How a York school skeptic became a supporter -- and board chair

Good morning! Also today, cruise missile manufacturer is still negotiating for land in James City County.

Apr 22, 2025

picture of three York school members — Conservative board members Kimberly S. Goodwin and Zoran Pajevic voted against Lynda Fairman.

Less than two years ago, York County voters elected three new conservative school board members who promised to hold county schools accountable to parents and threatened to fire Superintendent Victor D. Shandor.

But in the 15^th months since taking office, two of the three have significantly moderated their stance. They now support the superintendent, leaving District 5 Representative Lynda J. Fairman the odd woman out in several 4-1 votes of the board.

Fairman, along with Kimberly S. Goodwin of District 3 and District 2 Representative Zoran Pajevic, were elected as newcomers to the board with support from GOP and conservative groups in 2023.

As candidates, all three promised to look into the school system’s curriculum and operations. All three appeared on a conservative podcast where they said they would fire Shandor if elected.

After taking office last year the three then formed a majority to vote for Fairman as chair of the board.

But Fairman’s aggressive behavior toward the superintendent and critics became disruptive, Goodwin said.

Four months into Fairman’s term, Goodwin joined two other board members in voting to replace Fairman as chair. Goodwin took over as chair, and longtime District 4 representative James E. Richardson was elected vice chair.

Eight months after that, Pajevic joined a four-member majority to temporarily strip Fairman of her committee assignments and remove her card access to school facilities. Fairman hinted at legal action, which thus far has not materialized.

Fairman did not return repeated emails and phone calls seeking comment.

Goodwin has become supportive of Shandor and the schools, turning up at a York County board of supervisors meeting last week to plead for full funding for the schools next budget year.

“I did not come here to destroy a good school division,” Goodwin told us during a Zoom call last week.

She said she became alarmed about the school division’s direction during the Covid lockdowns, adding “I got really worried for our kids.”

In a search for information, she said she joined different Facebook groups that were demanding more accountability to parents and alleging significant problems in the York school division. Her own son was in school at the time and did not have any problems, she said, but she kept hearing complaints from other parents.

Then came a series of jarring school board meetings in Loudon County schools, where a father whose daughter had been sexually assaulted in a school bathroom was forcibly evicted from a school board meeting. The National School Boards Association sent a letter to then President Joe Biden comparing some angry parents to domestic terrorists – a position for which the group subsequently apologized. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the FBI could investigate parents who disrupt school board meetings.

Critics blasted these moves as an attempt to silence them.

Goodwin, a mental health counselor and former York County school counselor, said she began investigating what could be done at the local level “to make sure it doesn’t happen here.”

She said she began attending meetings of Republican breakfast clubs, found a lot of positive energy, and was approached to run for the school board.

She said she joined the party because she knew she would need operational and financial help to succeed in her race. But, she said, “I’m not going to sit up here and govern as a Republican, I’m going to govern (for) what’s right for the school division.”

As she began diving into issues, Goodwin said she learned some of the stories she had heard about fraud and indoctrination in schools were exaggerated. People would tell her about alleged offenses but could not back it up with names and specifics so she could investigate further, she said.

Goodwin said she should not have jumped in to say she would fire the superintendent during the conservative podcast interview.

“I own that, that was a mistake on my part,” Goodwin said. “What I should have said was if I’m elected and I get in there and I see nefarious things taking place…. there would be grounds to fire the superintendent.”

“Sure enough, when I got in there and looked at it from a whole different lens it was nothing like what I was told on the outside.”

Goodwin said the superintendent reached out after she was elected to congratulate her, offer to answer questions, and asked for a meeting to talk.

“He really leaned in,” Goodwin said, “(I) definitely didn’t meet a person who was hostile or…trying to hide anything,”

Shandor’s relationship with Fairman was less amicable. The two butted heads publicly and in email exchanges. Fairman also came under fire from teachers and school advocates who accused her of going around the superintendent and attempting to intimidate some teachers.

Fairman’s style alienated her from her colleagues and angered Shandor, who threatened a lawsuit, saying Fairman was violating his contract by going around him to his subordinates.

“When you came on this board….you had a personal vendetta, you had a political agenda,” District 1 member Mark J. Shafer said during a school board meeting last month where Fairman was publicly chastised. “This is one of the top performing school divisions in this state, and everything you’ve brought on has created confusion and chaos.”

“Majority does rule and…we have to stand behind it,” said Pajevic at the time.

Pajevic did not tell us why he changed his mind about firing Shandor, stating in an email, “My focus has always been, and will continue to be, on doing what’s best for the children of York County. I believe in giving people a chance, working collaboratively, and doing my part to make our schools even better.

Goodwin said the decision to remove Fairman as chair last year “was a gut- wrenching decision for me because I knew I was going to make some people very unhappy, but we needed peace.” She said she has since been criticized by some of her conservative supporters, and called a RINO (Republican in Name Only).

Norway’s cruise missile maker Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace is coming to James City County

The Norweigian aerospace company that announced plans to build a 150,000- square -foot-cruise missile factory in James City County is still negotiating to purchase the land, Williamsburg Watch has learned.

When we first asked where the $100 million facility for Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace would be located, Planning Director Susan M. Istenes said the location has not been publicly disclosed.

We then filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the county and were told that a location has not been determined. Istenes says it is a by-right use, so the facility would be located in an area already zoned for industrial use.

James City County Chair Jim Icenhour told us that Kongsberg is still negotiating the purchase of the land but hoped to have it concluded within a few months, with construction beginning in the fall.

Kongsberg announced the new $100 million factory lasts September, saying it should open in 2027.

It will be the company’s first munitions assembly plant in this country, producing two types of cruise missiles Kongsberg sells to the Navy, Marines and Air Force. The company already has one plant in Johnstown, PA where it builds remote weapons systems.

Since the announcement, the Trump administration has thrown uncertainty into the international trade scene by announcing, then continually modifying, a series of tariffs and other restrictions with world trading partners including Europe.

Kongsberg did not respond to our questions asking whether the Trump trade war will impact their ability to continue with the plant, and when they expect to open.