Editor, The Smithfield Times:

At the July 11 Isle of Wight County School Board meeting, I asked Superintendent Dr. Theo Cramer and the board (chairman, especially) to submit an accurate SOQ Compliance Report for the FY 24 school year, sharing with them the “SOQ Standards and Other Reporting Requirements” that IWCS, in my opinion, failed to meet.  

The state superintendent sent “#2024-24 Virginia Education update” on June 13 to all division superintendents, including Dr. Cramer. It included information for submitting the 2024 SOQ Compliance data collection for all eight SOQ Standards and Other Reporting Requirements, to be answered with a “yes” or “no.” This same information went to IWCS board members and Dr. Cramer via email so they’d all know what they are accountable for. 

The eight standards come from VAC 22.1-253.13:1-22.1-253.13:8. YES response “certifies” compliance and NO “certifies” noncompliance. Latter requires IWCS to submit a written corrective action plan in the accompanying text box in the report. IWCS policy AE – School Division Goals and Objectives states: “The school board reports its compliance with the Standards of Quality to the Board of Education annually.”

Dr. Cramer and School Board Chair Jason Maresh must provide their authentic signature on the SOQ Compliance Verification Report to certify IWCS compliance or noncompliance by Aug. 16. In my emails to IWCS Board and Dr. Cramer they’ve been shown overwhelming evidence (in my opinion) of noncompliance of three SOQ standards and one reporting requirement. 

1. Will they mark “NO” for Standard 2 item C4, Standard 7 item B – policy GAA, and Other Reporting Requirement (5)(d) – 8VAC20-131-240? Simply, all IWCS teachers do not have a planning period daily unencumbered of teaching or supervisory duties.
2. Will they mark “NO” for noncompliance for Standard 3 item G because Dr Cramer did not submit the Annual School Report in a timely fashion when he failed to meet the deadline of Sept. 14, 2023?  
3. Will Dr. Cramer mark “NO” for noncompliance for Standard 7 School Board policies item B for multiple reasons, because he does not follow policy CBA and CF by not directly supervising principals, according to IWCS’s Organizational Chart.
4. Lastly, all policies are to be reviewed by the board at least every give years. Policy EBBA was last reviewed on April 11, 2019, which is past the deadline and was discussed during the Aug. 8 board meeting. All these are public records and subject to FOIA.  

 

Herb De Groft

Smithfield