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it’s gonna be a long night of school board related content! first up, charlottesville city school board, starting momentarily.
here’s tonight’s city school board meeting agenda. the county school board meeting starts at 6:30, so i’ll have to duck out before it ends. 
we expect to hear from charlottesville high school’s black student union during public comment tonight
the first speaker is speaking against the pushback from some parents about a spanish language requirement. she says this pushback relies on a false dichotomy between spanish language and STEM in school.
now hearing from a mother and her 4th grade son speaking in support of the energy and water resolution. the student is presenting the board with a petition from generation 180 demonstrating community support for the resolution.
the next speaker is the student who organized the student climate strike. she started her comment by saying she also participated in the racial justice walkout & supports the demands of the black student union.
cvilletomorrow.org/articles/charl…
cvilletomorrow.org/articles/charl…
“we are in the midst of a crisis and yet the world moves on.” she urges the board to add climate change to science curriculum & be more energy efficient.
“you can graduate them, [...] but that doesn’t mean they’ll have the skills they need to break the cycle,” says the next speaker. she urges the district to adopt a policy ensuring all students are reading at grade level by 3rd grade.
“it’s horrifying how many children are being left behind under your watch,” she says, emphasizing that 80% of the students failing their english SOLs are african american.
that concludes public comment. on to responses from the board.
that concludes public comment. on to responses from the board.
(the racial disparity in charlottesville city schools is not new. i wrote a column for cville weekly this week about a 2005 school board memo written in response to an outside audit that showed shocking racial disparities)
board member sherry kraft now speaking about the high school’s participation in a pilot program for mental health first aid
dailyprogress.com/news/education…
dailyprogress.com/news/education…
“the statistics are alarming” in terms of how many students are suffering from mental health issues. “our students have been through a lot,” says kraft.
“we are constantly receiving kudos for what we are trying to do,” says board member leah puryear who serves as a representative to the council of urban boards of education. “it happens gradually. it doesn’t happen overnight. this is an effort that everyone must participate in.”
“we are in this together and still we rise,” says puryear of the district’s ongoing efforts on matters of diversity and equity.
board member lisa torres says the hard work of equity is just beginning.
it’s heartening to hear torres’ list of community events she’s attended since the last meeting. in a community this size, there really are so many opportunities to actually get out and engage with people on a personal level. there’s no excuse not to.
here’s the text of the energy and water resolution being discussed now.
board member juan wade says this is the planet students will inherit and he was glad to see students take ownership of this resolution.
board member juan wade says this is the planet students will inherit and he was glad to see students take ownership of this resolution.
a district employee is speaking now about next steps in the energy performance contract process. “it is absolutely in active consideration right now.” it sounds like it will take some time to determine how to go about replacing lights & HVAC with more efficient options.
sherry kraft says she’s proud of the students who’ve taken up the cause on this, acknowledges the fear and anxiety students feel about climate change & praises @ZyahnaB for modeling leadership for younger students.
and the resolution carries unanimously to applause from the audience. now on to an agenda item i’m not familiar with - the career and technical education local plan. the linked document is 46 pages...
esbpublic.charlottesvilleschools.org/attachments/b0…
esbpublic.charlottesvilleschools.org/attachments/b0…
student rep @ZyahnaB asks about collection of demographic, specifically race, data for students in career and technical programs. it sounds like the board is amenable to exploring options to better collect that data.
the principal at walker upper elementary is presenting recommendations for the 2019-2020 school year — some additional electives. he says electives are one way to light a fire within students.
“one thing i hear loud and clear is that our students want more choices,” he says. right now students at walker only have one elective option - one block of time every other day to explore a non-core subject. he encourages the board to allow students to take a second elective.
he says the current program of study “is not meeting the needs of every one of my children,” and reiterates the need for elective options to ignite students’ interest in learning.
he acknowledges the drawback of the current spanish program at walker - right now it is a pullout program that takes kids out of math class. (it’s not clear to me if that will remain the case??)
dr atkins says one way to build opportunities for students to get into engineering courses later in their education career is to offer these engineering electives, specifically mentioning that the engineering courses are currently not very diverse.
zy asks about the possibility of high school credit for students taking the engineering courses. she says given the choice, she’d choose spanish over engineering just to get the high school credit. he says it may be a possibility in the second year of the program.
ahhh i had hoped to hear the equity committee update before i have to leave but it’s looking unlikely. we’re still talking about electives at walker and i have to go in five minutes.
the equity update powerpoint is here:
esbpublic.charlottesvilleschools.org/attachments/8e…
the equity update powerpoint is here:
esbpublic.charlottesvilleschools.org/attachments/8e…
board chair mckeever shares my confusion - she asked how spanish can be a requirement of 40% of students have opted out.
students who are struggling in math and, on the opposite extreme, students who excel at math are the ones most likely to opt out of spanish right now.
(i’m still really confused why spanish involves pulling kids out of math class if every student is taking spanish????)
(i’m still really confused why spanish involves pulling kids out of math class if every student is taking spanish????)
well tonight is not the night i find out the answers to these questions... i need to leave now to make it to the COUNTY school board meeting.
i’m not the only one with this problem tonight! looks like @cvilletomorrow has a reporter sticking around at the city school board meeting tonight, though
