The newly adopted budget funds Virginia from 2024 to 2026.
File photo.
After months of debate, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a compromise budget passed by the state legislature during a special session on May 13.
The new budget passed with broad bipartisan support, with vote totals coming in at 94-6 in the House of Delegates and 39-1 in the state Senate. Most of Democrats’ priorities from the March version of the legislation—which Youngkin all but vetoed with 233 amendments—were included in the final budget, with a few notable exceptions.
Under the new budget, Virginians will not see any substantive change to current taxes. While Democrats rallied behind the introduction of a digital sales tax, the proposal was dropped in favor of getting the governor’s support for the budget.
According to state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the intent behind the proposed digital sales tax was to raise revenues to support needed investments in K-12 education.
“Last year we got hit with this [Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission] report that told us what we knew: that the state was underfunding K to 12 education—but it quantified that at nearly $4 billion a year. Well, the only way we’re going to address that in the long run is new revenue,” says Deeds. “The proposal we had generates about 1.2 billion over a biennium.”
Even without the digital sales tax, the budget still includes significant investments in education and 3 percent raises for teacher and school support staff annually for the next two years.
“I’m really proud of the fact that we’re able to have money for the schools. [It’s] a historic level of investment in K-12, early education, as well as higher ed,” says 55th District Del. Amy Laufer about the more than $2 billion increase in education appropriations. “The pay raise for teachers at 3 percent was exciting.”
For all of its investments in education, the budget’s final version cut a provision allowing localities to hold a referendum on a 1 percent tax increase to fund public school construction.
“I know for Albemarle County, that was something they were really looking forward to,” says Laufer. “And I do believe we’re gonna try to pursue that again next year.”
Also cut was language requiring that Virginia reenter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through caps on power plants.
“We fought very hard to keep RGGI in there. But we just lost that fight,” says Deeds. “I don’t think the governor had the authority to pull us out of RGGI in the first place. There’s litigation on that. I think that we’ll go back in RGGI long haul, but there was language in there that we fought very hard to keep.”
The commonwealth entered the environmental program in 2020 after a vote by the state legislature, but the decision was reversed by Youngkin in 2021. A suit by the Southern Environmental Law Center is currently underway, arguing only the state legislature—not the governor—could pull Virginia out of RGGI.
The SELC declined to comment on the removal of RGGI language from the budget given the ongoing nature of the litigation.
Both Deeds and Laufer support the SELC suit and Virginia’s reentry into RGGI, but critics of the environmental initiative argue the resulting rate hikes are a burden on consumers.
“[RGGI is] paid for by a surcharge for ratepayers. But the reality is, Virginia has received much more in benefit than we’ve ever paid into it; we’ve received an incredible amount of money,” says Deeds. “There are things that we are going to have to spend general fund dollars on because we don’t have the RGGI money.”
“The governor should not be able to take these things out just on a whim,” says Laufer.
Several state environmental groups expressed frustration with the removal of RGGI language from the budget. In a joint statement from the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, leaders of several climate-focused groups said that “Gov. Youngkin got us into this mess. But it is incumbent on lawmakers to do everything they can going forward to protect vulnerable communities from climate change and rising energy costs, and to secure a clean energy future.”
Still, local lawmakers are pleased about several priorities in the final budget legislation.
“I’m really proud of our leadership for pursuing all of our goals in terms of funding,” says Laufer, who had three items included in the final budget. “I’m proud as a freshman that I was able to accomplish that.”
“The budget itself, and the spending plan itself, is something that we can all be proud of,” says Deeds. “I’m just disappointed about a couple of things, but I’ll get over it. We’ll work towards fixing that in a little while.”
The Women’s Center is one of more than 35 programs offered by Region Ten.
Supplied photo.
More than four years after closing its doors due to COVID-19, Region Ten’s Women’s Center still has not reopened. While the community service board cites staffing difficulties, concerned members of Interfaith Movement Promoting Action by Congregations Together (IMPACT) are frustrated with the lack of progress in reopening the facility.
Opened in 2018, the Women’s Center is a residential treatment program for women dealing with substance use. The treatment facility, alongside most of Region Ten’s in-person programming, was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
But while most Region Ten offerings have since returned to normal operations, the Women’s Center is still closed.
On May 13, IMPACT members attended the public portion of Region Ten’s monthly board meeting to emphasize the urgent need to reopen the Women’s Center.
“We cannot continue to ignore the plight of mothers, sisters, and daughters who are dying from alcoholism and addiction,” said Pastor Liz Emrey in a public comment to the Region Ten board.
Emrey’s congregation—New Beginnings Christian Community—focuses on outreach for former offenders and people dealing with substance abuse. During a closed-door portion of the board meeting, the pastor and other members of IMPACT spoke to C-VILLE in the Region Ten lobby. All expressed frustration with the lack of movement in reopening the Women’s Center.
“We started this [advocating for the reopening of the Women’s Center] because of stories we got from our congregations,” said Vikki Bravo of Congregation Beth Israel. “It’s really important to us because it’s important to our community.”
“We have been asking them for at least two years, since the pandemic ended, to reopen the women’s treatment center,” said Emrey. “They said it was a staffing problem. But how is it a staffing problem for the women’s and not for the men’s?”
In a comment via email, Region Ten Director of Community Relations and Training confirmed that staffing challenges have contributed to the continued closure of the Women’s Center.
Both the Women’s Center and Mohr Center—Region Ten’s residential substance abuse program for men—were closed due to the pandemic in 2020. But it was duration and logistics, not gender, that facilitated the Mohr Center’s prompt reopening.
“While Mohr Center staffing was negatively impacted by the pandemic, it was not at the same level as the Women’s Center, which was a newer program that had been in operation for less than two years,” said Jennings.
With the Women’s Center closed, women seeking residential substance abuse treatment have limited options in central Virginia. Region Ten currently offers programs including Project Link, Recovery Support, Intensive Outpatient Programming, and the Wellness Recovery Center for those recovering from substance abuse, but none offer the same benefits as the Women’s Center.
Uniquely, the Women’s Center allowed patients to bring up to two of their children under 5 years old with them to the residential program. Though this was a highlight of the Women’s Center when it was open, it has made reopening more challenging.
“Providing residential treatment support to young children also requires additional and specialized staffing in order to operate safely and in compliance with regulatory standards,” said Jennings. “Region Ten has worked diligently to recruit and retain qualified behavioral health staff to support the community’s needs. … The Women’s Center will reopen as appropriate and adequate staffing allows.”
VDOT estimates the Hydraulic Road and U.S. 29 project will be completed in Fall 2025. Charlottesville GIS.
With the missing medians, peeled-up pavement, and barrage of cones, it’s hard to miss the construction on Hydraulic Road and U.S. 29. But Virginia Department of Transportation Project Manager Will Stowe says there’s a method to the madness.
Construction along the busy corridor started earlier this year and has mostly consisted of right-of-way acquisitions up to this point, according to Stowe. “Currently, the main work is along the Hydraulic corridor,” he says. “We are preparing to build a roundabout at the intersection of Hillsdale Drive and Hydraulic.”
Located between the Whole Foods Market and Kroger parking lots, that particular intersection is a notoriously busy one. Data from VDOT’s crash map over the last two years shows clusters of accidents in and around the intersection. By putting in a roundabout, VDOT hopes to improve safety and traffic flow in the area.
VDOT is currently relocating utilities and installing drainage, and they plan to implement a detour for which construction is projected to last between 40 and 45 days. This detour will take drivers to the nearby intersection of the 250 Bypass and U.S. 29/Emmett Street next to Bodo’s Bagels. In an effort to reduce traffic as a result of the detour, VDOT intentionally scheduled the work while the University of Virginia, Albemarle County schools, and Charlottesville City schools are out of session (UVA holds summer session classes, but student presence on Grounds is significantly lower compared to the fall and spring semesters).
During construction, drivers will still be able to access businesses and other locations along Hydraulic Road, Brandywine Drive, and Michie Drive, but the area will be closed to through traffic.
“We’ll make sure that all the roundabout signage and guidance is in place, [and] the pavement marking will make it pretty clear which ways you need to go,” he says.
Aside from the roundabout, the project will also include signal changes, handicap ramp improvements, and the construction of a pedestrian bridge over U.S. 29 by the Shops at Stonefield.
“We’re also installing Amber beacons at the crosswalks around the roundabout to alert traffic to pedestrians,” says Stowe. Other pedestrian crossings and street lighting will be added throughout the construction area, but one big change for drivers will be the removal of left turn lanes from Hydraulic Road onto Route 29. “Reducing the phases at that light … will give a lot more green time to the other operations [there].”
VDOT has already started preparing for the pedestrian bridge over U.S. 29, but construction will not significantly affect drivers and pedestrians until at least this fall. “We’ll be focused on the roundabouts and signal[s] this summer,” says Stowe. “We’ll be focusing on getting the pedestrian bridge built into the fall and into next year.”
Key points from the forceful removal of a pro-Palestine encampment from UVA by police May 4 remain a topic of debate. Photo by Eze Amos.
Administrators, faculty, students, and the broader Charlottesville community continue to grapple with the forceful removal of a pro-Palestine encampment from the University of Virginia by police on Saturday, May 4. No one can agree on exactly what happened.
University leadership, including President Jim Ryan and University Police Chief Tim Longo, outlined the timeline of events from their perspective at a virtual town hall on Tuesday, May 7.
“So I will start with the obvious,” said Ryan at the opening of the meeting. “Saturday was a terrible and terribly sad and upsetting day. I’m very sorry it got to that point.”
Though he acknowledged there were disagreements with the decision to dissolve the encampment and bring in state police, Ryan stood behind the choices made and outlined leaderships’ decision-making process.
In response to UVA’s event, faculty members organized their own within two days—billed as Eyewitness Perspectives: An Honest Town Hall—to provide clarity on the differing points of view, supplemented with photo and video evidence.
“By gathering eyewitness accounts from people who served in various capacities in the Liberated Zone, from observer to liaison to participant, we want to set the record straight on events as they unfolded,” said Professor Tessa Farmer at the opening of the Thursday, May 9, meeting.
Following the meetings, everyone—protesters, faculty, administration, and observers—are struggling with what comes next.
At press time, UVA has indicated that final exercises will proceed as planned. Leadership has repeatedly assured that freedom of speech is a priority on Grounds, and they will continue to engage student groups in conversations about the conflict in Gaza.
Points of contention
While the timeline of police presence on the scene is largely agreed upon, the details surrounding opportunities for de-escalation, level of force, and resistance differ between UVA administration and faculty.
UVA SAID
The decision to end the encampment was made for the safety of the community. Reasons cited include protesters calling for more people and resources on social media throughout the week. Emergency alerts were required by the Clery Act, but leadership acknowledged at the Faculty Senate meeting on Friday, May 10, that they brought more people to the scene.
PROTESTERS SAID
Despite the calls for more attendees and supplies, the size of the encampment shrank throughout the week. More observers showed up on Saturday, May 4, after UVA issued multiple emergency alerts. Multiple attempts were made to contact leadership, including Ryan and Vice President and Provost Ian Baucom, throughout the morning and afternoon of May 4.
UVA SAID
Protesters were unwilling to take down the tents on Saturday, May 4, and clearly understood UVA’s tent policies.
PROTESTERS SAID
Early in the morning of Saturday, May 4, faculty liaisons reportedly notified administration of the exemption for recreational tents listed on the UVA Environmental Health and Safety website. Faculty also mentioned other students were simultaneously using similar tents by the volleyball courts on Grounds.
UVA SAID
Law enforcement identified four men dressed in black, at least two of whom “were known to law enforcement personnel as participating in violent acts elsewhere in the commonwealth.”
PROTESTERS SAID
No one at the faculty-led town hall indicated that they saw or were informed of the “four men dressed in black” at the encampment.
UVA SAID
When he went to remove the tents, Longo said he became fearful given demonstrators’ use of umbrellas and protest chants.
PROTESTERS SAID
Video shows Longo approaching the encampment. Protesters can be seen holding open umbrellas, several with their backs to officers, while reciting a call-and-response: “We have a duty to fight for Palestine. We have a duty to win. We must love each other and protect one another. We have nothing to lose but our chains.” After several rounds of chanting, during which neither Longo nor any other officer is seen approaching the encampment, UPD walked away from the protest.
UVA SAID
UPD officers “were met with the use of umbrellas in an aggressive manner” when attempting to remove the tents and break up the demonstrators, precipitating the decision to involve Virginia State Police.
PROTESTERS SAID
A video from the faculty town hall shows UPD officers attempting to physically take the umbrellas as protesters hide behind them. One person can be heard yelling “What the fuck?” repeatedly before the crowd repeats “UPD, KKK, IDF, they’re all the same.” Faculty allege officers approached multiple times to take the umbrellas, with the video showing the third encounter.
UVA SAID
Some protesters resisted arrest or threatened police, with one attendee charged with assaulting an officer.
PROTESTERS SAID
VSP encircled and closed in on the encampment, cutting off bystanders and liaisons. Video shows professors attempting to deescalate the situation by standing between officers and the encampment, repeating, “These are our students, on their campus” as armed law enforcement officers moved in. Faculty and protesters broadly dispute claims of violence by encampment participants.
UVA SAID
Student protesters at the encampment would not engage directly with administration, instead acting through faculty liaisons, showing an unwillingness to hold conversations.
PROTESTERS SAID
UVA administration has demonstrated a willingness to hold conversations about Palestine, but with no substantive action taken.
UVA SAID
Longo claims people affected by chemical irritants deployed were given medical treatment on the scene, with no significant injuries occurring to protesters.
PROTESTERS SAID
No eyewitnesses recall any organized medical treatment center on site. Any first aid provided was given by demonstrators, observers, or faculty.
A heavy police presence was deployed to break up the demonstration at the University of Virginia on Saturday. Photo by Eze Amos.
Tensions between organizers and university leadership reached a boiling point underneath the gray skies on Saturday, May 4, when police forcefully broke up a pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Virginia.
By all accounts, the UVA Encampment for Gaza organized peacefully on Grounds, with demonstrators intermittently chanting, decorating signs, and working on their finals throughout the week. But by noon on Saturday, UVA officials were instructing students to avoid the area around the University Chapel and Rotunda due to “police activity.” The gathering, which quickly garnered attention and attracted hundreds more to the scene, was declared an unlawful assembly. Streets were blocked off and traffic lights switched to flashing yellow as Virginia State Police officers in full riot gear surrounded the encampment.
For the organizers on the scene, it was clear that they were about to be forcefully dispersed.
Footage and images from bystanders and protesters at the conflict’s inflection point depict heavily armed officers breaking up the encampment with the use of chemical irritants and riot shields. Videos posted to the @uvaencampmentforgaza Instagram page show police encircling a line of protesters linking arms and holding umbrellas before forcefully separating them using shields and tear gas. As of press time, 25 people have been arrested and released on bail in connection with the encampment according to UVA.
Tim Longo, University Police Chief, addresses the use of megaphones at the on-Grounds encampment on Wednesday. Photo by Eze Amos.
Rising action
The escalation at the UVA encampment comes on the heels of weeks of unrest at college campuses across the country. Students and community members in Charlottesville in particular have been organizing peacefully for months, with events like teach-ins, poetry readings, and demonstrations held by various groups concerned about the Israeli offensive and conditions in Gaza.
Pro-Palestine protesters have broadly condemned the Israeli offensive in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 people according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israel’s offensive was prompted by the October 7 attacks of Gaza-based terrorist organization Hamas, which killed roughly 1,200 people and saw hundreds taken hostage.
Organizers at UVA first started congregating near UVA Chapel in the evening of Tuesday, April 30, setting up an encampment and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, Palestinian liberation, and action from the University of Virginia. According to a statement from University Communications, organizers were told they could not set up tents due to school policy at this time, and protestors complied with the policy.
The next day, UVA Dissenters and the UVA Apartheid Divest Coalition held a demonstration on the Lawn from 11am to 5pm. At the end of the event, the group quickly picked up and left the Lawn, with some gathering at the encampment in the green space nearby.
Numbers at the protest ebbed and flowed throughout Wednesday, but by early evening roughly 100 protesters remained, spread out on blankets and towels, crowding under trees to escape the intense heat.
Meanwhile, other students continued their day-to-day activities—taking graduation photos by the Rotunda, setting up slack lines near the Homer statue, and lounging in the grass.
A small counter-protest group gathered nearby for a short period but dispersed quickly.
Protesters declined to speak with the media at the encampment but led chants condemning Israel and UVA: “One, two, three, four, occupation no more. Five, six, seven, eight, UVA, you can’t wait” and “Israel, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide.”
During a dialogue between concerned faculty members, University Police Chief Tim Longo, and other UVA officials overheard on Wednesday, all expressed a desire to keep the situation from escalating. University police started to remove one organizer for using a megaphone without a permit, but the situation quickly resolved.
“[The attendees are] committed to a kind of constantly mobilized, constantly negotiated, incredibly beautiful and peaceful protest,” one faculty member told C-VILLE. “They’ve been gentle, they’ve been open, they’ve come from every community in the U.S. to actually argue for something and speak and stand for something, which is to stop genocide.”
Students displayed signs with anti-war sentiments throughout the protests. Photo by Eze Amos.
Call and response
Throughout the week, the encampment gradually shrank in size. Organizers posted their demands both on Instagram and on the Homer statue on Thursday: continuously disclose investments made by the UVA Investment Management Company, divest from “institutions materially supporting or profiting from Israel’s genocide, apartheid, and occupation of Palestine,” permanently cut ties with Israeli academic institutions, and allow faculty and students to support Palestine without risk of disciplinary action.
UVA responded to the demands the next day, outlining the processes for UVIMCO decisions and emphasizing its support for free speech on Grounds, while indicating it would not cut ties with Israeli academic institutions.
“Your request for permanent withdrawal from academic relations with Israeli institutions is not one we can support,” wrote Vice President and Chief Student Affairs Officer Kenyon Bonner and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Brie Gertler in a letter released Friday, May 3. “To terminate study abroad programs, fellowships, research collaborations, and other collaborations with Israeli academic institutions would compromise our commitment to academic freedom and our obligation to enabling the free exchange of ideas on our Grounds, both of which are bedrock values of the University.
“We recognize that this is an incredibly difficult moment for our world. We are seeing disturbing images of arrests and bitter division on campuses across the country. The staggering loss of innocent lives as a result of the conflict in the Middle East is heartbreaking,” reads the final paragraph of the university’s response. “Throughout these times, members of our community have shown a willingness to engage, to debate, and to respect and care for one another and the University we call home, and we hope that you will be willing to participate in further discussion on the issues you’ve highlighted so that we can better understand one another.”
Those at the encampment dissented, posting images of the letter with the words “BULLSHIT” and “FREE PALESTINE” written in marker over the response. Attendees started setting up tents later Friday evening.
Friday night, UPD officers arrived at the encampment in response to megaphone usage and tents before leaving. “Given continued peaceful behavior and the presence of young children at the demonstration site, and due to heavy rain Friday night, officials allowed the tents to remain overnight,” said UVA in an official statement on Saturday, May 4.
Recreational camping tents were exempt from university tent regulations according to a UVA website which was changed the morning of May 4, shortly before VSP raided the protest.
Accounts of the escalation vary significantly.
“We hoped and tried to handle this locally. But when UPD’s attempts to resolve the situation were met with physical confrontation and attempted assault, it became necessary to rely on assistance from the Virginia State Police,” said UVA President Jim Ryan in the May 4 statement. “I recognize and respect that some will disagree with our decisions. This entire episode was upsetting, frightening, and sad.”
Protesters used water to aid those hit with chemical irritants employed by police dispersing the encampment. Photo by Eze Amos.
A statement from the University Communications elaborated on this claim by Ryan, reporting that “around 11:45 a.m. [on Saturday], the University Police Department announced again that the group was in violation of University policies and gave them 10 minutes to vacate the premises. Authorities were again met with agitation, chanting and violent gestures such as swinging of objects.”
Allegations of violence by protesters have been refuted by the encampment. “Welcome to the University of Virginia, where we encourage free speech unless you’re protesting genocide,” posted @uvaencampmentforgaza on Instagram on Monday, May 6. “Where we brutalize our students and mace our community members, where we will arrest your friends and call in militarized troopers when anyone threatens our profit.”
Not over yet
The forced removal of the encampment and arrest of protesters has rallied support among the university and broader Charlottesville community. Hundreds gathered on the Lawn on Sunday, May 5, with several student groups issuing open letters of support for organizers and condemning UVA’s deployment of law enforcement.
“We categorically REJECT President Jim Ryan’s comments and subsequent explanations regarding the events of May 4th,” shared Muslims United, the Black Student Alliance, Pakistani Students’ Association, Afghan Student Association, Black Muslims at UVA, the Environmental Justice Collective, the Asian Student Union, the Bengali Student Organization, and the Sikh Students Association in a joint statement on Instagram. “His portrayal was based on misrepresentations and biased views. Those who were present at the encampment have attested to its peaceful nature.”
Several other student groups and professors at UVA have since spoken out against the university’s handling of the encampment and students’ arrests.
Sunday evening, approximately 100 organizers went directly to Ryan’s residence at Carr’s Hill, chanting for the president to “drop the charges” against arrested demonstrators. Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom were notably absent during the VSP raid, only issuing statements hours after the scene was declared stable by UVA Emergency Management.
As of press time, UVA has not issued any additional public statements regarding the encampment or police action on Grounds.
The Quirk Hotel, soon to be renamed and rebranded, conveniently stands on West Main Street. Supplied photo.
Four years after opening its doors, the Quirk Hotel in Charlottesville was sold for $24 million to Blue Suede Hospitality Group on Monday, April 29. The hotel will undergo a complete rebrand—including a renaming—later this fall.
Originally opened in March 2020, the Charlottesville Quirk Hotel is the sister location of the popular Richmond-based Quirk Hotel. The Ukrop family—best known for its Richmond-area grocery store chain and baked goods—purchased the Charlottesville site for $3.75 million in 2017.
Both Quirk Hotels were operated by Retro Hospitality and owned by the Ukrops family prior to the sale. The Ukrops also sold a minority share of ownership in the original Quirk in January 2024.
Since its launch in New York two years ago, new owner Blue Suede Hospitality Group has acquired four boutique apartment hotels, with locations in Miami, Memphis, Tennessee, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. The acquisition of the 80-room Quirk in Charlottesville marks the group’s first Virginia location and is of a similar size to its Miami holdings.
“We are very excited to continue the great legacy of this remarkable hotel, and further enhance its connection to downtown Charlottesville,” said Blue Suede CEO Kenny Lipschutz in a comment via email. “We look forward to doing our small part to contribute to the dynamic and growing momentum downtown, and are inspired by the opportunity to further support the unique and vibrant Charlottesville community.”
Retro Hospitality will hand over management of the property at the end of June, but BSHG says it will honor the hotel’s existing reservations and events. Since its opening in 2020, the Quirk has become a popular venue choice for couples planning weddings, with a large rooftop bar, changeable indoor and outdoor spaces, and customizable menu options from its full-service restaurant.
The biggest changes will come this fall, when the hospitality group anticipates rebranding the Quirk and announcing a new food and beverage partner.
Despite the rebrand, the Quirk Art Gallery will remain the same, according to Ted Ukrop.
“Katie and I want to thank our guests, artists, and investors for supporting Quirk Charlottesville over the past four years,” said Ukrop in a press release issued by real estate group CBRE, who brokered the deal.“Not all ventures or pursuits go as planned and opening two weeks before Covid certainly presented many challenges. Katie does plan to keep Quirk Gallery open in its current hotel location.”
Quirk Gallery is a major draw for both the Richmond and Charlottesville locations, which prompted the launch of the original hotel. The Ukrops opened the Richmond gallery in 2005 before opening the flagship hotel in 2015. Currently, the Charlottesville Quirk is highlighting artist Kiki Slaughter’s exhibit “Twenty Years,” a retrospective of her two decades as a painter, which will run until June 2.
The sale of the Quirk is the latest shake-up in Charlottesville’s hotel scene, which has seen marked changes over the last several years with the renovation of the Omni Hotel, completed in late 2023, and the opening of the University of Virginia’s Forum Hotel in April of this year.
Another hotel is also currently being discussed by the Board of Architectural review following a proposal from Heirloom Development. The group, which counts luxury apartment building Six Hundred West Main among its local projects, previously obtained approval for a special use permit to build an apartment building at 218 W. Market St., but now hopes to pivot the space to hospitality.
Heather Rose teaches English and journalism at Lugo-McGinness Academy. Photo by Tristan Williams.
Nestled at the edge of the 10th and Page neighborhood, Lugo-McGinness Academy looks like a miniature version of a typical American high school. The alternative school is sandwiched between houses, standing out with its parking lot, two-building campus, solar panel-covered tin roof, and cyan columns that frame the main entrance.
Compared to Charlottesville High School, LMA is tiny—which is what makes it so special.
“It’s unique because it allows us to build a foundation for student relationships, being able to connect with our parents on an intimate level to address the academic, behavior, and social needs,” says Program Director and Principal Lamont Trotter. “Students have the opportunity to have a smaller academic environment where they can see success and feel success.”
Principal Lamont Trotter started with CCS in July 2023. Photo by Tristan Williams.
In addition to the Lugo-McGinness day program, the campus also hosts Charlottesville City Schools’ newest alternative program, Knight School, in the evenings.
Alternative education came into the local spotlight last fall, when student fights at Charlottesville High School prompted unexpected closures and the launch of Knight School. The new program is the first nighttime offering from Charlottesville City Schools, and joins LMA and Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center as major alternative programs available through the district. CCS also offers a program for patients at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital.
Each alternative education program has different offerings and enrollment methods, including referral and self-selection.
Along with sharing a building, Knight School and LMA have other commonalities aimed at helping students improve their relationship with school, academics, and attendance. Trotter and other faculty members pick up students in both programs to make sure transportation isn’t an obstacle.
“We’re dashing through the streets of Charlottesville picking up our young people for school,” says Trotter. “We want to make sure students are attending school. We want to minimize any barriers that may be provided. And so that’s something that we share at our orientation about transportation: if it’s needed, we can help provide that.”
Walking into LMA’s main building, students pass a reception desk and conference room before heading into a single hallway filled with classrooms. Situated on the back right is English and journalism teacher Heather Rose, who has been an instructor at LMA since February 2023.
Before starting at LMA, Heather Rose had never worked in alternative education. Photo by Tristan Williams.
Prior to coming to Charlottesville, Rose experienced burnout and contemplated quitting teaching. The tight-knit community at LMA convinced her she was in the right place and the right field.
“When you think of alternative education, you think of it as a punitive thing, and I think that sometimes alt-ed is used for that,” she says. “[But] the school culture here is really powerful in a positive way.”
Beyond her role as an educator, Rose says she and the rest of the LMA faculty “kind of all wear all the hats at times.” The small nature of the alternative school and its community—less than 40 students are enrolled in the day program—allows for not only individualized instruction, but closer relationships between students, their families, and faculty members.
Students are often already hanging out in Rose’s room when she walks in, working in comfy chairs and catching up with their classmates. One student, Tay, is sitting by the wall working on his Chromebook. After attending CHS for three years, the senior switched to LMA, and is now working toward graduation.
“Teachers [here] care about the students. They really care about you and they want you to learn. … Everybody just wants you to be great,” he says. “Before we get to work, [they] make sure you’re good.”
Rose’s class is informal, with students congregating around the room, chatting and mostly working at their own pace. Despite the laid-back atmosphere, coming to LMA has been a complete game changer for many students’ academic futures.
“I’m passing all of my classes, which is very surprising, because when I was at CHS, I was at risk of not passing all of my classes, I was at risk of failing,” says Jaylyn. “People here, they’re kind of friendly. They’re open about almost anything and they’re willing to sit down and help you.”
The small community at LMA has also helped students socially by removing some of the pressures and challenges of a bigger school.
In Heather Rose’s classroom, the cozy yellow chair next to her desk is a highly sought after seat. Photo by Tristan Williams.
As students mill around the cozy classroom, they talk to not only each other, but Rose and her student teacher, Laura Boyle. Classes average around eight to 10 students, with attendance ranging from two to six students, according to Rose. For many of the teens at LMA, the relationships with their peers and teachers are what keep them coming to class.
“I have people I can talk to … And places I can go when I’m not feeling comfortable here,” says Tam-Rah. “We don’t have to worry about walking around here, starting problems with anyone, cause no one here is rude and everyone here has good communication.”
While some of the students at LMA are at the program due to self-selection, others have been referred because of academic, disciplinary, or behavioral problems. Regardless of why the kids are at the school, every faculty member at LMA emphasizes how much all students benefit from the intimate environment.
“I think because of that we’re able to give so much more grace here,” says Boyle, who is in her final semester of a masters in education and wrapping up her time at LMA. (I know Boyle from a four-person seminar at UVA, but I didn’t know she was a student teacher at LMA prior to visiting.) “That focused attention and just a smaller environment, I think, has been so special and cool to watch.”
“Kids might be sent here because of a poor choice they made or poor behavior, or pattern of behavior. But when they walk through these doors, they’re not bad kids to us and we don’t treat them like that,” says Rose. “We don’t see that side of them for the most part, which is so encouraging.”
When students feel truly comfortable in a space or with a teacher, they occasionally lash out. It can be heavy for educators to process, but at the same time, Rose says she understands that it’s ultimately a sign of trust.
“We’re alternative, we’re [a] different dynamic for students that need it and they’re just able to be their best selves I think, and even when they’re their worst selves, there’s so much grace here,” says Rose. “There’s so much recognition of, ‘we see you where you are, but we are still gonna have expectations for you. And we still want to encourage you to grow. But we’re going to help you and support you to get there.’”
As the school counselor for LMA and Knight School, Aloise Phelps spends a lot of time working one-on-one with students. Part of her job is managing schedules, but an overwhelming majority of her time is spent on direct counseling.
“There’s a tendency to label kids as the ‘bad kids’ … but we have done such a good job at LMA of fundamentally believing that every single child is a good kid, and that they are having a hard time so their behaviors may exemplify that in some way,” says Phelps.
Working through trauma and its effects with students has been a large focus of Phelps’ first year at LMA—something she says is also common in her work with Knight School students.
Visiting Knight School, which launched in November, it’s clear students haven’t yet built the same bonds as their peers in the LMA day program, but the counselor and other faculty members are working to create a welcoming environment.
Three students were in Melvin Grady’s math class when I visited Knight School. Unlike the day program, the students mostly kept to themselves, but they participated when prompted.
“At bigger schools, students can roam around, not go to school, be in class unnoticed,” says Grady. In the intimate setting of LMA and Knight School, the math teacher has more ability to provide individualized instruction and help students when they get stuck.
Across the hall, the kids are more talkative. It’s not immediately clear what subject is being taught or what work each student is doing, but the relationships that have made LMA’s day program so successful are being built.
Students routinely gather outside LMA for lunch and class activities. Photo by Tristan Williams.
“The last thing I do is teach math, first thing is to reach common ground. Still structured though, don’t get it twisted, I do expect certain things,” says Grady, who takes this approach with both his day and night students. “You’re not gonna disrupt the learning environment, then you have to go. But other than that, they recognize the caring and the realness.”
While the program was launched in the wake of the unexpected closure of CHS last fall, Knight School is something Superintendent Royal Gurley was already aiming to bring to CCS. Gurley has a background in alternative education, and was involved in the launch of a night program in his former district. Part of the draw of Knight School is the timing, but similar to LMA, the superintendent and program leaders are working to build community through one-on-one instruction and a smaller environment.
Whether it be LMA, Knight School, or CATEC, Gurley emphasizes the importance of having options for kids other than a traditional learning experience.
“People think that alternative education is where you dump kids, where you leave kids, where you give up on kids, where you just move everything you don’t want to deal with, you just move it to alternative education,” says Gurley. “What we have done as a school system … to say that we are where kids get their hope from, that they can be anything that they want to be, that we will work with any type of student and we will accentuate the best in any student.”
“We do not work from the deficit mindset, when we’re talking about students. We’re only seeking the best, there is good in everyone,” says Gurley. “Students can be successful when they have a space to be successful. And sometimes it’s just that the high school, which is a great high school, is just not the space because it’s too big. It doesn’t work for every child.”
Charges against Patrick McNamara were dropped on April 11. Supplied photo.
After almost three months, Charlottesville police have dropped charges against Patrick McNamara for the January 12 assault of a woman on the Rivanna Trail. The case against McNamara has been dismissed, but the arrest continues to affect his life.
On January 18, McNamara was taking a break outside while working from his apartment when he was approached by a CPD detective and placed under arrest. “It is not wise to talk to the police even if you’re innocent. I’m naive and thought, ‘this is a mistake,’” he says. “I didn’t know what I was being arrested for.”
Court filings indicate McNamara was arrested based on eyewitness identification by the victim, who was assaulted at approximately 9:39am on January 12 less than half a mile from the Rivanna Trail underpass at Free Bridge. The victim described the suspect as a “white male with short brown hair and an athletic build, approximately 6’2″, possibly 20-30 years old … wearing a white puffy jacket with a dark hooded sweatshirt underneath, which was pulled up over his head.”
When shown an image of McNamara by a friend on January 16, the victim identified him as her attacker. She later told law enforcement she was “100 percent positive” it was McNamara who assaulted her, according to court filings.
Following his arraignment and release on bond, McNamara was suspended from his job and given three days to vacate his apartment by his leasing company.
On January 22, investigators obtained surveillance footage from Cosner Brothers Body Shop. The video shows McNamara passing the victim without incident, and later a different individual in a puffy white coat can be seen in the area.
The person who collected the video initially told the case agent there was “nothing of value” on the recording, and “never prepared a supplement documenting its collection.”
The commonwealth’s attorney’s office was not aware of the surveillance footage or its content until April 9, following a letter submitted by McNamara’s attorney—Rhonda Quagliana—on April 8 requesting police obtain surveillance and video footage from 19 locations.
Charlottesville Police are currently conducting an internal investigation into the handling of the footage.
Both the commonwealth’s attorney’s office and Quagliana filed motions to dismiss the charges against McNamara on April 11. While Quagliana’s filing is a complete rebuke of law enforcement’s treatment of McNamara and its handling of the case, the commonwealth called for a dismissal on the grounds that “there is no longer proof beyond a reasonable doubt to support this prosecution.”
The charges against him have been dropped, but McNamara’s trying to piece his life back together: He still hasn’t heard from his job about reentry, he still doesn’t have a place to live, and he still feels isolated.
“The truth of the matter is that there’s permanent damage,” says McNamara. “I’m upset at the presumption of guilt that was levied upon me by all the institutions in my life.”
“I know I’m innocent. It’s hard for me to articulate to somebody what it feels like,” he says. “I have a lot of really good friends and I’m very thankful for that. I know that their assumption was, ‘Patrick couldn’t have done this, this is ridiculous.’ But to what degree of certainty I will never know.”
McNamara says the arrest has impacted all of his personal relationships.
“The commonwealth’s attorney made it sound like … ‘we don’t have enough to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.’ The police chief has spoken publicly since then and said, ‘we didn’t have enough to go beyond reasonable doubt,’” says McNamara. “That’s embarrassing language. … It’s just, frankly, it’s bullshit. And because of that, people will always doubt maybe I did it.”
Charlottesville Police Department declined to answer questions from C-VILLE about the handling of the investigation and interactions with McNamara. “Chief Kochis has done numerous engagements on various media outlets regarding the case,” wrote Public Safety Information Officer Kyle Ervin in an email. “Please refer to any previous comments made on the matter.”
As he contemplates how to move forward, McNamara says he is speaking to lawyers about potential legal action, but what he wants most is change and a return to normalcy.
“I don’t think it’ll ever be the same as it was on January 17,” he says. “I think there’s gonna be difficulties until the arrest is completely expunged from my record.”
“What happened in the legal process was unacceptable,” McNamara says. “It is scary. It is dangerous. And I am just a random, nameless citizen of this town that was caught up in this system. And if it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody. And that, to me, is very scary until there’s change. What does change look like? I don’t know.”
At press time CPD has not issued a news release about McNamara’s charges being dropped, and has not updated the original release detailing his arrest.
Charlottesville representatives returned to Richmond for the April meeting of the state legislature. The April 17 session was originally intended to address vetoes, amendments, and the state budget, but a jam-packed agenda pushed budget considerations to May.
Though he didn’t outright veto the budget, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin put forward 233 amendments to the bill, and went on a tour of Virginia to rally opposition to what he called a “broken” spending plan.
Rather than try to address the divide on the budget during the one-day session, the House of Delegates voted unanimously to reject Youngkin’s budget amendments—allowing lawmakers to meet for a special session of the legislature on May 13 and, hopefully, pass the final spending plan by May 15. Legislators have completely scrapped the budget, and are now building a new budget with input from Democratic and Republican leadership.
Lawmakers have until July 1 to pass a budget before Virginia goes into a government shutdown. In the interim, the state budget delay is creating uncertainty for local governments, including Charlottesville’s.
The city’s budget was finalized on April 15, but questions about state funding make planning difficult for local school systems and other organizations slated to receive money from the commonwealth.
“The amount of state funding for local school systems is unknown,” said City Councilor Michael Payne in an email. “We have to wait to see how much additional revenue goes to [the] state increasing teacher salaries, funding ESOL positions, etc.”
According to Councilor Lloyd Snook, the state’s pushback of budget deadlines in recent years has added an additional layer of difficulty to the local budget process, resulting in city lawmakers “working in the dark.”
“Because council did not give the schools as much as they wanted, I was hoping that the budget would include at least another $2 million for the schools,” said Snook in an email. “The budget that is now supposed to be adopted in May might help the schools directly, but who knows at this point?”
Charlottesville will also feel the impact of the April legislative session through the failure of multiple bills introduced by local representatives. The legislature did not overturn any of Youngkin’s vetoes, despite bipartisan and popular support for several bills.
Among the legislation struck down were two bills from state Sen. Creigh Deeds, both of which focused on gun control.
In a bill update shared on social media, Deeds addressed the failure of Senate Bill 383, which was inspired by the fatal on-Grounds shooting of three University of Virginia student-athletes in November 2022.
“Purportedly, it was known that the student on trial for their murders was having trouble and had firearms in his room in a University-owned residence hall,” Deeds wrote. “Even though this violated policy, law enforcement was hamstrung in their ability to respond to this information because this was not a criminal violation. SB 383 was about making sure law enforcement can act on reliable intelligence. If this had been law, the University Police would have been able to obtain a search warrant and remove the firearms.”
Local violence interruption group the B.U.C.K. Squad objected to City Council slashing its 2025 budget allocation. Supplied photo.
Controversy arose last week when local violence interruption group the B.U.C.K. Squad announced that City Council reduced its funding for 2025. While councilors argue the $200,000 allocation from the Vibrant Community Fund shows strong support for the group, the B.U.C.K. Squad’s leadership is disappointed and confused by the decrease from the proposed $456,000.
“The BUCK Squad is grateful for the $200,000 budget allocation from the City via the Vibrant Community Fund,” the group posted on Facebook April 8. “However, we are disappointed that Council chose to reduce the original recommendation from the City Manager and the hard working VCF from $456,000 when gun violence continues to be an escalating problem in Charlottesville.”
According to Assistant Executive Director Bryan Page, the group was planning to use the extra money to increase its staff, provide improved coverage and services to the sites it monitors, and expand the program to include more hotspots. The cut to the proposed allocation has dashed its original plans, due to roughly 95 percent of funding going to payroll, per leadership estimates, with employees paid $18 to $19 an hour.
B.U.C.K. Squad members are often out in the middle of the night investigating and de-escalating tips called in to its hotline, which Page says “rings all night.” Call data shared by Page shows the group received 4,061 calls between 2021 and the end of 2023, investigated 595 tips, and interrupted 234 incidents.
C-VILLE can not independently verify the data because of the anonymous nature of the B.U.C.K. Squad’s call records.
Page acknowledges the city’s statements of support for the B.U.C.K. Squad, but says the rationale provided for reallocating funds was disappointing. “The budget was $250 million,” he says. “You give us $200,000 out of $250 million to fight gun violence?”
“These people are not in these neighborhoods, seeing how people are living. We do. And it’s always those closest to the problem close to the solution” says Page. “I’m effective in what I do because of my reputation … [it’s] all based on reputation and relationships.”
In its Facebook post, the B.U.C.K. Squad also suggested that Councilor Michael Payne’s position on the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority board is a conflict of interest, and he should not have participated in the reallocation process.
Payne is the City Council representative on the CRHA board, and denies any conflict of interest.
“There has always been a City Council representative on the CRHA board, the same as how Councilors serve on numerous boards and commissions,” Payne told C-VILLE in an email. “I receive no income or financial benefits—in any way—from CRHA.”
While Payne has not spoken directly with the group since the Facebook post, he told C-VILLE in a follow-up interview that he doesn’t “take it personally” and said “there [are] dedicated people in the B.U.C.K. Squad doing important work.”
“Adjustments have always been part of our process,” says Payne. “The VCF makes initial recommendations to council at the beginning of the budget season, and then council with the city manager works through adjustments. The conversation was pretty standard, this year was like every other, where the requests we had far out matched the amount of money in the Vibrant Community Fund.”
Council members opted to redistribute allocations within the VCF to provide money to two groups previously not receiving any funding—the CRHA and the Uhuru Foundation. Both organizations address systemic causes of gun violence, but received a “weak” funding request designation from the VCF.
“We had programs that we wanted to fund, and we just didn’t have the money to do it,” says Mayor Juandiego Wade. “[The B.U.C.K. Squad] was a program that we saw that had gotten a lot more than they had in the past.” Despite the decrease from the original allocation proposal, the B.U.C.K. Squad will receive about $40,000 more this year from the city’s Vibrant Community Fund. It is also receiving the largest allocation of any organization this year.
“We also wanted to acknowledge that there are other players in the field too, and so that’s where some of the funding went,” says Wade. “We realized that we can’t [address gun violence] alone as a city, that’s why … we support the many nonprofits that we do.”
The B.U.C.K. Squad is “out there doing great work. I mean, I know that they were on the ground with this first homicide that we had of this year,” says Wade. “Unfortunately, they couldn’t stop that. But what they’re doing now is preventing the retaliations and so they’re on the ground … doing important, incredibly important work. And we as councilors, we as a city, we appreciate their work.”
