In order to govern more effectively as a team, the Fredericksburg City School Board needs more opportunities to ask questions, sift through data, and “sit in a room together and just talk,” in the words of Gina Patterson, executive director of the Virginia School Boards Association.
“I believe some work sessions would benefit you all greatly,” Patterson said at one point during Monday’s daylong work session. “People don’t know what they don’t know.”
The school board gathered at the VSBA office in Charlottesville on Aug. 31 to continue updating its governance norms and protocols, work that began in December but remained unfinished throughout 2026 as board members struggled to find a follow-up date that worked for all six of them plus division superintendent Marci Catlett…