockingham County Schools employees share concerns about school board

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - In Rockingham County, teachers and other employees of the public school system are sharing their concerns about the Rockingham County School Board.

A few weeks ago, an open letter signed by teachers and one signed by over 700 community members urged the school board to be more supportive of teachers. The letters also outlined concerns over how the board has handled certain policies as well as the politicization of RCPS.

WHSV spoke with a group of county educators who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by the school board. They shared several concerns over the school board’s attitude toward teachers and what they said are false narratives being pushed.

WHSV also brought these concerns to school board chair Matt Cross and heard from some other anonymous teachers who spoke in favor of the school board.

“Teachers are just waiting to see who is going to be next. It feels very much like there is a list of things or groups that this board is going to target, and now that the librarians are checked off, they’re looking for who the next target will be,” said one anonymous RCPS employee.

One of the biggest issues that the group of teachers said they have with the school, particularly chair Matt Cross, is that it is pushing false narratives about what is happening in Rockingham County Schools. They said that Cross has superimposed national issues onto RCPS.

“There is talk from the school board about this being a manufactured crisis, the opposition to policies amongst teachers, but we feel the real manufactured crisis is where these larger national issues are being inserted into a school system that, frankly, hasn’t really had those same issues,” said an anonymous RCPS teacher.

Teachers said that in social media posts, school board chair Matt Cross has pushed the idea that schools are indoctrinating children and teachers are pushing left-wing political beliefs onto students. They said that this is completely false.

“Almost as if we’re being compared to Los Angeles County, and that’s a little extreme, but they are trying to say that things are happening in Rockingham County, we’re moving in that direction when that is simply not what’s happening,” said an anonymous RCPS employee. “The false narrative that is being promoted that the teachers and educators in Rockingham County are somehow promoting a liberal ideology. We live in a conservative community very much influenced by religion, and our schools reflect that. I would say that in my school, and any school that I have been in, I didn’t know whether people were Republicans or Democrats because we don’t focus on that, we focus on serving the children that come to us.”

One of the anonymous teachers who spoke to WHSV said they feel that the school board is painting all teachers as though they are pushing liberal ideologies onto children when that is not the case.

“As teachers, we teach students to be critical thinkers and to understand that life is complex. It is not black and white, but all we are hearing from Matt Cross is you are either with the board and everything it stands for, or you are either not conservative, you are part of the unhinged left, you are against parents who want to have a say in their child’s education,” said the teacher.

Rockingham County School Board Matt Cross said that he does not believe most teachers are pushing their politics in schools.

“The majority of our teachers aren’t pushing an agenda in Rockingham County Public Schools. There is a small minority that we’ve had complaints on of pushing different issues inside the school, and all I’ve done is reached out to parents to say, ‘Hey, if you have a complaint, reach out to me,” said Cross.

Cross said there have been incidents, like one where he claims a teacher called Donald Trump an explicative and another where a gay pride flag was put in place of the U.S. flag in a classroom for two months.

“Not only did she have the gay pride flag up, but there were also over ten sexual gender flags in the classroom that were made to be taken down as well. This was something that went on for almost the first two months of school, so it wasn’t something that happened overnight,” said Cross. “I think the majority of our teachers are great teachers, but there is a small minority we’ve had complaints on that parents either don’t like what they have said, or something they’ve put up in their classrooms, or things they’ve advocated for in their classrooms, like the walkout that we had.”

The concerned teachers said that the school board has encouraged parents to report to it directly if teachers discuss their political beliefs in the classroom. The teachers worry that this will lead to false accusations.

“It would make teachers shy away from teaching and talking about more controversial or current topics with their students, if they’re afraid that any attempt to play devil’s advocate, and any attempt to engage in a discussion could be perceived as political. That’s all the school board needs to try to prove their narrative that we’re all part of the left,” said one of the teachers.

Matt Cross said when parents complain to the school board about a teacher, the board will still bring that concern through the proper channels of talking to the teacher and the school’s principal and then to the superintendent’s office if that is deemed necessary.

“The problem that we have seen in a lot of these culture war issues is that parents don’t feel comfortable enough reaching straight out to the teacher because they don’t want retaliation back on their child,” said Cross. “They’re afraid to say anything to the school teachers because of retaliation of maybe grades or other kids in the classroom bullying and things like that.”

Some RCPS employees feel that Cross and the board have portrayed teachers and librarians as enemies through comments on social media, particularly after it removed 57 books from school libraries for having explicit content.

“They likened it to librarians having books like that in their libraries to people baking cakes with Fentanyl secretly hidden in it or active shooters in schools that needed to be neutralized. That kind of rhetoric is disheartening for teachers,” said one of the anonymous school employees.

Another school employee said that it is very troubling to see school board members criticizing and belittling educators in the school division. They said that this has created a divide between the school board and its employees.

“I remain completely non-partisan and don’t argue against the decisions necessarily that the board has passed with a vote. That doesn’t mean that my fellow educators and I deserve to be belittled and thrown to media vultures. I’m concerned about those tactics and the lack of respect and transparency going back to the books that were pulled,” said one teacher.

Another teacher said that the school board’s rhetoric toward teachers could have significant consequences for the school division.

“It’s troubling to see really experienced teachers who love teaching in the county think about other jobs, people that we know to be great teachers. That is one of the most glaring, and one of the most troubling effects, of this rhetoric is that teachers are gonna look for work elsewhere because they just don’t want to deal with a school board that treats them like enemies,” said the teacher.

However, other anonymous RCPS teachers who reached out to WHSV said that they don’t believe the board has been harmful to teachers, and they support the things it has done and how it has handled them. One teacher said that they don’t think the board has pushed harmful rhetoric against teachers and that it has been business as usual within the schools.

Another teacher said they also support the decisions of the school board and they believe many upset staff are just adjusting to new leadership. This teacher said part of the problem could be that teachers have gotten used to the extra federal funding that was provided to schools during the COVID pandemic. The teacher said that now that money is gone and certain things have been removed from the budget, teachers may be having a hard time adjusting.

Matt Cross said that what some are calling rhetoric is actually accountability for what is said and done in the classroom. He said that he has given parents and students the opportunity to address issues without their names being involved in the ‘culture war’.

“The board’s mindset on our teachers isn’t negative. We appreciate our teachers, we thank them for all that they do and, again, there is just a small minority of teachers that we’ve had to deal with that are part of the culture war that you see across our nation right now,” said Cross. “All that I have done is brought to light things that are happening inside of our public schools. I think that parents need to know what is going on, but again, the majority of our teachers are great teachers.”

The concerned employees feel that the school board has been unwilling to have a dialogue with teachers despite signed letters from teachers and parents expressing concerns over how the board has implemented policies and discussed teachers.

“You’re listening to respond and not listening to understand. They’re not listening to what we are saying and the concerns that we have. They’re listening, and they’re just giving that same response back that we’re doing what the voters want,” said one of the teachers. “This façade of let’s have a conversation was not accurate. It’s ‘We can have a conversation as long as you agree with me fully and don’t question what I have to say’ That’s what’s coming across.”

The concerned teachers said that the school board has said it is speaking for the majority and used that to dismiss many of the concerns teachers have had with its behavior. They said that Cross, Ashley Burgoyne, Sarah Horst, and Hollie Cave received a total of around 12,000 votes in their respective election victories.

The teachers said that with a low voter turnout that number only accounts for about 15% of the county’s population. They said the board cannot truly say it represents the majority of the county’s views.

“I am a conservative, and I vote Republican. So, I am very disturbed by all of this and this idea that they’re representing the majority because they indeed are not,” said one of the employees.

Matt Cross said he feels the school board has been very open to meeting with teachers and administrators to find ways to improve RCPS.

“I think this is the most active board that we’ve seen in decades in Rockingham County in the fact that we are visiting our schools, we’re talking with our principals, we’re able to visit teachers and get their input back. So, we’re interacting with our staff a lot more than what you’ve seen other school members do in the past,” said Cross.

Cross added that the school board will not retaliate against teachers who speak out or address it with concerns.

“There are policies and procedures that we have in place to protect our teachers. As long as they’re not doing it on school time, they’re OK to be able to speak out or speak to the board about the decisions that we make,” he said.

The concerned teachers said they hope the school board will have more of an open dialogue with them going forward.

“We all want what’s best for kids. We would not be in this profession if we did not want what’s best for kids, and if you are representing a school system, I would hope that you want the same,” said one teacher.

Another anonymous teacher who spoke with WHSV said they feel that their voice is being heard for the first time thanks to the school board. They said that the school board has been much more open and honest with teachers than previous boards.

The teacher added that they feel many of their colleagues are still too focused on the board’s book removals rather than other issues that are happening in schools.

Matt Cross said that he and the rest of the board support RCPS teachers and that he is optimistic about the future of the school division.

“I don’t believe the narrative that school teachers are bad, they’re great people and we’re fortunate to have some of the best teachers in Virginia working here in Rockingham County. We’re going to continue that spirit of excellence in our school division and we have great teachers who have already signed up to come work for us in Rockingham County and we’re going to continue to be a destination division for teachers to come work at.”

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