Tag: Charlottesville School Board

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In brief: Vaccines for the frontline, Wade for City Council, and more

PC: Eze Amos

Vaccine scene

Charlottesville Fire Department Captain Lance Blakey was the first to receive a coronavirus vaccine at the Blue Ridge Health District’s new vaccination facility in the Kmart parking lot last week. The city continues to move through phase 1A of vaccinations, which includes doctors, nurses, EMTs, pharmacists, social workers, and other frontline health care personnel. As of Tuesday morning, 9.2 million doses of the vaccine had been distributed in the U.S. In Virginia, 191,000 people have received their first shot, and 15,000 of those people have also gotten a second shot, which is administered around a month after the first. Virginia ranks 36th out of 50 states in the percent of the population that has been vaccinated, according to The New York Times. So far, 3,893 Albemarle County residents have been vaccinated, and 3,643 Charlottesville City residents have been vaccinated.

Freshman lawmaker Bob Good is facing calls to resign after voting to contest the 2020 presidential election. PC: Publicity photo

Off to a no-Good start

That was fast: Bob Good has been in congress for less than two weeks, and he’s already facing calls to resign. The Republican was one of the members of the House of Representatives who voted last week to formally contest the results of the 2020 presidential election in six states. That vote came on the heels of Wednesday’s deadly attack on the Capitol—later, when Democrats began the process of impeaching President Trump for his role in the insurrection, Good released a statement calling the effort “destabilizing and offensive.”

Indivisible Charlottesville held a rally outside the county office building on Friday, calling for Good to step down after his vote to contest the election. And last week, the editorial board at the Danville Register & Bee penned an op-ed to the same effect. “We hope you have taken time to watch the video of how Wednesday unfolded,” the board writes. “We hope guilt has seared a hole in your soul.”

_________________

Quote of the week

“All of the people surprised by the events of yesterday live
outside of Charlottesville. I promise you, we knew.“

—Activist Don Gathers in a tweet about the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

__________________

In brief

Home schooling

The Charlottesville school board voted last week to postpone in-person classes until at least March 8. Earlier in the winter, the district had hoped to return to in-person learning as early as January 19, but moved the start date back as local COVID cases continue to rise. Albemarle’s school board will meet this week to make a decision on how to handle the next few weeks.

Chased out?

Virginia state Senator and 2021 gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase was among the seditionists on the scene at the Capitol attack last week. Soon after, the Virginia Senate’s Democratic Caucus called on Chase to resign, saying she “galvanized domestic terrorists.” Many Republicans are sick of Chase, too—former Republican representative Barbara Comstock was among a handful who called on the Virginia General Assembly to expel the lawless lawmaker.

Virginia state Senator Amanda Chase joined the march to the U.S. Capitol that resulted in a riot last week. PC: Publicity photo

Vaccines for inmates

Virginia announced last week that people in state prisons and local jails would be included in Phase 1B of COVID vaccinations. The decision was praised by justice reform advocates who have watched with horror as correctional facilities around the nation have become COVID hot spots. Phase 1b also includes people aged 75 or older and frontline workers like firefighters and K-12 teachers.

Wading in

Charlottesville City School Board member Juandiego Wade announced that he’s running for City Council this year. Wade, a school board member since 2006, was awarded the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Paul Goodloe McIntire Citizenship Award in 2019. Certainly, it takes a person with real character to run for council after watching how city government has worked for the last few years.

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Moving forward: School board votes to continue in-person reopening plans

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.”

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Coronavirus News

Tough call: Albemarle allows in-person learning for select students, while Charlottesville opts for all-virtual reopening

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.

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Cops out: City schools remove SROs, while county holds off

Ahead of Thursday night’s meeting, city school board member Lashundra Bryson Morsberger tweeted her support for kicking cops out of schools. PC: Eze Amos

In light of the ongoing protests against police brutality and systemic racism, school districts across the country have cut ties with police—including here in Charlottesville.

On June 11, Charlottesville City Schools announced it was discontinuing its memorandum of understanding with the Charlottesville Police Department, ending its current school resource officer program. Instead, the district says it will put the $300,000 allocated for its four SROs toward a new “school safety model.” Albemarle County Public Schools will also reexamine its relationship with police.

The decision was a hot topic during the city’s school board meeting, held later that evening. Many parents, teachers, and other community members hopped on the Zoom call, and all but one voiced their support of the decision to end the memorandum.

“The removal of SROs is an evidence-based decision,” said Christa Bennett, who has two children in the school district. “There is no evidence that they prevent more violence than they cause, and in some cases, [they] are contributing to a school-to-prison pipeline:” higher rates of suspensions, expulsions, and arrests for students of color (though they do not misbehave more than their white peers).

When her child attended Jackson-Via Elementary, Robin Francis claimed she witnessed this violence firsthand, when an SRO got physical with a small black child unnecessarily on two occasions. As a person of color, the incidents were “terrifying” for Francis to watch, and reinforced her belief that SROs “do not encourage a sense of community—[but] create a sense of fear.”

Putting police in schools has had a “direct effect on [the] educational progress, and mental and physical health” of black students, added Amy Woolard, an attorney at the Legal Aid Justice Center. Studies show police presence causes a drop in test scores, high school graduation rates, and college attendance rates for young African Americans, among other negative consequences.

Over the summer, the school board plans to host several feedback sessions, during which it will get input from the community, and the new program will be implemented by August 19, when the new school year begins.

While it remains unclear what the program will look like, CCS school board member Lashundra Bryson Morsberger hopes it will be supportive, rather than punitive, and thinks a lot more black counselors, social workers, and other support staff should be hired.

“Police in schools only serves to expose black children to the criminal justice system at a time when they should be able to make mistakes and learn from them, instead of being put into the system,” she says. “Security and safety can be accomplished in many ways, but it has to start with people from this community who know our kids and live in the same communities and neighborhoods.”

Leading up to its decision to dump the memorandum of understanding, CCS received hundreds of emails from students, parents, teachers, activists, and other community members calling for the removal of SROs, according to CCS Superintendent Dr. Rosa Atkins. Its equity committee, along with individual school board members, also reached out to many people and organizations to get their thoughts, both positive and negative.

Supporters of SRO programs argue that they keep schools safe, and help build relationships between students and law enforcement, which can prevent crime and acts of violence.

“On several occasions, the school resource officers were enlisted to ensure [my daughter’s] safety,” said Laura Brown, the only person who spoke against CCS’ removal of SROs during Thursday’s meeting. As Brown and the staff at Burnley-Moran Elementary worked to develop a treatment plan for her daughter, who is mixed race and has special needs, “the SROs were nothing but positive with her and provided her with much-needed security and reassurance.”

Others see the programs as a waste of money, among other criticisms. According to the Justice Policy Institute, most situations involving SROs can be handled by school officials. Though SROs have been ushered into nearly half of the nation’s schools to prevent mass shootings, they’ve also been present at many of the schools where shootings have occurred.

Many, including the Charlottesville Black Lives Matter chapter, have called on CCS to use the extra $300,000 to hire more teachers and counselors—particularly those of color. It could also fund the recently eliminated elementary Spanish program and other positions that were cut, suggested several parents.

After receiving numerous messages from the community calling for the removal of cops from schools, the Albemarle County School Board discussed its SRO program during its meeting Thursday evening. But ACPS plans to finish revising its memorandum of understanding with the Albemarle County Police Department, and may conduct an independent review of the program before moving forward with a decision, as suggested by the district’s Superintendent Matt Haas.

While the county school board agreed to discuss the issue again during its June 18 meeting, most of its members, including Judy Le and Katrina Callsen, supported removing the district’s five SROs, and funding mental health resources.

“I hear our black brothers and sisters, some of whom have been risking their lives in the streets for weeks to protest the generations of trauma from overpolicing and brutality,” said Le, who represents the Rivanna District. “How can being faced with the embodiment of that trauma every day make for a safe and positive learning environment?”

“When I’ve asked questions about it in our division, I’ve been assured that there are infrequent arrests made in our schools, which is great,” she added. “But it leads me to ask: ‘Why do we have the SROs at all? Why are we paying $265,000 for them each year?’”

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How much do cops cost kids?

By Ben Hitchcock

Charlottesville City Schools and the Charlottesville Police Department have discontinued the school resource officer program, which means that the $300,000 the schools were paying the police department can now be put toward other ends.

The school district’s total budget is well over $80 million, so $300,000 for cops in schools might not seem like much. But vast portions of those millions are tied up in fixed costs like real estate and building maintenance. The actual, everyday experience of students is determined, in large part, by budget decisions made on the margins.

For example, earlier this year, when the coronavirus’ economic downturn forced the district to tighten its budget by $1.16 million, CCS decided to cut, among other things, the entire elementary school Spanish program. Eliminating Spanish for elementary schoolers saved city schools $500,340.

The school district’s preliminary funding request for the 2020-21 fiscal year, released in January, gives a loose sense of the district’s aspirations, and also how much those aspirations might cost. CCS and the city spent the ensuing months haggling over whether these additions would be possible. This isn’t meant to suggest that the elimination of the SRO program means these positions will be filled, but the numbers below show the scale of the SRO program in comparison to the district’s other unfulfilled needs.

$300,000

School resource officers program

$97,076

Engineering teacher for Buford

$97,076

English language learners teacher

$75,820

Specialist for annual giving to solicit donations from affluent town residents

$43,470

Part-time orchestra teacher for Walker Upper Elementary

$41,525

Support for social-emotional learning program at Clark Elementary

$16,250

Art supplies

 

Updated 6/15

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Filling out the ballot: Other races to watch (and who’s running)

Albemarle County resident Amy Laufer, a former teacher who served on the Charlottesville School Board, is challenging Republican incumbent Bryce Reeves in a closely watched race. Reeves received an “A” rating from the NRA in 2015, while Laufer supports gun control measures like universal background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines.

By Spencer Philps

Albemarle County Board of Supervisors

Three of the six districts in Albemarle County have elections for the Board of Supervisors, where members serve four-year terms.

Scottsville District

Lawyer and retired Navy captain Donna Price (D) is squaring off with Mike Hallahan (R), also a lawyer and a former deputy sheriff for Albemarle and Greene counties. Hallahan, who represented Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler after the August 2017 rally, wants to bring a conservative voice to the Democrat-controlled board. He says he’ll maintain property rights and revisit the revenue-sharing agreement between Char­lottesville and Albemarle County. Price wants to bring more equity to the county, focusing on education, health care, and the area’s affordable housing crisis.

White Hall District

Incumbent Ann Mallek (D) is being challenged by Steve Harvey (R), an army veteran and outreach director for the 5th Congressional District. Mallek has sought to increase public safety and economic development and promote local agriculture during her time in office. Harvey wants to halt future tax hikes, cut regulations, and renegotiate the revenue-sharing agreement with the city.

Rivanna District

Bea LaPisto Kirtley (D) is running unopposed. A former principal and city council member in California, she has said expanding broadband access and addressing transportation issues are her top priorities.

Charlottesville School Board

With Charlottesville City Schools still reckoning with the findings of last year’s New York Times/ProPublica report on persistent racial inequities in its schools, many school board candidates are campaigning on platforms of increasing equity. Five candidates are running for four open spots on the school board, where members serve four-year terms.

James Bryant (Incumbent)

Charlottesville native Bryant, a retired music teacher and school counselor, was appointed to fill a school board vacancy in 2018. He supports efforts to restructure the Quest gifted program, and to hire more minority teachers, who he hopes will offer more diverse perspectives.

Jennifer McKeever (Incumbent)

McKeever, an attorney, is seeking her third term on the school board, which she chaired in 2019. During her time in office, she’s sought to boost graduation rates, reconfigure the city’s middle schools, and increase equity across the school system.

Dr. Sherry Kraft (Incumbent)

Kraft, who’s lived in Charlottesville since 1976, was elected to the board in 2015. She’s a clinical psychologist who has sought to increase equity as well as mental health resources in city schools.

Lashundra Bryson Morsberger

Morsberger is campaigning to bridge the achievement gap for students of color. She endorsed all the demands of the Black Student Union at Charlottesville High School, and wants to redraw attendance zones to make city schools more racially and economically diverse.

Chris Meyer

Meyer, the executive director of the Local Energy Alliance Program, is running on a campaign of increasing teacher support, reconfiguring the city’s middle schools, and improving after-school care.

Albemarle County Sheriff

Chan Bryant (D) vs. Ronnie Roberts (I)

Bryant, the current chief deputy for the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office, is squaring off against Roberts, a former Charlottesville police lieutenant who later served as chief of police for Louisa. Bryant, who is the first woman to hold the position of chief deputy, has received the endorsement of retiring Albemarle County Sheriff Chip Harding, and is vowing to expand community programs for children and elders. Roberts says he’ll tackle elder abuse, domestic violence, and gang activity, and reform mental health care.

Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney

Robert Tracci (R) vs. Jim Hingeley (D)

Republican incumbent Tracci, who was elected in 2015, is facing a progressive challenger in Hingeley, a longtime public defender and adjunct law professor at UVA. Tracci says he has worked to curb elder abuse, establish a mental health docket, and improve DNA collection practices. Hingeley says he’ll end cash bail, increase the use of diversion programs, and reduce the harm involved in marijuana misdemeanor charges.

Virginia State Senate

All the seats in the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates are up for re-election this year. With the razor-thin majority that Republicans hold in both bodies, flipping just a few seats across the commonwealth would give Democrats a powerful position in upcoming debates over redistricting, gun control, women’s health rights, and right-to-work laws.

17th District

Incumbent Bryce Reeves (R) is being challenged by Amy Laufer (D), a former Charlottesville School Board member. Reeves, a veteran, says he has fought to protect religious liberties, gun rights, and “the rights of the unborn,” and focused on reforming Virginia’s foster care system. Laufer, who was a teacher and Peace Corps volunteer, is championing increased teacher pay, universal preschool, abolishing the work mandate for Medicaid recipients, and universal background checks for firearm purchases.

25th District

Incumbent Creigh Deeds (D) is up against Elliot Harding (I), a criminal defense lawyer. Deeds, who’s represented the district since 2001, has been a champion of Medicaid expansion, and wants to increase teacher pay and support workforce training programs. Harding says he’s fighting against the status quo in Richmond, and vows to introduce criminal justice reforms and a Virginia data-privacy bill of rights.

Virginia House of Delegates

25th District

Business owner Chris Runion (R) is up against Jennifer Kitchen (D), a local community organizer. Runion wants to bring fiscal conservatism to Richmond to tackle what he sees as financial irresponsibility. Kitchen’s platform includes increasing rural broadband access, introducing a living wage, and fighting against the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines.

57th District

Economist and organizer Sally Hudson (D), an assistant professor at UVA, is running unopposed.

58th District

Incumbent Rob Bell (R) is being challenged by Dr. Elizabeth Alcorn (D), a dentist and small business owner. Bell, who has been in office since 2002, has introduced measures to bolster mental health support, and voted for Virginia’s Constitutional marriage amendment, which sought to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Alcorn wants to expand affordable and accessible health care coverage, increase Virginia teacher salaries, and support efforts for clean energy in the region.

59th District

Incumbent Matt Fariss (R) is being challenged by educator Tim Hickey (D), an instructional coordinator at Greene County Public Schools. Since taking office in 2011, Fariss, a farmer and small businessman, has advocated against abortion, gun control, same-sex marriage, tax hikes, and increased government regulation. In 2011, Fariss’ website stated that he believed capital punishment is appropriate “for those who take life.” Hickey seeks to protect reproductive and LGBTQ rights, instill universal background checks for gun purchases, provide universal health care, and expand rural broadband, among other goals.