John Beres

The regular board meeting included several recognition segments. The first recognition honored Casey Mans as the 2026 Teacher of the Year, detailing her qualifications and dedication as a math teacher at James Breenidge Middle School. The second recognition celebrated Andre Chapman as the Junior Achievement 2025 Student of the Year, highlighting his motivation and involvement in entrepreneurship and marketing. Subsequently, three staff members—bus driver Margerie Cwley, school security officer Robert Stewart, and student support specialist Vivian Sanchez Jones—were recognized with the superintendent's challenge coin for demonstrating calm leadership, quick thinking, and commitment to safety during two separate community incidents involving a crime near a middle school and a food truck explosion near a high school. The meeting also recognized three students for their artwork selected for the division's holiday greeting cards.

The meeting included recognitions for the Association of School Business Officials (ASBO) International's meritorious budget award, earned by Roanoke City Public Schools for the eighth consecutive year. The VSBA take your legislator to school month was promoted, encouraging closer relationships between school divisions and state legislators. William Fleman High School was featured, with a presentation highlighting the school's achievements, including being fully staffed, decreasing suspension days, and academic highlights. The board approved the personnel list and the consent agenda. The Rono Law Foundation provided a donation to the resource room at the Community Empowerment Center. The superintendent provided updates, including wishing a happy Veterans Day to all veterans and highlighting division activities in honor of Veterans Day.

The Roanoke City School Board held a workshop and special meeting to discuss several key items. These included the approval of the math acceleration grant proposal, a request for funding reappropriation for high school trailers or learning cottages to address overcrowding, a budget update, and a quarterly update from the constituent services and government relations office. The board also recognized National School Bus Safety Week and held the first meeting of the school year for the Superintendent Student Advisory Council.

The Board approved the request from Board members to participate in the meeting remotely. The Board conducted a closed meeting to discuss the performance of specific public employees, including the Superintendent's evaluation. The Board certified that only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting and that only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the Board. The meeting was then adjourned.

The school board meeting included recognitions, with a focus on the Roanoke Valley Governor's School, where students and staff discussed the school's programs and activities, including research opportunities, engineering programs, and student life. The board also designated October 2025 as VSBA Bullying Prevention Month and approved the personnel list and consent agenda. The board gratefully accepted donations, including school supplies, monetary gifts, HVAC equipment, and office furniture. Citizen participation included a discussion on the benefits of implementing two 20-minute recesses per day for elementary students.