Author: Catie Ratliff

Election day is still a couple months away, but one of the most talked-about races is in Albemarle County, where voters will decide between Allison Spillman and Meg Bryce in the county school board’s at-large race. With the two candidates running on distinctly different platforms, and controversy mounting about Bryce’s political and personal connections, this election is one to watch.

Though historically lower-cost, the school board race is anything but this year. Between them, Bryce and Spillman have generated some large donations, with Bryce raising $41,505, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, to Spillman’s $14,961.

For comparison, the total raised between both candidates in the ACPS White Hall race was less than $13,000 at press time.

Running on a platform to “restore common sense and accountability,” Bryce, whose four children attend private schools, wants to address poor performance, bussing issues, and wasted resources in ACPS, and promote parental involvement, teacher support, and transparency. It was those issues, Bryce says, that prompted her to pull her kids from public school. “We loved our school. It was painful to leave,” she shared on her campaign website. “But we didn’t leave our school; we left this school board.”

The daughter of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Bryce has had problems with vandalism of her campaign signs—“SCALIA” has been spray painted on several of them. In an Instagram post addressing the topic, she said, “This person wants you to focus on… my Dad. This person doesn’t think I deserve to be heard because of… my Dad. I hope most people in Charlottesville will reject this kind of close-mindedness. I also hope most people in Charlottesville won’t fall for these attempts to derail what could otherwise be a productive conversation about how to improve education in ACPS.”

Spillman has publicly condemned the destruction of Bryce’s campaign signs.

Beyond her father’s identity, Bryce has also been criticized for her decision to run for school board with no children in public school, and her alleged connection to conservative groups, such as Moms for Liberty and the Noah Webster Educational Foundation. Bryce denies any connection to Moms for Liberty, but does say she attended a NWEF seminar “where [she] participated in sessions on school budgets, parliamentary procedures, and ‘What Does Science Say About Learning Math?’.”

While there is no evidence that Bryce is directly affiliated with Moms for Liberty, the NWEF has partnered with the group previously.

In a statement to C-VILLE addressing recent controversies surrounding Bryce, Spillman said, “my opponent’s decision to attend meetings with extreme right-wing groups, such as the Noah Webster Foundation and the City Elders, is cause for great concern. These groups seek to ban books, censor teachers, and fundamentally undermine our public education system.”

“It is crucial for school board members to have a direct stake in the district they aim to represent, which often comes through having children enrolled in the local schools,” says Spillman. “As a parent of five children enrolled in ACPS, my personal connection to their educational experience has helped provide me with a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities within the system.

Spillman says she will prioritize education for all students, as well as inclusive and welcoming schools, teachers, mental health, student safety, and collaborative communities. “I am running for the Albemarle County School Board at-large seat because our students and educators deserve a fierce advocate who has her finger on the pulse of real issues.”

“This is a crucial election,” says Spillman. “We are committed to working together to ensure that every ACPS student receives the essential support and resources required for a transformative education within our county schools.”

With such different priorities, Spillman and Bryce both have concerns about their opponent’s platform.

“I have been very clear from the first day of my campaign that my priority is to bring our focus back to academic rigor, whereas my opponent has only recently expressed concern over this issue,” says Bryce. “My opponent believes that the school has a right to withhold information from parents if their child is struggling with gender dysphoria, whereas I do not believe that the school should ever withhold information from parents about their own child, least of all when that child is in distress.”

“My opponent has voiced support for diverting funds from public schools to vouchers for private schools. I am focused on fully funding our public schools,” says Spillman. “My opponent supports policies that would non-consensually out and harm LGBTQ students. I am focused on providing a safe and inclusive environment for all students.”

Early voting starts on September 22, and both candidates are focused on campaigning and community outreach efforts.

“I will continue to knock on doors all over the county because I learn so much talking to people on their doorsteps,” says Bryce. “It’s always encouraging to see how much we have in common when it comes to wanting to do right by the children in our community.”

“As we near election day, my top priority is engaging with the entire Albemarle County community. I’m listening to educators, bus drivers, students, parents, and voters,” says Spillman. “We are hosting meet and greets, participating in community events, meeting with PTOs, and knocking on doors across Albemarle County.”

With the start of the school year, Charlottesville City middle and high school students are adjusting not only to new classes, but to a new cell phone policy too. Students must have their phones “Off and Away the Entire Day”—something previously only applicable to CCS elementary students—and will eventually be required to seal phones in magnetically locked pouches. While many parents support stricter cell phone policies, the new rule has also raised concern.

Students are now required to put their phones and other personal devices away for the entirety of the school day, including non-instructional periods like lunch. Though teachers continue to remind students to do this, CCS policy dictates that upon a student’s first violation, administration will be notified, the device confiscated, and it will be returned to the student at the end of the day.

In an infographic detailing the policy, the district outlined potential benefits of Off and Away the Entire Day. “Disconnecting from phones will allow us to connect with each other, connect with learning, and connect with calm,” CCS wrote. “Let’s all work together to improve our learning relationships and mental wellness.”

Later this school year, CCS plans to move to “Off, Yondr, and Away,” which would require students to lock their phones in Yondr pouches at the beginning of the day. Several parents and guardians have expressed concern about this because it would make contacting students in an emergency difficult.

In an August 18 letter to the CCS community, Superintendent Royal Gurley said the district would take time to get feedback, conduct more research, answer questions, and make adjustments before implementing the use of Yondr pouches. He also mentioned meetings about the new device policy, which were held before the start of the school year.

“We held those meetings …  because we wanted to alleviate any confusion that we will be launching Yondr on day one, and we wanted to answer questions about Off and Away the Entire Day,” says CCS Community Relations Liaison Amanda Korman. 

“I think we are still really wanting to make sure we know that it is going to work because our students and families have buy-in and understand the value of the program,” says CCS Supervisor of Community Relations Beth Cheuk. “And that may take a while because people have legitimate questions. And we want to work and do some research and find out how Yondr has worked at other school divisions.”

Though the district does not currently have any additional meetings scheduled to discuss Yondr, Korman encourages families to reach out with questions. “As we are able to get answers to families’ questions and get that buy-in, that’s when we [implement] Yondr,” she says.

While it is still early in the school year, both Korman and Cheuk claim the new policy has already been successful. “We’re just getting some reports that teachers are super happy,” says Cheuk. “[There have been] few discipline reports over phones, just a handful, and the parents have been very supportive of them.”

When asked why the district will implement Yondr pouches despite the claimed success of Off and Away, Cheuk and Korman say the pouches will help students tempted to use their phones regardless of the rules. “At one of the last school board meetings, we heard the story of this student who confessed that even with some of her favorite classes, she would sometimes slip out under the guise of needing to use the restroom … so she could check her phone to stay [caught up] with whatever drama her friend group was up to,” says Korman. “And for a student like that, we hope that she knows that by having the phone in the pouch, that temptation is off the table.”

CCS has already ordered the Yondr pouches. However, the district says it is listening to families’ feedback. If there’s a need to contact students during the day, CCS recommends either emailing the student or calling the front office.

“For the bigger category of those more emergent situations, I think the thing we can do is to turn to other school divisions,” says Cheuk. “We’ve identified at least one in Virginia, but also some nationally … [that] have had lockdowns … [and] emergency situations. I would like to learn from those school divisions and from parents in those school divisions. How did they navigate this world? And what can they say that would make our parents feel better about the situation and understand that they have a good option?”

Albemarle County Public Schools does not currently plan to alter its cell phone policy. According to Public Affairs and Strategic Communications Officer Phil Giaramita, “We prohibited the use of cell phones prior to the 2019-2020 school year in our middle schools, with the intent that the policy would be tested and considered for extension to high schools. High schools limited cell phone use three years later, coming out of the pandemic. Both changes have worked very well and there is no intent right now to make any changes.”

After almost 16 years of practice and planning, 34-year-old former Marine Matt Ganyard will make his NCAA debut as a kicker for the University of Virginia, despite never playing a game of organized football in his life.  

A lifelong athlete, Ganyard’s football dreams started on the high school soccer pitch. “I realized probably around sophomore year high school that I wasn’t good enough to necessarily play [soccer] at a UVA-type school,” he says. “I remember clearly stepping on Grounds with my dad on a visit, fell in love with [UVA, and] said we could cancel the rest of the trips to the other schools in the area.”

And while he didn’t make the football team when he first tried out as a second-year in 2009, the California native didn’t give up. Ganyard, who watched YouTube videos for tips on translating his soccer skills into those better suited for the gridiron, kept practicing, before ultimately deciding to follow in his dad’s footsteps and become a pilot for the U.S. Marines when he graduated in 2011.

Under NCAA rules, Ganyard’s eligibility clock was paused during his time as an active-duty service member, leaving him with one year of playing time. As he approached the end of his military contract and considered attending business school, Ganyard decided to reach out to universities about the possibility of walking on as a kicker.

After getting accepted to the Darden School of Business and talking to UVA Special Teams Analyst Drew Meyer, Ganyard was ready to join the Cavaliers in 2022. However, his plans hit a snag when he found out that his class schedule made it impossible for him to play.

For Ganyard, it was frustrating that “everything seemingly lined up only to kind of be shut down at the last minute” by a scheduling issue. Still, he wasn’t ready to give up, and applied for an eligibility waiver from the NCAA—and was denied.

In one last Hail Mary, Ganyard and UVA appealed the NCAA’s decision. Four days before the start of this year’s fall camp, the second-year Darden student was granted a sixth year of eligibility.

“Next thing you know, I’m finishing my summer internship and getting a physical with an NCAA football team,” Ganyard says. “And here we are.”

The start of fall camp brought a lot of novel experiences, from trying on a helmet and pads for the first time to meeting his much younger teammates. “I did the math … the freshmen on the team are closer to my daughter’s age than they are to my age. So that kind of set the tone right off the bat for what we’re in store for, for age gaps,” says Ganyard, who’s been nicknamed Pop-Pop, Uncle Matt, and Grandpa.

As he gets ready for the start of the season, the former Marine says the entire experience remains surreal for him and his family. Still, Ganyard and his wife Marie—who met as undergrads at UVA—are enjoying being back in Charlottesville with their 3-year-old daughter and 9-month-old son. “My wife and I can take our kids and go have a glass of wine at a vineyard and let them run around and just enjoy the beauty of Charlottesville.”

While the official starting lineup hadn’t been released at press time, many are predicting that Ganyard will be the Cavaliers’ starting kicker when UVA opens its season with an away game against No. 12 Tennessee on September 2 at noon.

To commemorate the first wave of residents moving in to new buildings, the Kindlewood Advisory Committee, Piedmont Housing Alliance, and National Housing Trust hosted community members and stakeholders at the redevelopment site on August 19.  

Following a procession from the Second Street SE entrance to the new parking lot near the intersection of Sixth Street SE and Monticello Avenue, celebration attendees heard remarks from resident, redevelopment, and area leaders.

Developed in 1978, the 12-acre Kindlewood—formerly known as Friendship Court, and before that Garrett Square—was created following the destruction of the predominantly Black Vinegar Hill neighborhood under the guise of urban renewal. The site of the Kindlewood community has a complicated and disturbing history that began long before the razing of Vinegar Hill, with a plantation that enslaved at least 51 people formerly occupying the land, which was stolen from the Monacan Tribe.

Addressing the crowd, City Councilor Michael Payne acknowledged Charlottesville’s historic lack of investment in Kindlewood. “The city had committed great sins against this community [over the course of] decades,” he said. Despite the long history of city wrongdoings, Payne is optimistic that Kindlewood’s resident-led, zero displacement approach to redevelopment will be “view[ed] not as a one-off, but as a model.”

While a number of local leaders spoke at the celebration, the most impactful remarks came from former and current Kindlewood residents. As a resident member of the Kindlewood Advisory Committee, Crystal Johnson dedicated hours of her time to improving her community and ensuring that residents were at the forefront of the redevelopment effort. “Kindlewood will be a thriving, inclusive, and diverse neighborhood because of your contributions,” she said.

“I am purposely stopping, pausing, to just breathe the preciousness of the air, calm our minds, calm our spirits, and take this moment in,” said former resident and current KAC member Myrtle Houchens. “Behold the beauty, there are no words. … Every tear that I shed today is happiness, tears of hopefulness, tears that we made it, and there’s so much more to come.”

With her fellow KAC members and residents surrounding her, Houchens cut a bright red ribbon to celebrate the 20 families moving in to the first section of new housing. Move in officially began on August 14.

“The [look] of these buildings makes us so excited, bring[s] us so much excitement,” said resident and PHA employee Maryam Bayan. After living in Kindlewood for four years, Bayan is ecstatic to finally be in her new home. Speaking about everyone involved in the redevelopment, she said, “they are so diverse, so working hard, and we appreciate them.”

“It really means a dream come true to me. It’s a big day,” said resident Towheed Zaki. “We have been waiting for this for almost three years now.” Speaking about his experience living in Kindlewood, Zaki expressed his gratitude to specific members of administration and leadership. “Miss Houchens, Miss Marcy, Miss Arlene from the office—they have been wonderful to everyone, they have been kind to everyone.”

Kindlewood’s redevelopment will continue with the demolition of empty units and construction of new housing over the next eight years.

With the start of a new school year just days away, hundreds of students in Charlottesville City and Albemarle County Public Schools will be without bus seats on August 23, the first day of school.  

For CCS students, the transportation situation largely mirrors last year’s, with the same walk zones and creative solutions like walking school buses. Though some families may be waitlisted at the start of the year, Community Relations Liaison Amanda Korman says more students will be assigned seats on buses soon. “The city is taking a conservative approach to assigning bus seats for the beginning of the school year to ensure that all high-need students are covered,” says Korman. “Within the first month of school, we expect to be able to significantly increase the number of students who have a seat on the bus.”

In early August, nearly 900 ACPS families received notice that their students would not have bus seats this year. “I am writing to inform you that we cannot assign [your student] to a bus route for the 2023-24 school year,” the letter said. “You must provide transportation for [your student] to and from school or seek alternative transportation arrangements, such as carpooling.”

While the district currently employs around 148 bus drivers, ACPS needs approximately 160 drivers to meet the high demand, according to Public Affairs and Strategic Communications Officer Phil Giaramita.

“As a result of the shortage, there are about 1,000 children for whom there’s no driver assigned to the route,” says Giaramita. “Since there’s not a driver assigned to the route, that bus won’t operate.” However, Giaramita is hopeful that the gap in service will be temporary for most, if not all, impacted families.

“We have historically had [bus service requests] for about 10,000 students, but actually only 6,000 show up on a regular basis,” he says. “After the first couple of weeks of school when things stabilize a little bit, we’ll have closer to what the actual number of riders [is] going to be. … That will allow us to redeploy drivers and that’ll help us restore service to even more kids who are now on the waitlist.”

Despite Giaramita’s optimism about restoring service, many families without bus service are currently struggling to sort out transportation for the fast-approaching start of school.

“Being at the school board meeting last week and giving public comments, one of the things that became very clear was that distance was not considered … for the families that were going to lose bus service,” says ACPS School Board candidate Allison Spillman. “The majority of people that lost bus service for their children are not in walking zones and don’t have a safe route to school. So their only option is to drive their kids to school.”

“We live 6.5 miles from Walton Middle School,” says ACPS mother Amy Foster. For working parents like Foster and her husband, dropping students off by 9am and picking them up at 4:05pm is difficult. Though the Fosters are currently coordinating a carpool to help out other nearby families, that solution has complications.

“I’m going to try to take as many kids as I can and also work with my work schedule … which means taking work calls in the car,” says Foster. “The signal down the road to Walton is not very [good], so we’re just going to have to do the best we can because there are no other options.”