John Littleton |
Gerald Franson |
The change in leadership came as the board met in Low Moor to reorganize for the 2024-2025 fiscal year and close out the recently-ended 2023-2024 year.
As chair, Littleton replaces Jacob Wright, who had led the Alleghany Highlands School Board since its inception in July 2022. Wright also served as chair of the former Alleghany County Public Schools Board prior to its merger with Covington City Public Schools.
“This school division means a lot to me, because public education in the Alleghany Highlands has been a part of my family for years,” said Littleton, who became the first elected member of the school board last fall.
Littleton praised Wright for his leadership of the board over the past two years. He noted that the board made many positive strides under Wright's leadership, particularly in the area of continued improvement to employee compensation.
“Mr. Wright provided the board with invaluable guidance and expertise in his two years as board chair. He served on the Joint School Services Committee and put our consolidation plan together, and his leadership was vital as we transitioned to a jointly-operated school division,” said Littleton.
Franson replaces Jonathan Arritt as vice chair. Franson was originally a member of the Alleghany County School Board. He was appointed to the AHPS board in 2022. He worked alongside Wright and Arritt on the School Joint Services Committee to craft the AHPS consolidation plan.
“I thank my fellow board members for having the confidence in me to appoint me as vice chair. We owe a great deal of gratitude to Mr. Wright and Mr. Arritt for leading us over the past two years. They did a tremendous job, and I can only hope I can help carry on the legacy of strong leadership they established,” Franson said.
Wright will remain as one of Alleghany County’s four representatives on the joint school board. Alleghany County is also represented by Franson, Littleton, and Danielle Morgan.
“I have the utmost confidence in John as he leads our board into the future. We have made great strides in improving public education in the Highlands with our merged school division. We are also seeing a positive impact in our community with a strong outpouring of support. I look forward to continuing to serve on the school board and being a part of the great things to come,” Wright said.
Covington has three members on the board, Arritt, Marie Fitzpatrick and Tammy Scruggs-Duncan.
“We have a great school board,” said Littleton. “Each member takes their roles seriously, and they have the best interests of the students in the Alleghany Highlands at heart. Our students and our community benefit greatly by their service, and I look very forward to working with them. Our slogan since we merged has been, ‘Working with you to put the unity in community,’ and we have found that to be very true as we have worked together to unite our community for the good of our students.”
All AHPS board members spend time in numerous professional development and service activities outside of the regular school board meetings. Many are also involved in clubs and activities in the Alleghany Highlands community.
Wright has served as chair of the Virginia School Boards Association Blue Ridge Region and serves on the state board of directors. He also serves on the GO Virginia Region 2 council. GO Virginia is a statewide initiative designed to encourage Virginia’s economic growth through the creation of high-wage jobs. Recently, he has been appointed to a special task force helping to address matters of school nutrition statewide and brought a number of regional and state leaders to the Highlands as part of an event to discuss school nutrition.
Arritt is a third generation funeral director who served on the Covington City School Board prior to the creation of AHPS. He co-chaired the joint school services committee that developed the agreement that created AHPS and frequently attends governance-related training events. Arritt is a graduate of Covington High School and his ancestors were some of the earliest settlers in Alleghany County.
Morgan, a nurse leader for an area health care facility, represents the school board on the AHPS Student Health Advisory Board and on the Jackson River Governor’s School’s own governing board. Morgan’s expertise includes risk management and health services. She is one of the first appointed members from Alleghany County to the Alleghany Highlands School Board. Recently, she completed the Virginia Public Sector Leader III Program, a specialized and advanced leadership development certificate.
Fitzpatrick, a retired business manager, served on the Covington City School Board. In 2022, she joined Arritt and Scruggs-Duncan in becoming the city’s first appointed representatives to the Alleghany Highlands School Board. Her work with the AHPS Board includes serving on the administrative budget committee which helps plan the school division’s annual operating budget. Fitzpatrick is a former member of The Alleghany Foundation Board of Directors. In 2016, she served as the Alleghany Highlands Christmas Mother.
Franson, a Covington businessman, served on the Alleghany County School Board prior to his appointment to the AHPS Board in 2022. He served on the Joint School Services Committee and his work on that committee included being part of a budget subcommittee. The subcommittee helped draft the first budget for AHPS. Franson was the last chair of the Jackson River Technical Center Joint Board of Control. Franson also serves as a deacon at Covington Baptist Church.
Scruggs-Duncan’s duties include serving as a school board representative to the school division’s Safe Schools interdisciplinary planning team. The Safe Schools group involves local emergency responders and other professionals in thinking about safety initiatives across the school division. A local non-profit executive, she enjoys advocating for student access to the arts. She has chaired the historic Covington City School Board and the Mountain Gateway Community College Board. Currently, she is a member of the MGCC Foundation Board.
Littleton serves as a school board representative to the statewide special education advisory committee, a position that required an application and competitive selection process. He is also part of the school board budget committee. As an engineer, he serves as the school board’s liaison for construction and maintenance projects. His mother, Joy, was a longtime teacher in Alleghany County Public Schools, and his late grandmother, Betty Littleton taught at Covington High School for many years.
In its short two-year history, Alleghany Highlands Public Schools and its staff have received numerous awards and honors, including recognitions for local government cooperation from both the Virginia Association of Counties and the Virginia Municipal League. These honors were shared with the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors and the Covington City Council respectively. Additional recognitions include an award for communications efforts and an award for workforce preparation. Wright and Arritt have represented the board in presenting information about the consolidation before audiences at a statewide conference.
AHPS also received a special recognition for Sharon Elementary School from U.S. News and World Report, improved elementary school attendance divisionwide, the addition of new options in career and technical education programs and cooperation with Mountain Gateway Community College in the development of a laboratory school. Other recognitions include expanded preschool programming, also covering preschool special education programming.
“We have a team that is working diligently on instructional support for our teachers as they meet new literacy requirements and adapt to Standards of Learning changes as well,” said staff school division leaders Kim Halterman and Melinda Snead-Johnson. Halterman was recently recognized as regional superintendent of the year.
“This has been an unprecedented era of positive developments,” said Wright.
AHPS news and events are updated regularly on Facebook at AHPublicSchools and Instagram at ahpublicschools. Information is also available at www.ahps.k12.va.us. The school division serves approximately 2,700 students and it is funded by Alleghany County and the City of Covington.
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