November 16, 2020
NewsDaily NewsNovember 16, 2020

November 18-20, VSBA Virtual Annual Convention
The VSBA Annual Convention is the largest and most anticipated VSBA meeting of the year. While this year our Annual Convention may look a little different, and we won’t get to see your smiling faces in person, we hope you’ll find our event schedule to be just as enriching and…

Attending the VSBA Annual Convention: Make Plans to Attend the Connectivity Session
Learn how to log in to the virtual convention and update your attendee profile, view session information and create your personalized schedule, find exhibitors and convention sponsors and use the message and chat features to engage with other attendees. Information to log in to…

Covington, Alleghany students to learn remotely until after Thanksgiving
Students in Covington City Public Schools will continue remote learning until at least Thanksgiving week. They were scheduled to go back to school for in-person learning November 16 after a closure based on a staff member testing positive for COVID-19, but the date has…

Suffolk Public Schools pushes back in-person learning to January, at earliest
In a Thursday night school board meeting, Suffolk Public Schools made the call to push back in-person learning because of a rise in COVID-19 cases across Virginia. The vote was six in favor of delaying students’ return, one against. If virus trends show a decrease by the end of…

State Superintendent of Public Instruction briefs lawmakers on continuing COVID challenge
Mid-March brought an abrupt shift, as schools turned to online learning. And while school divisions across Virginia continue to adjust several months later, they continue to work through many of the problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic. “All of our school divisions began…

Russell County Public Schools to be completely remote week after Thanksgiving out of caution
Students in Russell County will be engaged in virtual learning the week after Thanksgiving. According to a post from Russell County Public Schools, the district will be switching to 100% remote learning from November 30 through December 4. The post says that after speaking…

Ridgeview High in Dickenson County, Va. to switch to hybrid schedule November 16
Dickenson County, Virginia Public Schools officials announced Friday that Ridgeview High School will resume a hybrid instruction schedule on Monday after being full virtual. The hybrid instructional schedule means that group A will return to school in-person on Monday and…

Norfolk Public Schools to strengthen student nutrition programs using $200,000 from No Kid Hungry Virginia
The coronavirus pandemic has increased food insecurity tremendously, according to No Kid Hungry Virginia. Many students are still learning from home, meaning it’s not always easy to get the usual school lunch, and many parents may still be out of work. No Kid Hungry Virginia is…

Fairfax County teachers push back on return-to-school plans
Next week, thousands more Fairfax County Public School students will start moving back into classrooms, and a month from now, first- and second-graders will be in classrooms, too. But the move to more and more “concurrent learning” — where some students are in the classroom…

Governor Northam’s latest restrictions won’t stop the VHSL’s plan to start next month
Virginia governor Ralph Northam’s latest coronavirus restrictions will not impact the Virginia High School League’s return to sports. On Friday, Northam announced all public and private in-person gatherings must be limited to 25 individuals. The current cap is 250. However, the 25…

Albemarle County Public Schools set up COVID-19 hotline
With the return of thousands of more students to in-person learning in Albemarle County this week, the public school system has set up a COVID-19 hotline. Staff is available to serve the community by phone or email to try to help with finding resources for everything from mental…

Roanoke County students now required to wear face masks at all times at school
School leaders with Roanoke County Public Schools shared an update Friday night regarding the district’s response to Gov. Ralph Northam’s announcement of new gathering restrictions and mask guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Virginia. Starting Monday, students will be…

Richmond schools use long-term suspensions far more often than neighboring counties. New policies aim to change that.
Over the past five years, Richmond Public Schools issued more than 2,200 long-term suspensions at a time when the neighboring counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico combined handed down that punishment fewer than 400 times. The data, obtained by the…

School Board hears updates on hybrid model of learning
The Shenandoah County School Board was given an update on how the hybrid model for schools has been working at Thursday’s board meeting. Superintendent Mark Johnston, who also announced his retirement effective July 1, made a plea to the community to follow all the…

Rockingham County Schools Prepping For More Students
There are many reasons for Becky Roadcap and Erin Branner to be excited about the return of students in grades second through fifth on Monday. For one, the principal and assistant principal of John C. Myers Elementary School in Broadway haven’t seen some of these…

Renamed Hanover schools announce new mascots
Two Hanover County Public Schools have already been renamed, and now, they have new mascots. Mechanicsville High School, formerly Lee-Davis High School, will be the known as the mustangs. The school is currently working on designing a logo. School colors are now purple…

Chesterfield Schools: Spike in cases could trigger return to remote learning
Chesterfield County Schools parents got a note Friday night saying the district is closely monitoring the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases across the commonwealth. Officials say that if an average of 25 new cases per 100,000 residents is identified within a seven-day period, it…

2020 VSBA Virtual Annual Convention Program
The 2020 VSBA Virtual Annual Convention Program is available for download. View the program on your computer with clickable links, or print it out to reference during the Virtual Annual Convention November 18-20, 2020. If you have not yet registered for the Convention…

Wednesday November 18, 2020 Early Bird Session at the VSBA Annual Convention
Student Achievement and Success During Times of Uncertainty: The Early Bird session participants will gain various insights pertaining to the importance of a high quality systems approach relating to the core business of teaching and learning as well as establishing a…