Interview with Dr. Aaron Spence

Falcon Press Editors-in-Chief Seimi Park and Catalina Perez were recently offered the opportunity to interview VBCPS Superintendent Dr. Aaron Spence in his new office:

The office updates, as well as the spending for the updates, have been a source of controversy over the past few weeks… To see the complete interview regarding the office renovations, visit the VBSchools Facebook page.

VBSchools issued this press release:

Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) Superintendent Dr. Aaron Spence will meet with student journalists from each of the division’s high school newspapers during the 2016-17 school year.

“I have long valued the importance of student voice, and what better way to hear our students’ point of view than to give them the access and ability to ask the tough questions?” Spence said. “I am looking forward to working with our next generation of journalists each month.”

For the first student interview, Spence sat down with Cox High School Falcon Press reporters Catalina Perez and Seimi Park to talk about recent renovations to his office. Spence gave the students a tour of the space and fielded questions about how the approximate $51,000* in costs were spent.

“They didn’t pull any punches,” Spence said. “I was pleased to see that these young journalists had done their research and didn’t shy away from asking me some probing questions, like why the money wasn’t allocated somewhere else.”

Spence also shared that new technology has yet to be added to the office, but will be coming shortly (the estimated cost is roughly $8,000).

In addition, there is a larger technology improvement plan for a conference space and work area used by the school board and various departments in the school administration building. The cost of those improvements is expected to be approximately $20,000.