Friends School of Virginia Beach is a non-profit corporation and the School Committee is our Board of Trustees. The School Committee speaks as one voice with unity.
The roles and responsibilities of members of our School Committee are:
- To hire and supervise the Head of School.
- To actively support and promote the school’s mission, vision, strategic goals and policies.
- To be informed about current operations and issues by being well prepared for and attending regular meetings.
- To set School Committee and Head of School policies based on long-range strategic planning.
- To keep all board deliberations confidential.
- To guard against conflicts of interest, whether personal or business related.
- To bring to the Head of School, or to the Clerk of School Committee an issue of importance to the school, and must refrain from responding to the situation individually.
- To contribute to the development program of the school, including strategic planning for development, financial support, and active involvement in annual and capital giving.
- To be accountable to the school for sound financial management. Each trustee has this responsibility, not just the treasurer and finance committee.
- To promote a strong bond between the School and the Virginia Beach Friends Meeting.
The roles and responsibilities of members of our School Committee do not include:
- Becoming involved directly in specific management, personnel, or curricular issues.
- The specific needs of a particular child or constituency.
Trustees
Tim Craddock
Tim is a native of Virginia Beach and currently resides there with his family. His Friends School experience began in 2006 with enrollment of a student now attending Radford University. He is also the parent of a Friends School and James Madison University alumna. Tim volunteers at school regularly and enjoys attending school events and being part of the vibrant Friends School community.
Tim is a Virginia Tech Hokie and Professional Electrical Engineer. He is responsible for building electrical system design and construction. His practice includes implementation of sustainable design and continuing education to stay current with the constant evolution of building technology. Tim’s experience includes numerous facilities throughout the Mid-Atlantic region for clients in the government, healthcare and education markets.
Tim currently serves as the School Committee Convener of the Building and Grounds committee.
Hank Ghittino
Hank Ghittino is a long time member of Virginia Beach Friends Meeting where he has served on various committees, as treasurer, and is presently an Overseer and Trustee of the Meeting and a member of the Joint Property Task Force. Hank also served as a Meeting member during the School’s Long Range Planning process. Although raised in Queens, NY, Hank has called Tidewater, particularly Virginia Beach, home since 1970. He graduated from Tidewater Community College, James Madison University, and took graduate course work at Old Dominion University. His two step-children attended Friends School for a time in the early 1980's
Hank is a professional geologist, retired from a thirty-six year career as a hydrogeologist. During his career he worked in the environmental sections of local, regional, and international consulting firms. He spent his last seventeen working years with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in the groundwater resources management program, which is a permitting program that regulates groundwater based public and private water supply systems, individual industries, and agricultural and golf course irrigation.
Hank currently serves as Assistant Clerk of the School Committee.
Patrick Goold
Patrick is the Recording Clerk of the School Committee.
Chalit Fernando
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Chalit moved to Bethesda, Maryland at the age of 8 with his parents and sister. He attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio before transferring to Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. After graduating with a degree in International Business and Political Science, he worked for a non-profit legal society as the IT and Finance Manager before completing an M.B.A. at The College of William and Mary.
Chalit lives in Virginia Beach with his wife Victoria and daughter Julianna who is currently attending Lower School at Virginia Beach Friends School. He works as the Program Manager of Strategic Planning at Bon Secours Health System.
Chalit currently serves as the Convener of the Advancement Committee.
James Metcalfe
James A. Metcalfe and his wife Lisa, who is a 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.
Nicole Padmore
Nicky has loved living in Virginia Beach for the past 20 years and has served on the VBFS School Committee since 2017. Nicky received her Doctorate of Medicine from the Medical College of Virginia in 1995 and was a practicing Internal Medicine physician locally until 2017. At that time, she started a national executive physician position. Nicky has one child in the seventh grade at VBFS, where he has been enrolled since 3 years of age.
Dr. Michael Rossi
Dr. Michael Rossi was a 30-year independent school educator, starting his career in 1982 as an English teacher and soccer coach. He then went on to become a middle school division head, upper school head and eventually head of school at three independent schools including two in Florida and one in Georgia. For the past eight years, Dr. Rossi has been the Education Consultant and Specialist for VIcom, a technology integration company located in Virginia Beach and Richmond.
Dr. Rossi has been married for 30 years to Kristen, who is an independent school educator as well and is presently a lower school head. Dr. Rossi and his wife have three children: Michaela who is a graduate of William and Mary; Kristina who is a sophomore at Virginia Tech and Christopher who is a Junior at First Colonial High school.
Dr. Rossi was the consultant and search chair for the Virginia Beach Friends School Head of School search and conducted the School Committee retreat for the Strategic Long-Range plan.
Dean Wells
Born and raised in Clinton, Oklahoma, Dean currently calls Virginia Beach, Virginia his home. He served in the U.S. Navy for several years before leaving the military to pursue and obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. Dean currently works as a senior Mechanical Engineer at a defense contracting company in Newport News, VA, where he has held various positions of increasing responsibility in aircraft carrier design and construction during his 15 years with the company.
Dean values the outstanding education that his two children currently receive in Upper and Middle Friends School. He has also enjoyed volunteering for various activities as well as serving as a member of the Friend School’s Board within recent years and looks forward to helping the school achieve its immediate and future goals.
Dean is the incoming Treasurer of the School Committee (term beginning June 2018).
Joanne Young
Joanne is a native of Virginia Beach and a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College with a BA in Politics and Economics.
Her journey with Friends School began as a parent in 2006. She served on the School Committee from 2010-2014 and rejoined in 2017. She has served on the following committees: Buildings & Grounds, Advancement and the Committee on Trustees. She has held the position of Assistant Clerk.
Joanne and her husband James have two children, Patrick and Allison. Patrick attended Friends School in 7th grade and graduated in 2014. Allison is a graduate of Norfolk Academy, class of 2016. The Young family currently hosts a Serbian exchange student, Miodrag Dronjak, who attended Friends School in 11th grade and graduated in 2016. All three children are in college and doing well.
Joanne works as an Interior Design Consultant, specializing in Resort Vacation Properties.
Joanne currently serves as Clerk of the School Committee.
