Justin Castillo was the only candidate nominated by his Falls Church School Board colleagues at the board’s organizational meeting Tuesday night, and was elected unanimously to another term as the board’s chair. John Lawrence was elected vice-chair with a 5-2 margin over another nominee, newly-elected Phil Reitinger. Reitinger was subsequently the only “no” vote in the board’s routine adoption of its Codes of Conduct provision on grounds, he said, that he wishes to make some modifications to include more transparency in the code, but that his colleagues preferred to defer such a discussion until after the annual budget process is concluded in late April.

Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones unveiled her budget recommendations to the board with virtually no changes from the version she presented to three PTA organizations last week. The first board work session on that budget will be next Tuesday night, Jan. 19, at the School Board offices.