Jim Morrison

The Norfolk School Board’s new proposal calls for closing Norview Elementary School and the Willoughby Early Childhood Center in 2026.

The Norfolk School Board will consider a facilities closure plan that was publicly outlined less than a week before the vote, but fulfills more of the city council’s directive.

Norfolk School Board members made their own closure plan, but it doesn’t fulfill City Council’s charge. With changing financial conditions, that could become a problem.

Norfolk Economic Development Agency voted to hand over its last large parcel, the defunct mall it bought in 2020, but only after the city preemptively voted to take it.

Attorneys for the Norfolk school board say there was never a separation agreement drawn up for former Superintendent Sharon Byrdsong because those details were laid out in her original contract.

The legal ruling grew out of a political disagreement between Norfolk’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi and a group including Mayor Kenny Alexander and City Attorney Bernard Pishko.

Emails obtained through public records requests show former Norfolk Superintendent Sharon Byrdsong faced at least one other firing attempt from former board members before they were successful last month.