For the second time in three years, the School Board cancels meeting for lack of quorum

By Heather Michon
Correspondent

The Fluvanna County School Board was scheduled to hold its monthly meeting on Wednesday night (June 11).

This meeting did not happen.

Thirty minutes before the 6:30 start time, the Fluvanna County Public Schools Facebook page announced that the meeting was cancelled “due to lack of quorum.”

Under state law, two out of five is not good enough. The board must have at least three of the five members present to conduct its business. 

Palmyra representative James Kelley said in a post on his official Facebook page that while he and Rivanna representative Andre Key assembled for closed session at 5:30 as scheduled, the remaining three members did not appear.

His understanding was that Danny Reed (Fork Union) was away on vacation, and Charles Rittenhouse (Cunningham) and Andrew Pullen (Columbia) had work commitments.

Kelley said that, while Reed had let people know he was away earlier in the week, and Rittenhouse had announced his absence some hours before the meeting, Pullen had been initially “unreachable.” 

This is the second time in three years that the School Board has canceled for lack of quorum.

The last time was in April 2022, when Kelley and the late Rivanna representative Gequetta Murray-Key were the only members to appear. While there was no formal meeting, Kelley and Murray-Key opened the floor to students and teachers, and the evening turned into a memorable event for all.

With school out for the summer and no faculty presentations or student delegations on the agenda, all there was to do was shut off the lights and go home. Citizens who had not seen the Facebook notice arrived to find the doors of the Administration building locked.

It is not clear if the June meeting will be rescheduled. The next scheduled session is July 9 at 6:30.