Registration is now open for the YMCA After School Program in Charlottesville City Schools (formerly the CLASS program) for the 2022-23 school year! For more information about the program and to make a reservation for your child(ren), please visit: https://piedmontymca.org/ymca-after-school-ccs.
The program serves students in kindergarten through grade 6 on our school campuses, beginning at school dismissal and ending at 6pm. Spots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Be sure to reserve a spot online as soon as possible to guarantee placement in the program. In early summer, the YMCA will contact participants who have reservations in order to fill out paperwork and complete their registration.
We are pleased to partner with the YMCA on this important program. If you have questions about the YMCA After School Program, please contact Bonita Patton at youthandfamily@piedmontymca.org.
Charlottesville City Schools is pleased to partner with the state to offer a free, in-school COVID testing program this summer:
Wednesdays from 1-2pm at Martin Luther King Performing Arts Center at Charlottesville High School
June 22-August 10
Open for CCS students and staff (and staff immediate household members)
If you expect to test regularly, register here for summer testing so we’ll have pre-printed labels on hand. (Sign up again even if you tested during the school year.)
Cville Schools students and staff members can also walk-in and complete forms on site (staff members’ household members will also need to complete this registration form to confim that results will be reported to Cville Schools).
Results will usually come back within 24 hour and are reported directly to the Virginia Department of Health and Charlottesville City Schools. Anyone who tests positive will be notified by phone call. After any positive cases are notified, we will post an update to this page saying “If you tested on [DATE] and haven’t been notified that you were positive, then you were NEGATIVE.”
What if I Need Proof of My Negative Test?
If you need proof of your negative test, please call 245-2400.
Need Extended Hours? Need More Family Members Tested?
Thanks to our partners on this project, the Virginia Department of Education, the Virginia Department of Health, and Next Molecular. And thanks to our other partners – our students, families, and staff!
Si tiene preguntas acerca de las escuelas de Charlottesville, llame a nuestra línea telefónica en español al 434-245-2548. Un profesor de español le devolverá la llamada.
I’m writing with an update about the hiring of the next principal for CHS. Dr. I leaves big shoes to fill, but we will work together to find the right person.
The position opened last week, and we already have the basis for a strong pool of candidates. Soon, we hope to convene an interview committee that includes staff and family representatives.
Please complete this short survey about your priorities and hopes for the next principal. These responses will guide the work of this committee. In addition, as part of the survey, you can express your willingness to be part of the interview committee.
Thanks for your patience and understanding during this transitional time!
Dr. Royal A. Gurley, Jr.
Superintendent
Dr. Eric Irizarry by Billy Jean Louis for Charlottesville Tomorrow
Dear Black Knights staff and families,
I’m writing with mixed feelings to let you know that I have accepted a division-level opportunity at another school division, and I’ll be leaving CHS at the end of the month. Since I arrived in 2016, I have been so inspired by the students, staff, families, and community that make up Charlottesville High School. My time at CHS has been marked by many challenges – from the neo-Nazi rallies in 2016 to the COVID pandemic starting in 2020 – but each of of these moments has pushed us all to deepen our relationships and strengthen our commitment to doing better. These challenges have made the victories so much sweeter.
A few favorite memories:
Last week’s graduation (every graduation, really, even the “victory lap” celebration during the height of the pandemic)
Seeing our graduation rates rise to an all-time high of 96.4% with every racial, ethnic, and learning group in the 90s or higher
Working with passionate, informed, and action-oriented students
Working with passionate, informed, and action-oriented staff
Celebrating excellence in areas as diverse as the fine arts, urban farming, engineering, social-emotional supports, and athletics
Working together to advance equity in instruction, grading, school culture, and so much more, knowing that these efforts benefit every single member of our community.
I could go on. I am so honored to have been your principal, and so proud of each and every student and staff member for the effort and growth that I’ve seen. Thank you for all the partnership and support over these six years.
I am excited for my new opportunity – and I’m also excited for the future of Charlottesville High School. I leave a truly talented administrative team in place at the school, and Charlottesville City Schools is fortunate to have Dr. Gurley at the helm. The future of CHS is bright – Go Black Knights!
Charlottesville City Schools is introducing our new 2022 Summer Opportunities online hub. This page is full of academic and enrichment opportunities for your children which are run by our division, the City of Charlottesville, or program partners in our schools. These offerings are either free, financially accessible, or offer scholarships. While not a complete list of all the happenings in Cville this summer, this resource is meant to give families a starting point for enriching their children’s time off from school. We will update this list as additional information is available.
It’s time to complete your online re-registration forms. Update your bus requests, phone numbers, and more to get ready for next year. (This process does not guarantee a spot on the bus next year, but it will help the City make plans for next year’s school bus routes since the bus driver shortage continues.)
Help us help you! To give our partners in Pupil Transportation the best chance to serve as many students as possible, we ask you to complete the forms by June 29!
Para leer este sitio web en español, indica “Translate” (traducir) en la parte por encima de la página y escoja Spanish.
Back-to-School Forms:
Back-to-school forms have been posted to PowerSchool (select the child you want to update first, then click “Re-Registration” at left to start the re-registration form for your child). Please fill out one re-registration per child as soon as possible.
It’s hard to believe that we’re at the end of the year! Our schools’ calendars are filled with spring concerts, field days, and school-wide morning meetings (including one that memorably culminated in a principal-turned-human-ice-cream-sundae). Stepping-up events and the CHS graduation at Ting Pavilion are around the corner. Check your school calendars for dates. Through all the moments of both effort and fun, our students are making the connections that will serve them for a lifetime.
As we wrap up this year, I want to take a moment to say thank you. COVID has been present during this school year, but thanks to our communal commitment to following protocols, we have been able to minimize COVID impacts and maximize learning and connection. We appreciate the extra effort this has required, especially from staff members like nurses, principals, and staff at central office such as Dr. Beth Baptist.
Last night I had the pleasure of attending the final concert for retiring CHS orchestra director Laura Thomas, who has served CHS for 40 years. Please join me in honoring and thanking all our retirees (shown below with location and years of service in Cville Schools):
– Paula Culver-Dickinson, Division Administration Annex (19 years)
– James Gordan, Adult Education (19 years)
– George Inge, Greenbrier Elementary School (15 years)
– Susan Muse, Buford Middle School (20 years)
– Elizabeth Petry, Greenbrier Elementary School (8 years)
– Margaret Roach, Buford Middle School (22 years)
– Eileen Sims, Jackson-Via Elementary School (3 years)
– Ramona Spinner, Jackson-Via Elementary School (31 years)
– Cynthia Swensson, Buford Middle School (3 years)
– Laura Thomas, Charlottesville High School (40 years)
– Mary-Elizabeth Via, Buford Middle School (12 years)
– Carolyn Washington, Walker Upper Elementary (30 years)
– Karen Wilson, Charlottesville High School (29 years)
Thanks to these folks for their contributions to our schools – and thanks to all of you. Working together, we each do our part to build a strong and supportive school community.
Sincerely,
Dr. Royal A. Gurley, Jr.
Superintendent
CHS and AVID Class of 2019 alum C’erra Rhodes was “the most fantastic and real tour guide” at Radford University for current AVID 9th and 10th graders. AVID is Cville Schools’ program supporting first-generation and other students to prepare for college. Click here to learn more about AVID.
RE-REGISTER YOUR STUDENTS FOR 2022-23!
Online re-registration forms are now open so you can update your bus requests, phone numbers, and more to get ready for next year. (This process does not guarantee a spot on the bus next year, but it will help the City make plans for next year’s school bus routes since the bus driver shortage continues.) You can re-register your child by logging into the PowerSchool website(the app will not work for this). After you login, select your first student (at top) and click “Re-Registration” at the left. Update your old data and answer new questions. After each student, return to PowerSchool, select a new student’s name (at top) and click Re-Registration to repeat the process. Need help? Call your school. Thanks for updating your records and renewing your permissions each year!
NEW RESOURCE FOR FINDING MENTAL HEALTH & SUBSTANCE USE TREATMENT
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and to support the well-being of our community, Cville Schools is now partnering with Care Solace. If you or a family member are looking for help with mental health or substance use, Care Solace can help you quickly find treatment options matched to your needs regardless of the circumstance. This service is complimentary and confidential for students, staff and their families. They help those with private insurance, Medicaid, and no insurance, and are available 24/7/365 in any language. To learn more, click here or call (888) 515-0595.
CELEBRATE CVILLE SCHOOLS STUDENT ART!
Our annual student art exhibition is live online! Explore amazing student art from all schools and grade levels. Also enjoy an introductory video featuring art teachers and student artists talking about how art brings people together. Click here for Art Connections.
EXPLORE K-4 SOCIAL STUDIES IN FAMILY UNIVERSITY
Check out what our elementary school students are learning in social studies! Dr. Alicen Brown, Coordinator of Social Studies and World Languages, along with other K-4 teachers will share about curriculum and provide a demo lesson. This virtual Family University takes place Thursday, May 26, 6-7 pm. See event flyer and click here to register.
COVID UPDATES
As case counts have gone up across the area and nation in the past few weeks, our COVID cases have risen, too, though they are not nearly as high as what we saw in January. We continue to update our COVID dashboard. To align our practices with CDC protocols, we have made some changes to our protocols, such as expanding access to the Test to Stay program. In addition, a student with COVID whose symptoms have resolved can now return to school on day 6 if they carefully mask for days 6-10. To learn more, review our COVID Situations Overview.
STAY UP TO DATE WITH OUR SCHOOL BOARD
“Mini-Minutes” from the Charlottesville School Board provide a quick summary of important takeaways from meetings. Read the Mini-Minutes from the May 5 meeting.
CHS SPRING MUSICAL: ‘BRING IT ON’
Cheer on TheatreCHS as it presents its spring musical, “Bring It On.” Performances are May 25-27 at 7pm in the MLK PAC. This family-friendly musical features the writing of Lin-Manuel Miranda combined with the heart and talents of our own CHS students. Click here to buy tickets.
SCHOOL-WIDE FREE MEALS ENDING IN JUNE
The federal waiver allowing all students to receive free meals ends in June, so we will be returning to our pre-pandemic routines that require families to apply for free/reduced meals. During the summer, free meals will be provided at school to students enrolled in our summer school program. The 2022-23 application for free/reduced meals will be posted online this summer. Students at Buford, Clark, Jackson-Via, Johnson, and Walker will not need to apply since those schools qualify for school-wide free meals through the USDA’s Community Eligibility Program.
SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES REMINDER
There’s still time to plan your student’s summer of engagement, enrichment and fun! Check out the summer opportunities hub on our website for great ways for your student to learn and grow this summer.
CHS IS ‘100 BEST’ FOR TEACHING PERSONAL FINANCE
CHS has been named one of the 100 Best W!se High Schools Teaching Personal Finance! Congratulations to Economics and Personal Finance students as well as teachers James Daly, Deb Tewksbury, and Yumeca Webb-Jordan.
More Looks at Cville Schools
Elementary students are on the move in May! Left, Greenbrier third-graders learn about where their food comes from by working in the school’s City Schoolyard Garden. Top right: Burnley-Moran students are gaga for their new Gaga pit built by their PTO. Bottom right: Clark students learn wheelchair basketball from our local team, the nationally ranked Charlottesville Cardinals.
This banner at Clark is just one way our community showed teachers gratitude during Teacher Appreciation Week at the beginning of May. The division also partnered with the Kindness Cafe at the YMCA to provide a cafe gift card to all staff! We appreciate our staff during this one week AND all year long!
Buford students recently gathered around this 100-year-old zelkova tree on the school’s campus with visiting artist Meesha Goldberg. They discussed ancestry and our responsibilities to the Earth, and then adorned the tree with cloth ribbons they designed. Thank you Second Street Gallery for bringing Goldberg to our schools!
Find more info and events on on our website, social media, or our Google calendars!
Presenting Art Connections, the Charlottesville City Schools 2022 Jeff Suling Annual Student Art Exhibition! This virtual exhibit includes an introductory video featuring art teachers and student artists, and you can peruse amazing and important student artwork from every school and every grade.
The exhibit is organized into six categories reflecting the ways artists connect in the many aspects of our lives: Art Foundations; Communities; History of Art & Culture; Natural World; Storytelling; and Visual Math.
Click here or on the image below to begin exploring Art Connections!
Send an email to support@infosnap.com (English & español)
What is the required documentation to enroll in Charlottesville City Schools?
Students enrolling in the Charlottesville City Schools for the first time must provide:
Original birth certificate (or certified copy)
Proof of residency
Mortgage, lease, real estate tax statement OR
Driver’s license/government-issued photo ID plus current utility bill (electric, gas, water/sewer)
A completed Virginia School Entrance Health Form showing that the child has received a physical examination performed by a physician within a year of enrollment. (Required for new students in preschool-grade 5; required for all kindergartners, even if they were enrolled in the preschool program.) Suggestion: Call your doctor’s office to ask if they’ll fax your child’s form to your school. Fax numbers are listed with school registrar contact list, above, or on this page.
A completed immunization record (for all grades; part of the School Entrance Health Form)
Custody or guardianship paperwork (if necessary)
Don’t have everything? Bring what you have to the school, and they will help you.
With broken hearts, we are writing in response to the senseless gun violence and tragic deaths today at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Our hearts go out to the students, families, staff, and community members.
This message is in many ways a painful repetition of what we have said in response to earlier shootings across our country, including ten days ago at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo and at schools such as Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida or Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.
What Will We Do?
Our first priority tonight is to equip you and our own staff to care for our students and ourselves. See below for resources.
As always, our ongoing top priority in Charlottesville City Schools is to make sure that we are doing all we can to keep our own schools safe. Our work in school security has been shaped by one of the nation’s top experts. Safety work is a continuous effort, as evidenced by recent expansion of mental health staffing and also investments in areas such as access point security and updated door locking systems.
Beyond our own schools, we recommit ourselves to doing everything we can to keep schools everywhere safe. In this work, we will be guided by the 2018 Call for Action to Prevent Gun Violence in the United States of America and other similar recommendations from state and national education groups.
Though it doesn’t feel like it right now, we remind ourselves and you that schools remain one of the safest places for young people. Let us join together to make sure that the schools of tomorrow are even safer.
Dr. Royal A Gurley, Superintendent
Ms. Lisa Larson-Torres, Board Chair
Counseling and Discussion Resources for Staff and Families:
Need immediate counseling? If this is an emergency, call 911. Otherwise, you can call Region Ten at any time at 434-972-1800 or 1-866-694-1605 for help or more information.
For staff and families: new Care Solace partnership to offer free assistance making mental health appointments. Visit https://caresolace.com/charlottesville
We are excited about this year’s Back to School Bash! This year’s family-fun celebration will be tons of fun as we enjoy lots of music, games and activities. It is also an opportunity to make sure that all students have the supplies they need for learning. The event will be held on:
Saturday, August 20, 2022 10 am-12 noon Downtown Ting Pavilion, Charlottesville NEW THIS YEAR: No registration required! Supplies will be provided for all who need.
Dear Charlottesville City Schools families,
Dear staff and families –
RE-REGISTER YOUR STUDENTS FOR 2022-23!
CELEBRATE CVILLE SCHOOLS STUDENT ART!
COVID UPDATES
SCHOOL-WIDE FREE MEALS ENDING IN JUNE
SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES REMINDER
