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The Manassas City School Board approved a policy Tuesday night that will enact term limits for the chair position and rotate the vice chair role among members.
The measure was approved in a 4-3 vote, with Chair Suzanne Seaberg, Vice Chair Jill Spall and board member Zella Jones casting the dissenting votes.
The policy in question dictates the board holds an organizational meeting annually, at which the board establishes its meeting schedule for the year and elects a chair and vice chair, among other roles. Members nominate and elect a chair and vice chair for a one-year term, with any board member eligible for nomination.
The changes mean the chair will now serve no more than two years out of a four-year term.
Seaberg, who’s served as chair of the board since 2021, said the measure is “shortsighted” and will impose restrictions on future boards.
“The strength of our governance lies in the ability of the full board to determine its leadership based on who is best-suited to serve at that time without limits,” she said.
While several board members opposed to the changes argued that both the chair and vice chair positions require a certain skillset and experience level, others argued there’s no better way for members to gain the experience than fulfilling those roles.
“All of us have credentials behind our name in some kind of way and have experience, and so all of us should have the opportunity to show in a leadership fashion,” said Dayna-Marie Miles. “It should not be based on popularity or whether you called someone and said, ‘Hey, are you going to vote for me again?’ It should not be based on that.”
Similarly, board member Diana Brown said the idea that “no one else on this board is qualified to serve in these positions” is a “false narrative.”
“I support this policy because I do believe that leadership is not about maintaining an inner circle of protecting political alliances,” Brown said.
