The five school board candidates who are competing for three spots made their cases at a virtual forum last week.
Photo: youth-nex
In addition to electing a new governor and several other local and state leaders, Charlottesville residents will vote for city school board members on November 2. Five candidates are competing for three spots: Strive for College CEO Christa Bennett, real estate agent Emily Dooley, Albemarle County youth entrepreneurship facilitator Dom Morse, school board chairwoman and physical therapist Lisa Larson-Torres, and longtime board member Leah Puryear.
In a virtual forum hosted by the Black Parents Association and the CCS Joint PTO last week, the candidates detailed how they would address critical issues affecting the school district, including racial equity, COVID recovery, school reconfiguration, teacher retention, and staff shortages. Daniel Fairley, the city’s youth opportunity coordinator, moderated the event.
Bennett explained her plans to hold biweekly listening sessions in downtown Charlottesville, allowing community members to easily express their concerns and ask questions outside of school board meetings.
“It’s important to check in with people of color on how they view equity, and what we can do to get there,” she said.
Dooley, who was a teacher and principal for 10 years in central Virginia, said the school district needs to focus less on standardized testing that is “in and of itself rooted in racial inequities,” and more on guaranteeing all students have access to “high level instruction” that teaches critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Larson-Torres and Puryear pointed to the equity work they have championed since joining the school board, including developing a three-year-old program, creating an equity and anti-bullying policy, and hiring the district’s first supervisor of equity and inclusion.
To Morse, CCS could do more to implement equity and social-emotional learning into its learning models. “That looks like supporting our teachers to help them design a curriculum that allows our students to explore their own interests [and] identity,” he said.
Despite the numerous challenges faced during the pandemic, the school district was able to provide laptops and resources to all students, and maintain high graduation rates, said Puryear.
But as schools continue to recover from the pandemic, the district must address learning loss, said Bennett. From her research on what other schools are doing to help struggling students, she learned that high-dosage tutoring—during which a teacher works one-on-one with a student, or a very small group of students, for 30 to 60 minutes—has been “one of the most effective tools.”
Discussing the district’s substitute teacher and bus driver shortage, Bennett suggested the board create a program allowing substitute teachers to receive full-time pay and benefits and commit to working at one school for a year. Dooley also recommended the district expand public transit options for older students, and improve walkability and bikeability to all schools.
“We have to think about ways we provide development for [bus drivers] so it’s an easier position, but also think about how we complete their day,” said Morse. “Can we find ways to tie them into our school district even farther, whether it’s as instructional assistants or maybe they work in the cafeteria as well?”
To retain teachers, all five candidates emphasized the importance of paying them fairly, as well as providing them with support systems and listening to their concerns.
“We need to not make [teachers] feel like they have to be a martyr to their job,” said Dooley. “Teachers being given superficial involvement, or being brought to conversations late in the game has been an ongoing issue, [as well as] teachers being pitted against parents or the community.”
Dooley and Bennett also expressed their support for a collective bargaining ordinance, which would allow city employees—including teachers—to form unions and negotiate their contracts.
Puryear explained that she has worked to increase teachers’ salaries every year since being elected to the school board in 2006, and supported raises for frontline workers during the pandemic. The board is currently working with CCS Superintendent Royal Gurley to better compensate substitute teachers, added Larson-Torres.
When putting together the school district’s next budget, Bennett and Dooley said they would audit current programs and examine data. Morse added that he would prioritize funding for student-facing positions.
This month, Charlottesville City Council unanimously approved the school board’s plan to renovate Walker Upper Elementary School and Buford Middle School. To pay for the $100 million reconfiguration, Bennett—who led the effort to build a playground at Walker Upper Elementary School—said she would draw upon her community organizing experience to advocate for increasing the city’s real estate and sales tax. The incumbents explained that they have already begun searching for funding and reaching out to legislators, and may collaborate with philanthropists on the expensive project.
Before closing out the forum, each candidate pitched why they were the best person for the job.
Bennett stressed that she is the only candidate who currently has a child in the city school system, while Dooley emphasized her years of experience in education. Morse, who was born and raised in Charlottesville, explained that he has lived through many of the disparities they just discussed.
Puryear, whose children graduated from city schools, described her passion for advocating for children, pointing to the nearly four decades she has spent directing UVA’s Upward Bound program. Larson-Torres detailed her personal experience fighting for special accommodations for her daughter at school, which spurred her to run for the board in 2017.
“Every decision I’ve made has been student and equity focused,” ended Larson-Torres. “I will still keep on showing up.”
Dr. Royal Gurley will begin as CCS superintendent on October 4. Photo: Marley Nichelle.
Dr. Royal A. Gurley will be the next superintendent of Charlottesville City Schools, the district announced last week. Dr. Rosa Atkins, the former longtime superintendent, resigned in March to take a job with the Virginia Department of Education in Richmond.
Gurley has been the assistant superintendent for academic services for Dinwiddie County Public Schools since 2017. He’s also worked as a teacher and served in the armed forces.
During a press conference, Gurley, a 40-year-old native of Sussex County, explained that he was drawn to CCS for its values, particularly its focus on equity. While at DCPS, he organized an equity task force that reviewed school policies and curriculums for cultural relevance and inclusivity. He is also a member of the Virginia Department of Education Equity Task Force.
“[CCS] is an amazing place,” said Gurley. “There’s a lot of great work that’s been happening here, and I just felt strongly that when I saw what the community was looking for, a lot of my values were aligned [with that].”
This summer, the district employed search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates to survey hundreds of school community members and compile a profile of an ideal leader. The community wanted a superintendent who has “an unwavering commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” among many other values. Gurley was selected from a pool of around 50 candidates. He is the first Black man and the first openly gay man to occupy the position.
“We are just so excited about the work Dr. Gurley has done—his history of equity [and] of bringing all perspectives, voices, and opinions to the table to work through,” said school board chair Lisa Larson-Torres. “He’s not just saying equity, but turning it into a verb.”
Coming into the job, Gurley said his top priority is keeping students and staff safe from the coronavirus through strong mitigation strategies and transparency about active cases and community transmission. He also wants the district to provide ample resources for students who may have fallen behind while school was online.
“Our kids are at different ends of the spectrum, in terms of the kind of support they’ve had since they’ve been away from us,” said Gurley, adding that the schools should “tier our instruction so we can get our students exactly what it is that they need.”
His other priorities include ensuring that the division’s gifted programs and advanced courses adequately reflect the student body, and properly preparing students for graduation and beyond. Gurley also plans to continue the equity work he began in Dinwiddie.
“We need to make sure that we’re not creating any barriers for our students,” he says. “But also, when we talk about equity, what are we doing to move the needle for our students? Are we providing our students with opportunities they need in order to be successful?”
In the coming weeks, Gurley said he will get to know the community by visiting schools, attending fine arts events, and cheering on the Charlottesville High School sports teams.
“I am a big football fan. I’m going to be at every home game. I pop in at all the basketball games,” said Gurley, who will soon move to Charlottesville with his husband, Derrek, and their labradoodle, Cooper. “That’s my outlet—it’s my way to still be at work, but not at work.”
“I’m very approachable,” he added. “I don’t always sit at the same place when I’m at the football games. I like to be among our families.”
“I just want to get to know people [and their] experiences, so we do not replicate things that have not been favorable for people,” said Gurley. “We can write a new history.”
Charlottesville City Council is currently struggling to fully fund the reconfiguration of Buford Middle School and Walker Upper Elementary School. Staff photo.
For over a decade, Charlottesville City Schools has been discussing a massive school reconfiguration, which would move fifth graders from Walker Upper Elementary—which houses fifth and sixth grade—down to elementary school, and sixth graders up to Buford Middle School. Walker would then be turned into a centralized preschool with a range of wraparound services. The plan has a big price tag, though. In the Capital Improvement Plan draft, the city set aside $50 million for the project, but it is now expected to cost between $50 million and $80 million, according to several options recently presented by VMDO Architects, the firm that will design the project. (The most expensive design would cost a whopping $123 million.)
To cover this hefty price tag, the reconfiguration working group—composed of city and school officials—has now proposed putting $60 million solely toward renovating and expanding Buford. It also wants to begin construction in 2023, one year earlier than previously planned, to prevent additional costs from inflation. The city would then make a limited capital investment into the Walker preschool until more funding is available.
The $60 million would pay for a three-story addition to Buford, with media and support spaces. It would also cover a new gym, an update of academic and art buildings, and a media center renovation.
During a budget work session last Tuesday, City Council struggled to figure out how to pay for both phases of reconfiguration. It already planned to partially fund the $50 million placeholder with a 10-cent real estate tax rate increase, but now needs to find additional sources.
“Getting both the facilities as well as the capacity to what was needed to accommodate the three grade levels was determined to be the priority, and getting fifth graders back in the elementary schools,” said Councilor Heather Hill, a member of the working group. “If we find those other funding sources, Walker could in fact finish within the same time frame. But right now, with the limitations of our city dollars, the priority was on this Phase 1 for Buford.”
To allocate the additional $10 million for the Buford expansion, council could borrow from the $18 million currently set aside for the West Main Streetscape, another huge CIP project. Councilor Michael Payne agreed that the streetscape needed to be paused in order to completely afford the school reconfiguration.
“I’ve seen people say they wish they could do both, but I just haven’t seen a realistic argument for how that’s possible,” said Payne. “The only way I can maybe see it being possible is if there’s some sort of infrastructure bill passed by Congress, and we’re able to take advantage of that.”
However, Payne shared his concerns about the city not taking on any new capital projects while it works on school reconfiguration.
“We need to have an honest conversation about the specifics of what those trade-offs are going to mean,” said Payne. “What if there’s an unexpected increase in the cost of public housing redevelopment?”
Before allocating more CIP funds toward reconfiguration, Payne suggested waiting to see if the General Assembly approves legislation allowing the city to increase its sales tax by 1 cent, which could generate $10 million a year for school capital projects. (If it is passed, the proposed legislation would then need to be voted on in a local referendum.)
“If the [tax increase] doesn’t happen, then we evaluate and go forward from there,” he added.
Councilor Sena Magill echoed Payne’s sentiments. “What if something’s coming up? How are we supposed to do this maxing out? That maxes out our bond capacity entirely.” she said.
“If we can get the sales tax that’s great, but we have to plan if we don’t get the sales tax,” she added.
Though he did not agree the streetscape project should be put on hold, Councilor Lloyd Snook also supported upping the sales tax. “We need to make plans that we are going to get the increase and we are going to be able to fund the schools the way the school board wants to—and move forward with other projects,” he said.
City Manager Chip Boyles agreed that the sales tax increase would be a “game changer” for the reconfiguration project, but noted that it can’t be included in the budget until it’s passed by the General Assembly.
Hill worried that if the streetscape project is cut now, the city will lose out on future potential funding sources. However, Mayor Nikuyah Walker emphasized that the city needs to put more money toward equity initiatives, like affordable housing.
“Those are the types of things that we need to be focusing on if we’re going to be maxing out [the CIP budget], not if we are going to continue projects like West Main Street,” said Walker.
It remains unclear when council will vote on funding the school reconfiguration, or the fate of the West Main Streetscape. It is expected to select a conceptual design for the reconfiguration in October.
Area school bus systems have also been impacted by COVID. PC: Skyclad Aerial
By Mary Jane Gore
The wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round—until COVID hits. And since the start of the pandemic, city and county bus systems have encountered many bumps and unexpected curves.
Before COVID, the city averaged about 2,600 bus riders per day. Currently, that number is down to 1,033, and some buses are becoming emptier as ridership dwindles along certain routes. High schools in particular have light loads in some areas, as parents and some students have opted to drive.
Fluctuation in the number of students who ride—and where they live—has meant constant adjusting for drivers.
Typically, the school systems conduct one routing per school year. In 2020-2021, the Albemarle County schools routing staff used software (and bus drivers’ valuable knowledge) to generate five different routing schedules, as situations changed rapidly.
Donna Fortune says the county, where she has driven for 11 years, was supportive when drivers returned to deliver students to in-person classes again. And she was happy to be behind the wheel again after being “heartbroken” when buses were suspended in 2020, because she missed her young passengers.
“We were given good transportation and routing information,” Fortune says. “We received lists of all students, and what day of the week they are riding.” Learning the new, complicated routes wasn’t easy, though. Some kids go to school on Monday and Wednesday, some go on Tuesday and Thursday, and some go all four of those days.
On Fridays, when most students attend school remotely, county buses shuttle supplies to kids—books, projects, equipment, paperwork—so they can work effectively at home. Buses also deliver lunch to those who need it.
Drivers are worn out in general, says ACPS Transportation Director Jim Foley. Often, they drive two shifts each morning and afternoon to accommodate both elementary and middle/high school students. The drivers have also been tasked with disinfecting the bus, and are expected to enforce the mask requirement, which is tricky. Fortune says the kids have been excited to see each other, and are very talkative. “They enjoy socializing,” she says.
Some bus routes have few or zero kids on them, and others have had waitlists for seats, though the city school district says it has “been able to meet all known needs for students of families who elected in-person school and require bus service to attend.”
In the county, the largest bus holds 77 students, but during COVID that number shrunk to 25 with distancing, says Foley. All area buses have a one-child-per-seat policy, except for siblings, who can ride two to a seat.
Foley says that children cannot pick and choose when they ride the bus. “If a student is not on the bus for 10 days and that information is verified with parents or through the schools, then that child would be removed as a bus rider, and someone on the waiting list would get a bus seat,” he says. The city follows a similar process for its routes.
Both districts have had difficulty recruiting drivers. Decreased bus ridership does not mean fewer drivers are required—routes cover significant ground and in many cases cannot be combined. The city was recruiting pre-pandemic, but the issue has worsened due to driver retirements and ongoing challenges with COVID-19.
Foley encourages people to apply for the now-$16-per-hour job. Drivers can gain Virginia Retirement System benefits with just six hours per day, he says. With a minimum five hours a day, 10 months a year, a driver gets health care benefits too.
And riding the bus is better for the environment and safer than individual transportation: Foley says each full bus would keep about 36 cars from driving to schools—and school-provided transportation is eight times safer than parent transportation and 40 times safer than teen transportation.
Looking ahead, the city hopes to find more drivers for an anticipated summer school. The county plans to begin allowing two students per seat this summer.
The county also plans to install new federally funded air filtration systems by the fall, Foley says. The HEPA systems are the same that airplanes use, and would make riding safer for more students at once.
Meanwhile, school districts anxiously await news of expanded access to vaccines—Pfizer is expected to soon authorize its vaccine for use on children as young as 12. Phil Giaramita, ACPS strategic communications officer, says the schools will continue to adjust their transportation plans based on the experts’ vaccine recommendations.
A scene for Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church’s “Christmas in Crisis” video is filmed underneath the Belmont Bridge.
PC: Courtesy Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church
Holiday hope
COVID-19, like the Grinch, has threatened to stop Christmas. But Dr. Alvin Edwards, senior pastor at Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church, says, “We decided early on we weren’t going to let this crisis drive us, we were going to make it work.”
Jonathan Spivey, Mt. Zion’s minister of music worship, agreed. Back in July, recovering from COVID-19 (“I wouldn’t wish this virus on my worst enemy,” he says), inspiration struck. Since the church couldn’t stage its annual Christmas Cantata, the group would make a Christmas video that would also address the challenges of the pandemic.
Spivey recruited his friend Kelvin Reid, a musician at New Green Mountain Baptist Church in Esmont, and Caruso Brown, Mt. Zion’s drama director. Soon they had a working group to produce four episodes of “Christmas in the Crisis,” one posted every Sunday during Advent on Mt. Zion’s YouTube channel. Each episode focuses on an issue of these times: depression, grief, suicide, and racial inequality. The volunteer videographers, musicians, and actors come from all walks of life—other churches, other religions, no religious affiliation at all.
“Christmas in the Crisis” is uplifting but also moving and real. In episode three, the holy family beds down underneath Belmont Bridge; the Magi are homeless men who offer the Child their treasures. When the group was staging a Black Lives Matter rally on the Downtown Mall for episode four, a white family strolling by stopped to watch, and used the filming as a teaching moment for their children.
“We posted each episode Sunday at 4 pm, so families could watch together,” Spivey says. “Within 15 minutes, I’d start getting texts and emails from people saying ‘This is the real thing.’” After the episode in which a pastor grapples with depression, Spivey heard from a real-life preacher: “I feel validated.”
Spivey is glad the series is being seen and shared. “So many people are hurting right now,” he says. All four episodes are still available online. The final episode, to be posted on Christmas Eve, will be a Christmas message from Edwards. All are welcome.—Carol Diggs
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Quote of the week
“That was one of the most disturbing press conferences that I’ve ever seen.“
—Initial Police Civilian Review Board member Katrina Turner, addressing City Council about the police department’s December 10 press conference
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In brief
Attorney aims
Charlottesville-Albemarle public defender Ray Szwabowski announced last week that he’s running to become Charlottesville’s next commonwealth’s attorney. Szwabowksi says that, should he win, he’ll end felony drug prosecutions. “Our community knows that incarceration can’t treat addiction. We must do better,” reads his announcement. Current Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania has not yet said if he’ll seek reelection.
A dime a dozen
A dozen candidates—eight Democrats and four Republicans—have so far announced bids to become Virginia’s next governor. The field includes six state delegates or former delegates, and will begin to narrow as we approach the summer’s primaries.
Back to class
After nearly a year of virtual learning, students in Charlottesville will return to the classroom for face-to-face instruction early next year. While all pre-K through second graders, along with select special education students and English language learners in third through sixth grade, will start classes January 19, Buford Middle and Charlottesville High School will not return until February 1. On January 7, the Charlottesville School Board will decide when the remaining third through sixth graders will participate in in-person learning.
Keeping it civil?
In their Thursday meeting, the city’s Police Civilian Review Board expressed frustration at the options available to them when considering how to respond to Chief RaShall Brackney’s press conference from the week before. In the press conference, the chief called on church leaders who had filed a racial profiling complaint to resign from their posts. But the civilian review board, as currently constituted, cannot initiate a further investigation, or even officially comment on the incident.
Protesters march through Charlottesville in July. PC: Eze Amos
While the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color this year, Black people have been dealing with “a pandemic of racism” in the United States for centuries, as Black mental health advocate Myra Anderson told C-VILLE over the summer.
When Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25, ultimately killing him, these deep wounds of systemic violence and oppression were once again ripped open, sparking protests across the globe—and here in Charlottesville—in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
From June to September, local activists led a string of demonstrations demanding an end to police brutality, and calling for justice for Black people who’ve been murdered at the hands of cops. The events drew large crowds of all races and ages.
“The killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery…they woke people up,” says activist Zaneyah Bryant, a member of the Charlottesville Black Youth Action Committee and a ninth grader at Charlottesville High School. “It put a spark on people, like wow this is happening to our people. This could happen to anybody—this could happen in Charlottesville.”
While protests against police brutality continue in places like Portland, Oregon, it’s been several months since people in Charlottesville have taken to the streets. Though there haven’t been any drastic changes made in the city—CPD’s $18 million budget has not been touched, for example—some activists believe progress has been made toward racial justice.
“These are tough and difficult conversations. Up until at least recently, people were reluctant to begin to initiate them, but now [they] are actually being had,” says community activist Don Gathers. “We’ve reached the point in the…racist history of this country where people are willing to have these conversations.”
“[The protests] really just opened up more conversation surrounding how the police interact with the community, and allowed for us to envision a police-free society,” adds Ang Conn, an organizer with Defund CPD. “We have community members looking at budgets, policies, things that never prompted their attention before. And when you have a lot of eyes on things, there is bound to be change.”
With the support of the community, Charlottesville City Schools was able to end its school resource officer program with CPD in June, another step in the right direction, says Bryant.
Other activists like Rosia Parker say they have yet to see any progress in the city.
“[My protests] were peaceful, decent, in order, and orchestrated with Captain Mooney. For them to deny me my march, I don’t feel it was right,” says Parker, referring to the city’s threat to fine her and other activists in August, and its denial of her event permit in September. “Other protests, no they didn’t help Charlottesville. A lot of people came out and supported Black Lives Matter, but at the end of the day, [it] didn’t do anything.”
“There’s been no change in the governmental structure—it has gotten worse,” she adds, citing the resignation of City Manager Dr. Tarron Richardson in September as an example of the city’s pattern of staffing instability.
Pointing to the police assault of a Black houseless man on the Corner last month, Bryant also fears that, despite the months of protests, Charlottesville police “have gone right back to their old ways—harassing Black people.”
In the new year, the fight against police violence and systemic racism must continue, the activists emphasize.
Though it may be a few months before protesters hit the city streets again, there are plenty of ways to remain involved in the fight, says Bryant. She encourages allies to participate in city government meetings and mutual aid programs, especially for people experiencing homelessness or food insecurity.
“If you are white and you see someone of color or Black being harassed, stand up and use your voice,” she says. “When you say something to those officers, you have power to stop them.”
The city government must also strengthen its relationship with Black communities, especially in light of multiple recent shootings in town, says Bryant.
“Those people in those communities are asking for more police presence. [They] feel unsafe,” she says. “But we can’t use [that] as a reason to say, ‘Oh they’re asking, so we have to keep harassing them.’ We need people to help them understand what they are asking for, and what they mean by wanting more police presence.”
For Parker, ensuring police and government accountability is a priority for next year, as the Police Civilian Review Board works to update its bylaws and ordinance, per the new criminal justice legislation passed in the General Assembly this fall.
“If that means the mayor and police chief have to go, then so be it,” she says.
In addition to advocating for the CRB, Parker plans to offer programs for Black youth through her community organization, Empowering Generations XYZ, with a huge focus on mental health.
“If we can educate our own, become peer-support recovery specialists, become more trauma informed, we can be around for our community, and won’t have to be overpoliced or underpoliced,” she says. “We won’t even need the police—we can do what we need to do ourselves in our own communities. It’s just about getting the resources and education.”
Finally, Gathers and Conn say they will keep on pushing City Council to slash CPD’s $18 million budget, and reallocate those funds to various social services and programs within the next year.
“That’s a lot of money, and people are really struggling out here with a lot of things,” says Conn. “We must continue to work towards hacking away at that police budget until it’s zero.”
Charlottesville City Schools Superintendent Rosa Atkins gave her stamp of approval to the school board’s decision to move forward with in-person classes at the beginning of the school year. PC: Eze Amos
After nearly six months of remote learning, Charlottesville City Schools is moving forward with its plans to begin in-person classes at the start of the new year.
During its virtual meeting last Thursday, the Charlottesville School Board unanimously voted to allow the district’s COVID-19 advisory committee to continue working on its reopening proposal, which received a stamp of approval from CCS Superintendent Dr. Rosa Atkins earlier this month.
Under the current proposal, preschool through sixth grade will have in-person classes four days a week, starting January 11. Seventh grade and up will be at school twice a week beginning February 1, and do independent work the other days.
The board will take a final vote on the plan during its December 16 meeting.
According to a binding intent form sent out at the beginning of the month, 2,296 students, or 66 percent of the district, want to attend in-person classes. Staff are reaching out to the roughly 17 percent of families who have not filled out their form yet.
Because the district is currently using all of its bus drivers to deliver meals and transport special needs students, it plans to use CARES funds to contract additional drivers, who will help serve the 373 students who said they cannot get to school without the bus.
Though COVID safety restrictions make providing large-scale bus service very difficult, the district will also work to accommodate as many of the 561 other students who requested bus rides—but could still get to school without them—as possible.
In stark contrast to previous surveys, a majority of the district’s 470 teachers indicated they felt safe enough to return to the classroom.
Seventy-two percent of kindergarten through sixth grade teachers volunteered to do face-to-face classes, along with 65 percent of those teaching seventh through 12th grade.
However, 139 teachers and 24 instructional assistants across all grades asked to continue to work remotely. Most said they were either high-risk, or taking care of a loved one who is.
An additional 27 teachers and nine instructional assistants requested paid medical leave through the federal government’s Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which requires select employers to provide their staff with paid leave for reasons related to COVID-19.
Though the district so far has approved every complete request for leave, Charlottesville Education Association President Jessica Taylor accused administrative staff of not properly communicating with teachers in need of ADA accommodations.
“Educators who submitted paperwork should receive acknowledgment of receipt without having to make numerous follow-up inquiries,” she said during Thursday’s public comment. “There’s [also] been a breakdown in understanding…One CEA member was given a choice to either provide face-to-face services for a student or resign. She chose to resign.”
“We don’t want any teachers resigning. COVID will not last forever. We’re going to get through this,” said Atkins. “We need them. We want them on board.”
Also during public comment, parents voiced their concerns with the binding intent form.
“There are families like my own who are choosing on the intent form to go in-person, even though it is not our preference, for fear we will get locked out if we change our minds later,” said Maria Stein.
While the city’s current numbers are low compared to the rest of Virginia, health experts anticipate case spikes in the coming weeks due to winter weather and holiday gatherings.
“We will handle individual cases,” responded Atkins. But now, “in order to plan for transportation, make a master schedule, and assign teachers, we have to know who’s going to be in-person, who has elected to continue with virtual.”
During the rest of the meeting, board members discussed class schedules for middle and high schoolers at length, taking issue with the large amount of asynchronous learning.
The district currently plans to divide each grade level into two groups made up of both in-person and virtual learners. When one group of students is in the classroom, their classmates in the same group will watch the class live on Zoom. Meanwhile, students in the other group will work on independent assignments from home during school hours.
Having far fewer live classes worries board members that students will not progress academically.
“To me, that takes us back to last spring when the quality of what was happening wasn’t real good and we were all scrambling,” said school board member Sherry Kraft. “We’ve done so much work to provide quality instruction.”
But with the limited staffing available, asynchronous learning is impossible to avoid, explained CHS Principal Eric Irizarry.
“Every student’s schedule is so unique at the high school, and we’re the only high school. We have two and half chemistry teachers, we have one orchestra teacher, one band,” he said. “A student that comes into the building, they’re going to need to see all of those teachers for that day. There’s not a way to run a concurrent master schedule.”
Still, the board urged district staff and the COVID-19 advisory committee to look at different ways to deliver instruction during the times set aside for independent work, and present their findings at the December 16 meeting.
“I would rather them continue to be virtual then go to that model,” said board chair Jennifer McKeever of middle and high schoolers. “We are small enough to solve the problem, and not have three days of asynchronous learning.”
To help the many families who cannot afford private tutors or school, Direct Learning Solutions is opening a new learning center in Stonefield.
PC: Eze amos
Beginning next month, Albemarle County Public Schools will bring kindergarten through third grade students back to classrooms for in-person instruction two days a week. That’s frustrated some teachers who maintain that the safety concerns outweigh potential benefits. Meanwhile, off-site learning centers aim to assist with childcare by hosting virtual learning.
As local schools began the fall semester virtually, many area parents struggled to balance their jobs and remote learning. Some paid to enroll their children in small learning pods, while others hired private tutors to work with their kids one-on-one. And those with the means opted out of public school entirely, and enrolled their students in private schools with in-person instruction.
Now, a recently founded Richmond-based company called Direct Learning Solutions is opening a new learning center for elementary schoolers participating in virtual classes. Located at the former Travinia Italian Kitchen site in Stonefield, the center will start off with three facilitators and 30 students, explains Executive Director Robin Lawson. But if demand goes up, it can safely accommodate 20 more students, along with two additional facilitators.
Beginning November 1, families will be able to send their child to the center for virtual learning and after-school care for $150 per week. Families who do not need after-school care will pay $100.
That $400-$600 a month is no small thing for cash-strapped families, but “We are partnering with [Arc of the Piedmont], so we can take donations, and families who cannot afford this service at all will have corporate sponsors that…pay for this service for them,” says CEO Samuel Anderson.
Several other community organizations—including Abundant Life Ministries, Boys & Girls Clubs, and Piedmont Family YMCA—have also opened up virtual learning centers, but almost all are at capacity, and have long wait lists.
As Albemarle County Public Schools prepares to move to Stage 3, DLS anticipates even more families will need to send their students to virtual learning centers on the days they won’t be in the classroom.
But some Albemarle teachers feel the sudden expansion of in-person learning is still not safe. According to the district’s most recent survey, about 67 percent of teachers wanted to continue with virtual learning for the second quarter, compared to 40 percent of parents.
“If a staff member or student tests positive, who will be quarantined at home for two weeks? We’ve been given kind of vague information, like the students’ closest contacts [or] the students who have assigned seats right next to them, even though we know students move around,” says Michelle Drago, who teaches first grade at Stone-Robinson Elementary.
“[Students] are going to be allowed to play with each other at recess with masks, but they’re going to touch each other and be in each others’ faces. And they’re allowed to take their masks off obviously for lunch and snack,” she says.
Additionally, teachers have not been provided with all of the safety equipment they’ve requested, including face shields and gloves.
Stage 3 also puts students’ mental health further at risk, says Debbie Stollings, who teaches second grade at Agnor-Hurt Elementary. As certain students and teachers switch from all-virtual to hybrid learning, it is likely that some will be reassigned to different homerooms.
“This is another trauma we are putting on them during a pandemic,” she adds. “One way or the other, I’m going to lose some of my kids.”
And with all of the safety precautions they must take to do in-person learning, many teachers do not think it is possible to still provide high-quality instruction, full of beneficial activities like reading groups and partner games.
“I’m afraid no matter how many laps I make with my six-foot perimeter, I won’t know when somebody’s struggling because I can’t see their little faces like I’ve been able to see them before,” she says. But over Zoom, “we’re right in each others’ faces. Even if they’re not showing me their page of work, I can tell when they’re struggling.”
Teachers who did not feel safe going into the classroom had until October 15—less than a week after the school board meeting—to request accommodations, while families had to decide by the following day.
If Stollings is not allowed to teach virtually, she says she will have no choice but to retire, even though she is not ready to. The only other options for teachers are to resign, or take a leave of absence.
Stallings fears even more for her fellow teachers who may be forced into the classroom, including Drago. With her three young children, Drago cannot afford to quit her job. (Her husband is also a teacher, so they are unable to support their household with just his income.)
The two teachers—along with many of their colleagues—ultimately wish the school board had gone the same route as Charlottesville City Schools, whose COVID-19 advisory committee recommended continuing virtual learning until January.
“My problem is with my immune system,” says Stollings, who has been a teacher for 31 years. “My doctor said…COVID probably won’t kill you but it will make you really sick for a really long time. And of course, you could always die.”
Charlottesville City Schools will reopen virtually for all students, while Albemarle County will allow a limited selection of students to participate in in-person learning. PC: Eze Amos
After weeks of discussion and debate, the verdict is in: Charlottesville City Schools will reopen virtually for all students, while Albemarle County will allow a limited selection of students to participate in in-person learning. Both districts finalized their decisions at school board meetings on Thursday.
During the division’s virtual meeting, ACPS staff detailed the division’s five stages of reopening. Superintendent Matt Haas recommended the board approve the second stage for the first nine weeks of school. Most students will begin the year learning online only, but the plan makes an exception for students with inadequate internet access that cannot be improved, those with special needs who cannot fulfill their individual education plans at home, and English learners with low proficiency levels in fourth through 12th grades.
These students—an estimated 1,000 to 1,500—will be put into pods of 10 or fewer, and paired with a learning coach, who will assist them with their online coursework. Everyone will be required to wear masks and adhere to social distancing within the school buildings, which will be regularly cleaned and disinfected, among other mitigation measures. Bus service will be provided for families who request it.
All students and staff members coming into the school buildings will be doing so voluntarily, Haas emphasized throughout the meeting.
In the coming week, Albemarle will release more details on how it’s revamping virtual learning, which will include both asynchronous and synchronous coursework, and what actions it will take if a student or staff member involved in in-person instruction contracts COVID-19.
Ahead of Charlottesville’s virtual meeting, Superintendent Rosa Atkins recommended that the board approve an all-virtual model for the first nine weeks of school, pointing toward the rising cases and positivity rate in the area and many remaining unanswered safety questions. She emphasized that virtual learning in the fall would greatly differ from the experience offered in the spring, and would include a variety of new features, from social-emotional learning to peer engagement.
Both divisions will revisit their decisions in the middle of the first quarter to evaluate whether they will move forward with reopening, or stay in the same phase for the next school quarter.
Though all classes will be online, Charlottesville plans to host individual in-person, socially-distanced meet-and-greets with teachers, which students and their families will sign up for. Additionally, it is possible that a small number of students in great need of in-person instruction will be grouped into pods, and have classes in outdoor settings, said Atkins.
About 200 families in Charlottesville have indicated they need child care, she added. The division is working with community partners—including the Boys & Girls Club, Piedmont Family YMCA, and City of Promise—to figure out how to best provide assistance. Students could participate in virtual learning while at a child care center.
Feelings about virtual reopening were mixed in the county. Board members Judy Le and Ellen Osborne emphasized the various risks of in-person learning and lack of solid data on how the virus transmits between children, and preferred to start with stage one, or all-virtual classes.
“I just don’t feel like I can put our most vulnerable students into the middle of a grand experiment, and have them take that home to their communities,” said Osborne.
However, board member Katrina Callsen expressed concern for the families she has heard from who are unable to adequately participate in distance learning, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds.
The board initially did not agree to reopen under stage two, with members David Oberg and Graham Paige siding with Le and Osborne against the plan. However, Oberg changed his mind after a 10 minute break, and voted to approve it, along with Callsen, Jonno Alcaro, and Kate Acuff.
Albemarle parents and staff were also split on reopening plans, per the division’s latest surveys. Out of nearly 7,000 responses, 71 percent of parents ranged from “somewhat” to “extremely” concerned about sending their student to school for in-person learning in the fall, but 67 percent preferred that the division adopt a hybrid reopening model.
Meanwhile, 65 percent of staff respondents did not feel comfortable returning to the classroom.
If the pandemic worsens in the area—especially after UVA students return—Haas has the authority to revert the division all the way back to stage one without approval from the board.
While the Charlottesville School Board’s vote approving an all-virtual reopening was unanimous, results from a phone and web survey were split. A majority of staff (about 60 percent) preferred an all-virtual reopening, but families showed nearly equivalent support for face-to-face and online-only learning.
During public comment, most speakers advocated for a hybrid model, particularly for younger students and those from marginalized backgrounds.
“There is no clear consensus among families about the best path forward…I’m not sure why we are straying from the multipath system that was first designed,” said Richard Feero, who works for Abundant Life Ministries and lives in the Prospect community. “Choosing an all-virtual path to start the school year punishes working-class, predominantly Black and brown families in the city….Why not just give this small segment the option to have their children attend school in-person?”
During its school board meeting on August 6, Charlottesville staff will give a presentation with more details on how it will implement distance learning for students in special education, ESL, and preschool.
Albemarle’s next meeting is scheduled for August 13.
Volunteers pack bag lunches at the PB&J Fund on March 15. PC: Zack Wajsgras for CVILLE Weekly
In normal times, one in six Charlottesville residents—nearly 8,000 people—lack adequate access to affordable, healthy food. That’s 6 percent higher than the statewide food insecurity rate. And with thousands of citizens newly unemployed due to COVID-19, our food insecurity numbers have significantly increased, exacerbating underlying disparities.
Dozens of area nonprofits have been working for years to fight this complex, systemic issue, which disproportionately affects people of color, and when the coronavirus left many more residents in need of food assistance, these groups redoubled their efforts. What follows is a glimpse of a few of the local individuals and organizations that are feeding their friends and neighbors in need.
PB&J Fund
When COVID-19 shut down city schools, many students were at risk of going hungry because they’d lost access to their free (or reduced-price) breakfasts and lunches. The PB&J Fund, which teaches students how to make healthy, affordable recipes at home with their families, stepped in immediately, organizing volunteers to pack and hand out bag lunches on March 15.
The following day, city schools began distributing grab-and-go meals—but only on weekdays. To feed children on the weekends, the PB&J Fund set up a delivery program, dropping off bags of groceries on the doorsteps of more than 300 families every Friday.
“They are primarily shelf-stable items, with a little bit of fresh produce,” mainly from locally owned grocery stores, food banks, and farmers, says the fund’s Executive Director Alex London-Gross. “We want to ensure that people have options.”
While programs like this have been necessary in Charlottesville “for years and years,” says London-Gross, they are especially crucial now. With household staples flying off the shelves, it has been difficult for low-income families to get to stores in time to purchase all they need, often due to their work schedules. Charlottesville Area Transit’s reduced schedules have made shopping even tougher for those without access to a car.
“We have kids [waiting] at the front door who know what time their bag is going to be delivered,” says London-Gross. “They’re so appreciative.”
The PB&J Fund will continue to deliver groceries through the end of August, but plans after that are up in the air, says London-Gross. If city schools reopen (in some capacity), it may pivot to assist other community organizations with their food relief needs. It may also begin teaching cooking classes again, but in a virtual format.
We are really looking forward to “getting back to the educational piece of our work,” says London-Gross.
Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen
When local chef Harrison Keevil had to close down his family’s store, Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen, back in March, he immediately thought of his Belmont neighbors. What if they lost their jobs? How were they going to eat?
Right away, he began leaving 15 free lunches every day in front of the eatery for anyone who was hungry, no questions asked. But he wanted to do more.
By April, Keevil had forged partnerships with multiple area organizations that serve vulnerable populations—including PACEM, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, The Arc of the Piedmont, and The Haven—to provide freshly prepared meals, using ingredients purchased directly from local farmers.
And over the past few weeks, Keevil’s hunger relief program—called #FeedVirginia—has expanded its partnerships into rural areas like Goochland, Keevil’s hometown.
Chef Harrison Keevil has distributed about 24,000 meals through his #FeedVirginia program. PC: John Robinson
“We work with our partners to determine how many meals they would like, and either we or volunteers deliver it, or someone comes to pick it up from that group” every Tuesday through Thursday, says Keevil. “And Tuesday through Friday, we’re still putting out free meals in front of the shop.”
One-hundred percent of profits from Keevil & Keevil’s regular food and catering sales go toward funding the program, in addition to GoFundMe donations. While this new business model hasn’t been easy to adopt, says Keevil, the store has been able to stay self-sufficient, and currently has enough funds to get through the next few months.
“This has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done professionally, but it’s also been the most rewarding,” he says. Before starting #FeedVirginia, “I hadn’t realized how lost I truly was. It has definitely reset me, and opened my eyes to why I love cooking and why I got into it in the first place—to take care of people [and] put smiles on people’s faces.”
The program has distributed about 24,000 meals to date—and has no plans of stopping anytime soon. “We will do whatever we can to keep this going [and] make sure we’re always there, especially for the Belmont community,” Keevil says. “We are here to stay.”
Local Food Hub
As soon as the University of Virginia shut its doors in mid-March, Portia Boggs, communications director for the Local Food Hub, knew that things were about to get “really bad” for area farmers, who rely heavily on wholesale sales to schools, restaurants, and other institutions.
Her worst fears were soon confirmed: Following closures all over the city and surrounding counties, farmers reported a more than 90 percent drop in sales. They weren’t sure how, or if, they were going to make it through the pandemic.
At the same time, “grocery store shelves were empty, and people were freaking out about whether or not they would be able to get enough to eat,” says Boggs.
To both help farmers and meet consumer demand, the Local Food Hub created a drive-thru market, held every Wednesday and Friday in the former Kmart parking lot on Hydraulic Road.
The Local Food Hub hosts drive-thru markets twice a week in the former Kmart parking lot on Hydraulic Road. PC: Supplied photo
Because customers place their orders online, “there’s absolutely no contact between anyone,” says Boggs. They just have to show up at their designated pick-up time and put a sign with their name in their front car window, and employees will put their order in their trunk.
The model has been very successful, bringing in hundreds of thousands dollars in sales to date for its 20 vendors. More drive-thru markets have since popped up around town.
“We’ve been completely blown away by the support from the community,” says Boggs. “So many of our vendors tell us that we either played a huge role in or were responsible for keeping them in business, and making it possible for them to survive.”
To further help families facing economic hardship, Local Food Hub expanded its preexisting food relief program, Fresh Farmacy, which currently provides locally grown produce to 600 low-income families every week.
While there is no set end date for either of the programs, Boggs hopes that “once things normalize a little bit more, people will remember the benefits of local food systems, [as well as] everyone having access to equitable food,” she says. We need to “continue to invest in that and prioritize that as a long-term solution, and not just an emergency response.”
Cultivate Charlottesville
For years, the Food Justice Network, City Schoolyard Garden, and the Urban Agriculture Collective have fought together to create a healthy and equitable food system in Charlottesville. To better achieve their mission and amplify their impact, the three organizations decided in April to come together as one: Cultivate Charlottesville.
Since the start of the pandemic, each of Cultivate Charlottesville’s programs has been working to provide emergency food security response, tapping into partnerships to expand current initiatives and create new ones, thanks to “a huge swell in interest and support not only from donors but individuals,” says Cultivate Charlottesville’s Executive Director Jeanette Abi-Nader.
Every week, the Urban Agriculture Collective, which works with public housing residents to grow fresh food, has hosted a free community market for families in need, distributing produce from its Sixth Street farm.
In collaboration with nonprofits Charlottesville Frontline Foods and Charlottesville Community Cares, the Food Justice Network has given out freshly prepared meals from local restaurants—particularly those run by people of color—to public and subsidized housing residents, as part of its efforts toward racial equity.
Food Justice Network associate Gabby Levet believes the pandemic has strengthened Cultivate Charlottesville’s partnerships, helping it to better respond to future community issues. PC: Marley Nichelle
During Charlottesville City Schools’ spring break, volunteers from City Schoolyard Garden and the Chris Long Foundation teamed up to deliver 4,000 meals from Pearl Island Catering and Mochiko Cville to students living in neighborhoods with high enrollments in the free and reduced-price meal program.
And as a collective, Cultivate Charlottesville has partnered with the local health department, plus other community organizations, to sponsor free COVID-19 testing in Black and Latino communities, which have been disproportionately impacted by the virus. It’s also worked to provide wraparound services, including groceries, medication, cleaning products, and PPE.
“Working with so many people across sectors and coming up with solutions in short spans of time…unlocks so much potential moving forward to respond to other community needs and broader issues that arise,” adds Charlottesville Food Justice Network associate Gabby Levet. “Those relationships will not be lost.”
However, these relief programs, among others, aren’t intended to become the “norm” for achieving food equity, says Abi-Nader. “We still want to develop principles and practices to build towards that longer-term food security,” she says, such as by securing more land for urban gardens. We want this to be “a part of what the community sees as necessary for being a healthy and better Charlottesville.”
Blue Ridge Area Food Bank
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank—which provides food assistance to 25 counties and eight cities in central and western Virginia—was faced with a big challenge. With thousands of residents out of a job, a lot more food needed to be distributed to its community partners, including food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters. But BRAFB had a drastic reduction in volunteers, and needed to limit the amount of people allowed to work during a shift to 10.
Fortunately, it immediately received “a historic outpouring of support,” says Community Relations Manager Abena Foreman-Trice, “allowing us to spend more than $2.7 million in response to the crisis, with nearly all of that going toward food purchases.” When the food bank put out a call for healthy, low-risk volunteers, around 700 people signed up to give out food to their neighbors in need.
A volunteer from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank hands out bags filled with household staples. PC: Supplied photo
Thanks to this substantial backing from the community, BRAFB has been able to keep nearly all of its partner food pantries open. Using low and no-touch food distribution practices, like curbside pickup and home deliveries, it has safely served 15 percent more people than it did at this time in 2019—roughly 115,000 in May alone, according to its latest stats.
In collaboration with community partners, BRAFB has increased its outreach efforts to vulnerable populations. With the help of volunteers from the Jefferson Area Board for Aging, it has distributed and delivered food boxes to senior citizens in need in Charlottesville and surrounding counties.
“We can’t predict when things will go back to the way they were before COVID-19….our response to the pandemic could go on for many more months,” says Foreman-Trice. Nonetheless, “we can remain ready to help individuals and families when they need us.”
