Tag: Jackson-Via Elementary

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Coronavirus News

School’s (not) out: City schools debate reopening

The Charlottesville School Board convened virtually on Monday. PC: Staff photo

As new cases of the novel coronavirus pop up each day, it’s become increasingly difficult for area schools to decide how and when to reopen. And after over five hours of discussion and debate on Monday night, the Charlottesville School Board got no closer to a definite answer.

Last week, the district rolled out a proposal for reopening, which would send students in kindergarten through sixth grade to school for in-person classes—with social distancing guidelines and safety measures—four times a week. Seventh through 12th graders would be split into two groups and alternate between in-person and virtual classes throughout the week, but would work from home on Fridays. All students could opt in to online-only learning, ahead of September 8, the first day of school.

A number of parents, teachers, and other community members raised concerns about this model during public comment at Monday’s meeting, pointing to a variety of ways in-person classes could go awry. 

“I believe that people will get sick,” said Tess Krovetz, a second grade teacher at Jackson-Via Elementary. “Right now we can say with some confidence that COVID-19 does not affect children the same way it affects adults. But that’s because for the most part since March we’ve kept our children home and safe. Sending them back to school is a science experiment that can—and will—lead to trauma and loss.”

Krovetz and kindergarten teacher Shannon Gillikin penned an open letter to Superintendent Rosa Atkins and the school board in support of a virtual reopening, citing case spikes due to the state reopening, among many other concerns. To date, more than 150 staff members from across the district have signed it.

Instead of putting a large amount of time and effort into planning for in-person classes, they encouraged the board to focus on training teachers and parents for equitable distance learning.

Lashundra Bryson Morsberger was the only board member who fully supported an all-digital reopening. She believes there are “too many unknowns” about the virus, and that the community isn’t safe enough for in-person classes. She also thinks the proposed plan spreads staff too thin and does not adequately address concerns about contracting the virus, which could put them out of work “for months,” making it even more difficult to implement distance learning if schools had to shut down.

“We need to take this time to do the best plan that we can for virtual learning, instead of losing time now talking about a plan that probably in September will just be a distant memory,” she said.

Last week, more than 70 parents signed an open letter to the school district, asking for it to offer in-person classes five days a week.

Multiple speakers during public comment were strongly in favor of face-to-face classes, particularly for younger students, mentioning the equity and learning gaps exacerbated by distance learning in the spring. A significant number of parents in the district are unable to work from home, they said, and would be forced to find child care, which could lead to more risk of contracting and spreading the virus.

The board will make its final decision on either July 23 or 30.

“No matter what we do, we’re going to have someone upset with us,” concluded board member Juandiego Wade.

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Being the change: Local mother starts cafe to employ adults with disabilities

Katie Kishore’s Kindness Cafe + Play will employ adults with cognitive disabilities. PC: John Robinson

2014 was a life-changing year for Katie Kishore. That April, she and her husband Kris welcomed their second daughter, Kiran, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome. And just two weeks later, Kris passed away from cancer.

For the next few years, Kishore, a former teacher at Jackson-Via Elementary, focused on caring for Kiran and her oldest daughter, Mira, as well as grieving the loss of her husband. But in 2017, her life took yet another shift when a friend sent her a 90 second video about Bitty & Beau’s, a coffee shop employing people with cognitive disabilities in Wilmington, North Carolina.

After taking a road trip with her daughters and visiting the shop herself, Kishore became “really motivated” to bring the idea to Charlottesville. She too wanted to provide meaningful employment for adults with cognitive disabilities—the majority of whom are unemployed or underemployed, according to the Arc of the Piedmont. 

She created an online fundraiser for her coffee shop, naming it Kindness Cafe + Play—a nod to Kris, who was known for his kindness to everyone. The fundraiser surpassed its goal in just three days, and Kishore soon connected with Jessica Maslaney, CEO of the Piedmont Family YMCA. Maslaney believed the cafe would be a wonderful opportunity for the community, and invited Kishore to start the cafe right in the YMCA lobby.

Kishore received even more community support from Innisfree Village, a voluntary community for adults with intellectual disabilities, and Grit Coffee, which pledged to train employees and provide coffee for the cafe. The Arc of the Piedmont, which also serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, volunteered to be the cafe’s fiscal sponsor. 

“Charlottesville is just full of community-oriented people,” she says. “It became really clear to me pretty early on that Charlottesville would support [the cafe and] benefit from it.” 

Kindness will employ both disabled and typically abled adults, says Kishore. It has already hired eight adults with cognitive disabilities, who will be trained, mentored, and paired with the role they are best suited for. Kishore and another typically abled adult will also be on staff. 

The cafe will start off with limited hours as well: Tuesday to Friday, 7:30 to 11:30 am. However, Kishore plans to eventually expand the cafe’s hours and staff. 

The cafe will sell coffee, espresso, kombucha, and food options, including baked goods from BreadWorks (which also employs adults with disabilities). It will feature spaces for reading, conversation, and small group gatherings.

“Our mission…[is] to create a space for people with and without disabilities to interact as peers,” says Kishore. “The hope is that we change the lives of our employees and their families by providing this opportunity…[and] of many of our customers, as they have the opportunity to interact with adults with cognitive disabilities in a new way.”

A UVA alum who played varsity soccer and basketball (and was inducted into the Virginia-DC Soccer Hall of Fame last year), Kishore says she has received a lot of support from former teammates and coaches—and people who weren’t even at UVA when she was. 

“We’ve just been so pleased with the people who’ve been attracted to this. That goes for the people we’ve hired, the volunteers that’ve been supporting us, the businesses…and individuals” she says. “It’s been really inspiring.”

Kindness Cafe + Play is expected to open in February.

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YOU Issue: Recess report

Here’s what readers asked for:

What the hell happened to recess in our schools?—Rebecca Coleman Cooper

After her daughter had recess time taken away twice for talking during class, local mom Christa Bennett started a petition to end this punitive practice in city schools. And she thought it had worked.

The city’s school board approved a new wellness policy in September 2017—one that just won an award from the Virginia Department of Health—which mandates that teachers and administrators can not take away any recess, physical education, or physical activity as a form of discipline.

“I definitely consider getting this policy approved as a win,” says Bennett, who volunteers on the school’s health advisory board. “However, it is also true that taking away recess for punishment still happens. It happened in one of my daughter’s classes just today.”

The issue, she says, is that some teachers and administrators just don’t know the new policy.

The good news, she says, is that all of the principals are now aware of it, and “when approached with a parent’s concern, I’ve found that they’re able to work with the teacher to ensure recess isn’t taken away in the future.”

In city schools, kindergarteners now get extended play. The youngsters get two recess periods a day for a total of 45 minutes, according to schools spokesperson Beth Cheuk. From first to fourth grades, students get a minimum of 30 minutes of recess each day, and in fifth and sixth, they’re required to have at least 25 minutes of daily physical activity.

And how do we know that teachers are actually giving kids their recess time?

Cheuk says she spoke with one school secretary who “literally sees the kids on the playground, and watches a parade of them come into the office for bathroom breaks.” And other secretaries told her they routinely have to pull kids out of recess for early pickups. Principals and other administrators have eyes on all parts of the schools—including the playgrounds—to make sure teachers follow the master schedule.

“Bottom line: School secretaries know everything,” says Cheuk.

Over in the county schools, spokesperson Phil Giaramita says teachers don’t have the authority to take away recess time, though they don’t specifically have a policy that prohibits it. Kids in county schools get 20 minutes of recess per day, he adds.

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Heavy topics: Parents call for reform in city schools

Christa Bennett and her daughter, Emma, enjoy recess at Jackson-Via Elementary School. Courtesy Christa Bennett

By age 6, children—and girls, especially—begin to express concerns about their weight, according to a widely referenced 2011 study by psychologist Linda Smolak. For this reason, one local mother says the practice of publicly weighing students during gym class should be banned.

At press time, Christa Bennett’s petition to stop weigh-ins in Charlottesville City Schools had 91 of the 100 signatures she wanted to get.

“Why are our children being weighed? At Jackson-Via Elementary, parents are not notified that this will be happening nor are they provided with the results afterwards,” the petition says. “Weight has some correlation to health, but more and more research is coming out that indicates healthy individuals can have significantly different weights.”

The mother of a third-grader at Jackson-Via, Bennett says her daughter, Emma, hasn’t criticized her own figure, but for Emma and her peers, “it’s something that’s going to begin a problem and they may not realize it until they’re 20, looking back and wondering where their body issues started.”

She says weighing children in front of their classmates should be done with sensitivity to insecurities that kids may already be developing. “Without a compelling reason, it shouldn’t be done. And never should it happen without parental notification and follow-up,” she says.

One mother who supports Bennett’s efforts, and asked not to be named for fear her daughter would be singled out, says her second-grader at Burnley-Moran Elementary School is 8 years old, and already talking about calories and how she doesn’t like certain things about her appearance.

“With all the pressure on kids to look and act a certain way, the last thing they need is a message coming from their school that their bodies may not be ‘right,’” she says. “Especially if that message is being conveyed in front of a roomful of their peers.”

Bennett’s petition also addresses disciplining students by taking away their recess for misbehaving or forgetting homework. Emma, she says, has had her recess forfeited twice for talking in class.

“Weighing children one day and taking away recess the next is not an approach that makes sense,” Bennett says.

Though her daughter has had an enjoyable experience in school, she says, Bennett brought her concerns to the Charlottesville City School Board on May 4 and the School Health Advisory Board on May 9, when Superintendent Rosa Atkins said recess should not and will not be taken away from students. (The majority of elementary schools had this practice.)

“It isn’t over yet,” Bennett says, adding that only about 15 people heard the superintendent make that remark. “I would like for her to email or write to parents and teachers so everyone is on the same page.”

Bennett also calls for more disciplinary resources for teachers who have been taking away recess. “If you’re going to say ‘you can’t do this,’ what can you do instead?” she asks.

Patrick Johnson, the coordinator of health and physical education in city schools, says weigh-ins have been suspended since March. The School Health Advisory Board has been evaluating and updating its wellness policy since September, and he hopes to have an updated policy for the school board to review by the start of next school year.

“We have traditionally not weighed students in the spring semester, just once a year in the fall,” he says. “Due to the concern of Ms. Bennett and the updating of the wellness policy, I made sure that the PE teachers understood that we were not weighing students this spring.”