Isle of Wight County’s School Board reelected Jason Maresh as its chairman on Jan. 16, though by a narrower margin than the 2024 unanimous vote that first elevated him to the role.

The board’s reorganizational meeting, which began at 4:45 p.m., just over an hour ahead of the regular 6 p.m. business meeting, saw two nominations for chairman. Board member Michael Cunningham nominated Maresh to continue in the role, while board member Brandi Perkins nominated Mark Wooster, who was vice chairman in 2024.

Maresh’s nomination carried 3-2 with his own vote and that of John Collick and Cunningham over dissenting votes by Perkins and Wooster.

“I certainly hope there’s no hard feelings,” Maresh said. “I said it in December at our last meeting for the year and I’ll say it again tonight, this school division has overcome some pretty big obstacles and done some very positive changes in the past couple of years and I look forward to being a part of that as we continue to do great stuff.”

Collick then nominated Perkins as vice chair, though she declined the nomination and instead nominated Wooster to continue in the role. Wooster’s nomination passed unanimously.

The board then voted unanimously to name Collick and Perkins to its finance committee. Collick, Perkins and Wooster will also serve on the board’s policy committee.

The committee began in August as a two-member body consisting of Collick and Wooster and was tasked with drafting written procedures governing how and when the board’s more than 400 policies are to be updated following the board’s vote in June to disaffiliate from the Virginia School Boards Association. In past school years, the VSBA would provide Isle of Wight County Schools with model policy language and would advise if a particular policy needed updates to comply with a change in state or federal law.

In November, the board voted to codify the body’s role as a standing committee tasked with carrying out the new policy review procedures.

School Board Attorney Pakapon “Pak” Phinyowattanachip advised that while three-member committees aren’t prohibited, their meetings will need to be advertised the same as regular school board meetings due to the membership now constituting a quorum under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. The committee, however, will remain an advisory body and will not be able to vote on matters up for approval by the full board.

The board also named Cunningham, Perkins and Wooster to its career and technical education advisory committee, which has also traditionally been a two-member body.

The board then voted to name Maresh as primary and Cunningham as alternate as its delegation to Hampton Roads public broadcasting station WHRO’s board of directors.

Collick and Maresh, with Collick serving as primary, were named to the Southeastern Cooperative Education Programs, or SECEP, joint board, a regional organization serving students with special needs from Isle of Wight, Suffolk, Franklin, Southampton, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Norfolk public schools. They’ll also serve on the board of the Governor’s School for the Arts.

Wooster will serve as Isle of Wight’s primary representative, and Maresh as secondary, to the Special Education Advisory Committee. Every school division, since 2010, has been required to have a SEAC under state regulations governing special education programs for children with disabilities. The committee’s purpose, according to the Virginia Department of Education, is to provide an opportunity for parents and school board appointees to have a voice in how schools provide services to children with disabilities.