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Charlottesville City Schools has a long-standing commitment to serving the needs of all students. Read on for an overview of programs that were in place in 2018 and previously to promote equity across all groups and circumstances.
The events of August 11 and 12, 2017, certainly provided challenges to the Charlottesville community, and in response to those challenges, our teachers provided incredible learning and reflection opportunities for our staff and students. Our response to the rallies began with our teachers, who returned to work just days after the rallies. We held … 
Groups such as the 
Another partnership that enhances the opportunities for all of our students is 
Charlottesville City Schools has a terrific neighbor, the University of Virginia. We regularly partner with U.Va.’s schools of education, engineering, and medicine to develop programs that expose all our students to engineering and medical fields with the goal of attracting a diverse pool of students in these fields.
The engineering partnership is even more substantial. The University of Virginia was instrumental in the creation of our five-year engineering curriculum that can begin as early as eighth grade. The engineering program has no application or math prerequisites to encourage as broad of participation as possible, and African-American participation in these programs has grown tremendously (nearly doubling) since the establishment of the program four years ago. Furthermore, we recognize that by middle school, some students have already decided that STEM is not for them, so we have developed a K-6 elementary iSTEM program that touches all of our students with cross-curricular, hands-on activities that will build a bridge to our expansive offerings in engineering, coding, math, and science. The iSTEM program continues at Buford Middle School and CHS to help build cross-curricular connections with the schools’ extensive science and engineering programs.
We believe that understanding our history is the best foundation for a positive future. This is true of our global, national, state, and local history. It’s even true of the history of Charlottesville City Schools, which closed Lane High School and Venable Elementary School in 1958 to resist integration before the courageous 
We believe in mentoring, whether that means Buford eighth-graders serving as reading buddies at neighboring Johnson Elementary, upperclassmen at CHS welcoming ninth-graders through Link Crew, or teachers, coaches, and community members guiding students every step of the way.
We appreciate community mentors from groups such as City of Promise, City Schoolyard Garden, 100 Black Men of Central Virginia, and area churches, just to name a few. Volunteers for individualized academic or personal support also include our “Book Buddies,” friends from 
To increase enrollment in rigorous and college preparatory classes, in 2012-13, Charlottesville City Schools began offering innovative “honors-option” courses at CHS. In 2019-20, this model will expand to Walker and Buford.
nationally recognized for our use of technology, including supplying all students from 3rd-12th grade with their own Chromebook computer. In August, we join with Charlottesville’s African American Pastors Council to organize a free back-to-school bash in a pavilion on the iconic Charlottesville Downtown Mall. Churches, the schools, and other partners work together to provide school supplies, vouchers for haircuts, vaccinations and physicals, opportunities to sign up for clubs, and more. Another way we eliminate fees is that three of our elementary schools qualify and take advantage of the USDA’s Community Eligibility Provision to provide school-wide free student meals. When specific fees are unavoidable, we supply scholarships for students eligible for free or reduced meals.
Evidence shows that the value of early childhood education is high. So is the price tag of private preschools! Because of our belief in the value of early childhood instruction, 
In the 18-19 school year, with a Virginia Department of Education grant, Charlottesville City Schools has entered the third year of piloting a voluntary extended day program called Extending the Bridges of Literacy (EBL). The pilot program serves K- through fourth-graders who would benefit from additional time immersed in language arts activities. The after-school time cumulatively represents more than twenty additional days of instruction. The ultimate goal of EBL is to build confidence and enjoyment in our students’ literacy experiences. After just its first exploratory year, the pilot saw participating students’ fourth-grade pass rates on the PALS literacy test rise from 35 to 53 percent. In the 2017-18 year, all students made significant improvements on both the PALS and SOL test scores. Forty-three students went from being considered below grade-level expectations to being on grade level by the end of the year.
Charlottesville Schools use the national 
Dyshe Smith ’18 tells of her success with the AVID program. Photo courtesy CFA Institute.
Charlottesville City Schools offers a wide variety of supports for students with special needs with staff ranging from special education teachers and aides, social workers, counselors, psychologists, nurses, and more. 
At Charlottesville City Schools, we actively recruit minority teachers and staff to better reflect our diverse student body. For example, since 2004, we have partnered with the University of Virginia’s African American Teaching Fellows program and recruit at HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities).
Charlottesville is not only racially diverse, but we are increasingly ethnically diverse with students from around the world. In 2017-18, approximately 15 percent of our students received services from our 
To help our immigrant and refugee students thrive, our ESL staff and social workers partner with work with the International Rescue Committee and a local nonprofit called International Neighbors. Both the IRC and International Neighbors offer services and assistance as families become self-sufficient and learn to navigate their new community. Through a contracted service, we provide translation offerings to help families communicate with school staff. (In addition, our web site can be translated into a wide variety of Google-supported languages with two clicks of the “Translate” button.) And through events such as International Day, we partner with families to give students a chance to explore the many cultures represented in our schools, whether the student is a recent immigrant or whether the student’s family has been in the U.S. for a number of generations.
Schools in Charlottesville host a wide variety of events celebrating the many cultures represented by our students. At many of our schools, events such as “International Day” give students a passport to travel to other cultures, tasting foods, seeing native dress, hearing music, and more. Class readings and literacy projects can also reinforce this lesson, such as Clark students’ photo essays based on the book “Same, Same But Different” or the way CHS has initiated a “Big Read” of “The Hate U Give” throughout the school and the community. For more information about how we raise awareness of local black history, see “Teaching Local and African-American History,” above.
In 2017, Charlottesville City Schools created a new position, Family Engagement Facilitator, and a second position was added in 2019. While our schools have always provided parent and family programming and resources, this team is specifically dedicated to helping schools connect with parents/guardians. In addition, they are establishing communications channels and building a network of community partners that are united in supporting school families in our community. One of their newest endeavors is “Bus Stop Meet and Greets,” at which they mingle with parents and supplies students with free books! They are also piloting Family Engagement On Demand, a mobile-friendly online tool that gives users great ideas and resources to support their children in the classroom.
Charlottesville has been a leader in developing systems of supports that are designed to help all our students succeed — academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally.
Combining two protocols — Positive Behavior Intervention and Support, and Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports — helps us to create a structure where social and emotional learning, positive behavior, and mental wellness fit within a school’s core functions right alongside academic learning.
The Charlottesville City School Board is committed to nondiscrimination with regard to sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, race, color, national origin, disability, religion, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, military status, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law.