July 12, 2021
NewsDaily NewsJuly 12, 2021

July 20, 2021, VSBA Conference on Education
Join hundreds of school division leaders from across Virginia at the 35th Annual VSBA Conference on Education. We are pleased to have Governor Ralph Northam in attendance, with our afternoon keynote presentation from the Aldrin Foundation! There will also be a time for…

Va. soon won’t require fully vaccinated people to wear masks in schools, following CDC’s new guidance
Virginia will soon lift the mask requirement for fully vaccinated people in K-12 schools, following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated guidance on Friday urging districts to reopen regardless of whether they’re able to take every safety measure recommended to curb…

Wythe School Board approves policy revisions that include protection for transgender students
The Wythe County School Board on Thursday approved a slew of policy revisions that included nondiscrimination protection for transgender students. There is no discrete policy for transgender students; however, the policies updated include requirements against…

Officials: Critical race theory not taught in Bedford County Public Schools
Critical race theory is not being taught in Bedford County Public Schools, division officials said Thursday. The Bedford County School Board met Thursday night and heard an update regarding recent changes to the state history curriculum. School administrators addressed…

Botetourt school board addresses race education and treatment of transgender students
Botetourt County’s school board agreed unanimously on Thursday that it does not support critical race theory being taught in its schools. It didn’t vote on the matter, because school boards don’t get to decide on curriculum. That is a matter for the state. Instead, the board’s…

Hampton school board throws out chairman following months of discontent
The Hampton School Board chose a new board chair at a meeting Wednesday following months of quiet disputes about Joe Kilgore’s leadership. In a 5-1 vote, the board elected Ann Cherry as chair and Richard Mason as vice chair for the next six months. It’s one of the first…

School equity debates relatively calm in Prince William, Manassas
As school board meetings in neighboring Loudoun County have attracted protests and national media coverage, meetings in Manassas and Prince William County have also drawn heated public comment over recently adopted resolutions regarding race, but board members hope…

Causing a racquet: Petersburg School Board wants to being competitive tennis back
Petersburg City Public Schools approved the paperwork for submission to the Virginia High School League to add boys and girls tennis to the list of sports Petersburg High School can compete in, along with robotics at the School Board meeting on Wednesday night.

‘I believe it’s completely unnecessary’ | FCPS considering turning part of a park into a parking lot
Some members of a Fairfax County community are pushing back against Fairfax County Public Schools’ proposal to turn some of Justice Park into a parking lot. FCPS is planning to expand Justice High School in Falls Church, Virginia, and would need to expand its parking spaces to…

Staunton City School Equity Committee makes progress in diversity, inclusivity and equity
Staunton City School Equity Committee has been active for eight months and is building the foundation the Staunton City School District is looking for to improve diversity and inclusivity. The SCS opened up an application in November 2020 for Staunton City School Equity…

Audit of Chesterfield public school curriculum finds overall learning experiences are ‘culturally insufficient’
Donovan Jones was taught that the Civil War began over state rights and not slavery in an AP U.S. History class at Cosby High School in Chesterfield County.Now a fourth-year student at the University of Virginia, Jones recalls questioning the lesson at the time in his Advanced…

Webinar, August 4, 2021: What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate
Often, communication issues within the board or between the board and superintendent are not problems, but rather are indications there are governance issues that need to be examined and strengthened. Learn how to analyze common “Communication issues” in order to identify.…