Charlottesville City Schools

News and HighLights

A Word from Dr. Gurley

Dear families,

Good evening! I want to make sure you are aware of an “update to the update” on make-up days, and that we’re seeing signs of hope with Dr. Gurley declining COVID cases in our schools and the area.

Presidents Day is a Student and Staff Holiday. Per the Board vote Thursday night, Presidents Day (February 21) will remain a student/staff holiday. March 4 will be a make-up day with in-person instruction. See first item below to review the upcoming academic calendar.
Declining COVID Cases: If you have been following our COVID dashboard, you’ll see that our cases (and cases in the City) appear to be declining. Let’s not let down our guards, but we can be hopeful that this trend will continue as it has in other East Coast cities.

This omicron surge has been stressful. I’m thankful to my colleagues, our students, our families, and our area health professionals for our joint effort in areas such as masking, showing caution when symptoms appear, taking advantage of testing opportunities, and more. Let’s continue to take care of one another and our community!

Sincerely,
Dr. Royal A. Gurley, Jr.

Recent Successes for CHS

Recent successes for CHS — a number of wrestling and track & field athletes have qualified for states, Roxie Beebe-Center qualified for a national theatre competition, and CHS “Teachers for Tomorrow” students headed over to Greenbrier for a win-win.

Need a refresher on the calendar? Here’s a quick review:
• February 21 (Presidents Day) is a staff/student holiday
• March 4 is a regular school day
• March 18 is a student holiday/teacher workday
• April 1 is a student holiday/teacher workday kicking off Spring Break (4/4-8)
• Subscribe to our Google academic calendar.
Charlottesville City Schools is hosting a #JoinCvilleSchools Job Fair on Saturday, February 26, from 10am-2pm at CHS. Open positions include teachers, instructional assistants, substitutes, custodians, and nutrition workers. The City of Charlottesville will also be hiring bus drivers. More information: charlottesvilleschools.org/jobs.
Last week, the School Board and City Council discussed the planned modernization of Buford to host the city’s 6th through 8th-graders, as well as a light renovation of Walker to host an early childhood center for our preschool program. You can read the latest update by education reporter Katherine Knott here. The article alludes to the (temporary, we hope) set-back to a state bill that would authorize Charlottesville to pursue voter approval for a sales tax increase to help support the $75 million project. A parent group has formed to advocate for this reconfiguration project (and other ways to support education in Charlottesville). Interested? Visit https://www.charlottesvilleunited.org/
Does your student need a COVID vaccine or booster shot? Blue Ridge Health District is coming to our schools to provide vaccines to students and staff. See schedule here. The next clinics are this Monday at Clark and this Tuesday at Johnson.
We have begun implementing Test to Stay, a nationally used alternative to quarantining after exposure that allows unvaccinated, not-fully vaccinated, and unboosted (not “up to date”) students and staff to safely attend school even after exposure if they complete a series of daily morning rapid tests. Students are not eligible for the program if their exposure is home-based (for example, if a sibling or parent at home has COVID). In addition, per CDC guidelines, we are changing the quarantine period to 10 days (down from 14).
It’s time to apply for preschool! Our preschool program helps children become kindergarten-ready through play and activities, and it is free and available for qualifying 3- and 4-year-olds. Learn more at charlottesvilleschools.org/preschool.
The proposed budget for 2022-23 is entering the final stages of development and approval. Find upcoming budget meeting dates — as well as a brief summary of last week’s School Board meeting in the February Mini-Minutes.