Virginia Beach Friends School is a non-profit corporation and the School Committee is our Board of Trustees. While there is no set number of Trustees on the School Committee, at least 20 percent of its members are members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The Head of School and our Financial Advisor serve on the School Committee in an ex officio capacity. In addition, the School Committee includes a representative from the Faculty, the alumni, and the Friends School Community Association. Ex officio members and representatives serve one-year terms; trustees serve for three years. School Committee members have no proprietary interest in the school.

Responsibilities

In general, the School Committee is responsible for:

• enacting policies for the school,
• hiring and supervising the Head of School,
• overseeing the school’s financial affairs,
• maintenance and enhancements to the physical plant,
• supporting the Head of School in the areas of long-range planning and fund raising,
• seeking the continued spiritual growth of all in the school community,
• providing moral leadership, and
• promoting a strong bond between the school and the Virginia Beach Friends Meeting.

Meetings

The School Committee meets on the first Monday of each month at 4:30 PM at the school. All meetings are open to interested persons. The School Committee maintains an active committee structure. Each member and representative serves on one or more subcommittees. All subcommittees, except Budget and Finance and the Committee on Trustees, are open to persons with interest or expertise who are not members of the School Committee. Reports from the following standing committees are given at the monthly meetings of the School Committee: Budget and Finance, Building and Grounds, Spiritual Life, Committee on Trustees, and Development. All School Committee meetings begin in silence and follow a Quaker Meeting for Business format. Minutes of all meetings are kept by the Recording Clerk and are available in the Library.

The Long Range Plan for VBFS is currently being re-evaluated and revised by the School Committee. It will be developed in collaboration with parent, faculty and staff surveys. The new Long Range Plan will be posted in 2011.

Function of Board of Directors’ (School Committee) Subcommittees

Persons interested in participating on one of these subcommittees may contact any school committee member.  Committee membership is reviewed annually.  For continuity, members are encouraged to participate on a committee for three years which is considered a term.  Committee meetings are generally open and visitors are welcome.

Committee on Trustees (COT)

Develop and implement annual evaluation of the board and individual board members

Conduct interviews with departing trustees to learn about board members’ experiences

Recruit new board members who can contribute to the school’s strategic goals

Ensure an in-depth orientation is provided for new board members

Focus on board training and what the whole board needs for its development as a group

Membership:  Current Trustees, Head as ex officio.

Budget and Finance Committee (B&F)

Oversee development and adherence to the budget

Review of the school’s management of cash flow and investments

Guide the board in considering action that will have a financial impact on the long-term health of the school

Membership:  Clerk, Treasurer, Head, Financial Advisor, Business Manager and others.

Development Committee

Oversee fundraising, public relations, marketing, and institutional advancement

Define and facilitate annual development plans

Calendar of community-building activities

Oversee internal and external relations and long-range planning for raising funds needed beyond tuition revenues.

Membership:  Director of Development, Head and others.

Spiritual Life Committee (SLC)

Focus on the quality of the Quaker/spiritual life of the school, including meetings for worship and meetings for business.

Special responsibility to keep the Quaker dimension of school life at the front of the Board’s consciousness

Membership: 2 members from each of the following constituents:  Trustees, Parents, Faculty, US/MS students, Friends Meeting, along with the Head.

Building and Grounds Committee (B&G)

Oversee long-term health of school properties and buildings, including existing structures and their renewals, as well as new structures.

10/4/2004  The School Committee approved,  School Committee supports “sustainability” in school’s building and grounds philosophy.  Building and Grounds will consider and recommend as appropriate environmentally friendly buildings and low maintenance grounds – permaculture.

Membership:  Head as ex officio and others.

Patrick Gould

Patrick was born and raised in Oregon and has been a member of the Society of Friends since 1985 when he joined Multnomah Monthly Meeting in Portland.  Now a member of Virginia Beach Monthly Meeting, he joined the School Committee in 2007.  Patrick lives in Portsmouth, VA with his wife Margaret and two children, Emma and William in a 200-year-old farmhouse that was originally on the Elizabeth River.  His educational background includes a B.A. from Saint John’s College in Annapolis, MD, a M.Litt from Saint Andrews University in Scotland, and a Ph.D from Brown University in Providence, R.I.  He has taught philosophy at Virginia Wesleyan College since 1994.   Sailing is his main avocation.  He is deeply committed to the principles of Quaker education and to the Quaker process of governance.

Lisa Wynkoop

Lisa was born and raised in northern Maryland. She attended the University of Maryland and Christopher Newport University where she received her B.A. in social work and B.S. in psychology. She worked as a medical social worker for Bayside and Norfolk General Hospitals before receiving her Doctor of Chiropractic in 1996. Lisa has a family practice in Virginia Beach with her husband, Steve, where she specializes in the care of pregnant women, infants and families. Lisa’s son, Thomas, began his schooling at Virginia Beach Friends School in the Cottage and is currently in the eighth grade. Her love for the school has led her to be active at the school as a volunteer and she is a past  treasurer of the Friends School Community Association. She has been a member of School Committee since November 2004 and served as Clerk from 2007-2009.  She is currently serving as Assistant Clerk.

Linda Smith

Linda was born in New Jersey. She attended Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) and graduated with a B.A. in Elementary Education and a Reading Specialist Certification. In 1995 she graduated from Beaver College, PA (now Acadia University) with a masters in Early Childhood Education and Supervision. She has over 25 years of experience teaching elementary aged children. She came to Quakerism in 1985 at Gwynedd Meeting in Pennsylvania and taught at Abington Friends School (and her two daughters attended there) for several years before moving to Connecticut, where she transferred her membership to the Hartford Monthly Meeting. She and her husband moved to Chesapeake in September 2007 and Linda has transferred her Meeting membership to VBFM. She has a strong commitment to Quaker education, its principles and philosophy. Linda currently serves on School Committee as Clerk.

Cheryl Dronzek

Cheryl was born in Wuerzburg, Germany and raised on military bases throughout the world. She received her B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Texas Christian University and her M.S. in Computer Science from Florida Institute of Technology while working on the Space Shuttle program at the Kennedy Space Center. She spent twelve years testing and preparing Space Shuttles and Delta rockets for launch, during which time she was awarded a Silver Snoopy from the Astronaut Corps and became an Astronaut Candidate herself, before family considerations led to a transition to another home and another career.  She is currently a managing partner of an engineering firm providing facilities maintenance management consulting services to clients such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs and National Park Service.  She has taught classes for clients as well as university students and middle school teens.  Cheryl’s son, John, began his schooling at Virginia Beach Friends School in the Middle School and was a member of the class of 2010.  Her passion for learning and teaching led her to be active at the school as a volunteer.  She joined School Committee in 2009 and is currently serving as Treasurer.

Nancy Nixon

Nancy relocated to Virginia Beach from Eastern Long Island, NY in 1981. She has attended the Virginia Beach Friends Meeting since that time.  She grew up in New Suffolk, NY and obtained her RN at New Rochellle Hospital School of Nursing, NY.  She practiced nursing for twenty-six years before switching careers to obtain a Master’s Degree in Social Work.  Nancy has recently retired from Social Work and now works with her husband in their family business Trafton’s Chocolates.  Together they have five grandchildren who keep them quite busy.  She was formerly a School Committee member in the 1990′s and rejoined School Committee in 2006.  She currently serves as Recording Clerk.

Darlene Beckett

Darlene was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia. She graduated from Old Dominion University in 1980 with a B.S. in Business Administration.  Since graduation, she has been in the real estate field as a Realtor, a Managing Broker, and currently, as the Director of Corporate Relocation Services, a position she has held since 1998, with a firm affiliated with Prudential. She has an active volunteer background and served as President of the Tidewater Associaton of  Realtors in 1994, and served a 6 year term as a Director on the Norfolk Education Foundation for the Norfolk Public Schools.

Darlene resides in Virginia Beach with her husband, Tom, a Microbiologist, and their daughter, Sydney, who started her education at VBFS in 2nd grade and will be in the class of 2018.

James Metcalfe

James A. Metcalfe and his wife Lisa, Teacher Lisa Metcalfe (past teacher and current volunteer), are the parents of two former VBFS students who are now grown and in their fourth decade.  Jim is a returning member of School Committee, having served from 1977 through 1991.  He attended Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, PA in 1946.  He graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1963 and has lived in Virginia Beach since 1968.  He is a retired federal prosecutor and a retired Navy Reserve captain and aviator.

Joanne Gingrich Crass

Joanne Gingrich Crass was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pa. where she received her BS in Nursing at Temple University and her MS in Nursing at University of Pennsylvania. She taught Nursing at the  University of Minnesota and several other colleges. She currently operates a local private neurofeedback practice.

Joanne and her husband have adopted four children from foreign countries. Her son, JJ, attended Virginia Beach Friends School starting in eighth grade and graduated in 2008. He  is now a senior at Guilford College. While JJ was at Friends School, Joanne was active in the parent organization, serving as both recorder and clerk for several years. At Friends School, Joanne has taught science courses and filled in at the office.  She is very committed to VBFS and the values it embodies.

Joanne Young

Joanne grew up in Virginia Beach. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College) with a B.A. major in Politics and a minor in Economis. She worked as a REALTOR in her family’s real estate business in Sandbridge until she married Jamey and moved to Richmond, VA where he attended medical school. His training took them to St. Louis, MO and Charlottesville, VA until they were able to return home to Virginia Beach in 2004. They have two children, Patrick and Allison. Patrick started in the middle school at Friends School and is a member of the class of 2014.

Joanne is a committed volunteer, having been very active in many fund raising efforts. She is a director of her garden club, a Sunday school teacher and has been the team captain of her tennis team. Currently, she is the designer for her brother’s construction company specializing in renovations. She joined the School Committee in October, 2011.