City, county sing in harmony at school meeting
Good morning, we're getting snow! Weather forecasts call for up to 2 inches of snow accumulating through the day Monday. Williamsburg-James City County and York County schools will be closed.
After two years of haggling and occasionally heated comments, Williamsburg and James City County officials were singing a positive tune at their joint meeting with the school board Friday.
“This group – the school board, the city, the county, to me, is starting to really feel like a team,” Powhatan representative Michael J. Hipple told the gathering.
“We have had quite a year or two,” City Council member Stacy Kerns-Scherer admitted, adding “(I) really do feel that same level of joint commitment to making progress in our school division.”
The catch may be getting more taxpayer dollars.
Daniel Keever, the superintendent of Williamsburg-James City County schools, walked city and county leaders through the five-part strategic plan aimed at improving student outcomes and setting them up for career success.
He acknowledged the poor reading results the school system’s third graders have posted in state tests in recent years, noting that while local schools still outperform the state average “we can and will do better.”
Keever and his staff detailed strategies to engage parents in their children’s learning; reach out for community feedback and support; develop and retain employees, and improve student behavior.
Some of the key topics in the conversation:
School enrollment declined 2% from last year to 11,146 students as of September 30. The most conservative estimates for future enrollment indicate there will be no need to build new schools for at least a decade.
Redistricting will be on the table next year to balance out enrollment levels at elementary schools. Most have excess capacity, but Stonehouse and Matthew Whaley elementary schools are over capacity, according to school data. (See meeting information below)
The five-year construction and repair wish list for the schools is $107.5 million, of which the city would pay $5.3 million and the county $102.1 million.
Schools banned student use of mobile phones last year and will be reviewing the use of computers across all grade levels to make sure computers are being utilized to enhance the learning process rather than replace written materials.
The school system has applied to all branches of the military to launch JROTC programs.
City and county officials praised the school for putting together a plan with clear goals and measurement metrics. The word “impressive” was employed liberally.
“It has never been so clear to me that (the school administration) is focused on producing well-rounded and productive students,” Williamsburg Mayor Douglas Pons said.
The mutually congratulatory mood was a far cry from the past two tense years.
Williamsburg, unhappy with the results its students were showing, commissioned a study in 2023 to see what it would cost to leave the 55-year-old joint school system and reached out to state legislators to prepare for a potential departure.
When James City County supervisors found out, they per-emptively announced the county would not renew its operating agreement for the schools.
Over two years, the two sides negotiated their demands behind closed doors. James City County, which pays 90% of the cost of the schools, said Williamsburg was not paying its share. The city, for its part, wanted to fix the double-digit disparity in test results between minority and low-income city students and those who live in the county.
James City County summoned county school board members to a closed-door session in July to give its side of the dispute, with Board Chair Jim Icenhour saying the two localities were working “at cross purposes with each other.”
Keever has announced a plan to provide additional attention to under performing students from the city to help fix the performance gap.
Roberts supervisor John McGlennon said getting enough funding for the schools might present a problem. He said it was important to get taxpayer buy-in.
“We don’t have all the money we need and we need to get to Richmond” for more funds, Hipple added. Berkeley member Ruth Larson suggested inviting local members of the legislature to attend future joint meetings.
Delegate-elect Jessica Anderson, whose 71st district includes most of the local school zones, showed up at the meeting and nodded in assent when the supervisors said the state needed to increase school funding. Anderson did not participate in the meeting but came and sat in the audience.
At one point, McGlennon asked the superintendent if the school board would consider setting up its offices at the new county government center going up on Longhill Rd. Keever said he was willing to talk about it, but that moving further south from the current offices next to James Blair Middle School “would not allow us to maintain the same level of support for our community.”
James City County policeman who shot sergeant scheduled for jury trial this week
A four-day jury trial is scheduled to begin this week in the case of a James City County policeman who shot his sergeant two years ago.
Michael T. Rusk is charged with aggravated malicious wounding and a gun charge for shooting Sgt. Christopher Gibson after a fight in the parking lot of the Brickhouse Tavern Jan. 25, 2023. Rusk claimed Gibson had been harassing him sexually and he feared he wanted to rape him.
Rusk has separately filed a $5.5 million civil lawsuit against James City County and the police, claiming he was discriminated against because the harassing behavior had been allowed to continue.
The civil trial has been placed on hold until the criminal case is concluded.
Gibson, who recovered from his wounds, retired from the force. Rusk was fired from the department.
A pretrial motion on the case is set for Monday in Williamsburg-James City County circuit court. A four-day jury trial is set to start the following day.
Votes on county office complex and downtown library construction set this week
Local leaders are set to vote this week on several controversial construction projects in James City County and Williamsburg. And the joint school board will get an update on redistricting.
The school board meets Dec. 9. At 4:30 p.m. in its offices at 117 Ironbound Rd.
James City County supervisors will vote on approving the new $190 million government center at their regular meeting Tuesday afternoon. Before that vote, they will be meeting in a business session to discuss adopting the county’s strategic plan and other matters.
The business session starts at 2 p.m. Dec. 9 and the regular session starts at 5. Both will take place in the board room of the government center on Mounts Bay Road.
Williamsburg City Council will vote on approving $1.1 million in payments for preliminary designs for a new downtown library at its regular meeting Thursday.
Before that, at its work session on Monday, the council will review a program designed to ease tensions between city residents and students renting homes in single family neighborhoods.
Thursday the council will vote on a contract with Hourigan Construction Corporation for preliminary designs that will allow the contractor to provide a guaranteed price for building the library, whose cost is currently estimated at $26.1 million.
Final approval of the construction will not come until the second or third quarter of next year, according to a memorandum to council from city manager Andrew Trivette.
Monday’s work session begins at 4 p.m. at the Stryker Center downtown. The Thursday regular session starts at 2 p.m.
Other county meetings this week:
Wetlands Board, & Chesapeake Bay Board, Dec. 10 5 p.m. County Government Center Board Room
Other city meetings:
Architectural Review Board. Dec.9. 6:30 p.m. Stryker Center
Historic Triangle Recreational Facilities Authority. Dec. 10. 3 p.m. Stryker Center.
Passings
Thomas G. Padgett, 71, Dec. 5.
Joseph Anthony Gergel, 73, Dec. 3.