VIRGINIA BEACH — Just two days after more than 100 city schools employees sued the superintendent, accusing him of hiding skyrocketing health insurance costs from them until after they’d signed their annual contracts, the city School Board announced it will hold a special meeting to address the situation.
The gathering is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the school administration building, according to an announcement released late Friday by the district. A post on the school’s website said the meeting is being held to discuss “health insurance premiums, employee healthcare costs, and potential future steps.”
The move comes after 112 teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other contractual employees filed a lawsuit late Wednesday in Virginia Beach Circuit Court. Superintendent Donald R. Robertson Jr. was the only defendant listed. Robertson became acting superintendent in June 2023, after longtime Superintendent Aaron Spence left to lead Loudon County schools, and was appointed to the post in January 2024.
The employees’ complaint stated the district’s more than 10,000 employees — who’d signed annual contracts earlier this summer — didn’t learn about the expected increases until they got an Aug. 7 email from the Virginia Beach Consolidated Benefits Office.
The message said effective Jan. 1, insurance premiums would increase by amounts ranging from $2.04 to $210.97 per pay period, depending on the plan they had. Retirees were told their payments could grow by as much as $445.25 a month.
The employees received a 3% raise this year, but it would have been eaten up by the increased premiums, according to the group’s attorney, Tim Anderson.
The lawsuit claimed the increase was not caused by natural health cost inflation, but was the result of Robertson’s decision to end subsidies to employee health insurance costs this school year, something the district had done for the past two years at a cost of $19 million.
The complaint said Robertson knew as early as March that the employees’ premiums would at least double, but kept the information from them until contract negotiations were over to prevent a “mass exodus” of workers.
Anderson sent an email to his clients late Friday, expressing gratitude that the board was moving to address the problem and laying out potential next steps.
“They’ve (board members) located some money — but we don’t yet know how much, which means we must keep the pressure on,” Anderson wrote. “If the Board approves enough funding so that premiums only increase at a nominal, inflation-level rate, then our lawsuit will end. That is the only acceptable outcome.”
Anderson also encouraged the group to take part in an upcoming rally to support their efforts. The event will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Virginia Beach and Independence boulevards.
“We need to show the community that VBCPS employees stand united until this is fixed in full,” he wrote. “Each of you stepped up when it mattered most, and together we forced this issue to the forefront. You are the reason this solution is even on the table.”
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
