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Back in January, the Prince Edward school board discussed moving their monthly meetings elsewhere, partly to make it easier to host students and their families. Members had argued that it’s hard at times getting all the members of a team or group into the room at the school board office. 

At the time, several members suggested a change to a larger venue would possibly allow more people to come out to meetings and to have enough space to accommodate entire teams or classes when they are being honored, without requiring other groups to wait outside in the hallway. The current school board room, they had said, could be set aside for small meetings, interviews and student discipline. No final decision was made on the subject, as school board chair Lucy Carson directed interim superintendent Dr. Joseph Cox to look for sites that could be available for bigger meetings and report back. 

Cox brought the subject back up during the group’s Wednesday, May 7 meeting, saying he had a couple sites in mind at this point. 

“If we wanted to put a group together to look into that, there are some places we could tour, but I would really like to do that with board backing,” Cox said. 

He suggested that one or two board members could come with him and then the group could report back to the board as a whole on the different options, seeing how much interest there is at that point for a change. 

Prince Edward school board moves forward 

Previously, larger sites such as the Moton Museum or facilities used by the Town of Farmville or Prince Edward County had been suggested, or venues at Hampden-Sydney College or Longwood University. Those had just been names tossed out in discussion. On the other hand, some board members had argued in meetings this year that the meetings needed to stay where they were. Dr. Timothy Corbett had argued back in January that students like coming to the school board offices, so they can be honored where governance occurs. 

During the May 7 meeting, Dr. Cox asked who would be interested in touring different venues with him. Cainan Townsend, Corbett and J. Harvey Tackett all expressed interest. Cox told the three men he would be in contract to set up a trip. He added that if anyone had additional venues beyond the ones he had considered, he was happy to tour there as well. With the school board meeting being earlier in June, it’s not likely anything would come before the full board for consideration until July at the earliest.