Daylight Savings, School Scores and More For Your Saturday Headlines

Mar 08, 2025

Good morning! Daylight savings time begins tomorrow, March 9, so remember to move your clocks forward one hour when you go to bed tonight. In our weekend edition: How would area schools have ranked last year if Virginia’s new school performance framework had been in effect…A peek at Michelangelo, the first major exhibit at the expanded Muscarelle Museum… first steps to James City County’s garbage consolidation program.

How Virginia’s Stricter Grading System Impacts Our Schools

How will local schools fare under the tougher performance requirements enacted by the Virginia School Board this year? The board has an online report that shows how they would have fared last year using spring 2024 SOL (Standards of Learning) Scores:

Half of York County’s public schools would have been graded in the top category. None of the Williamsburg/James City County schools would have made the cut for the Distinguished Category, although Berkeley Middle School came within .2 of a point.

The other half of York’s schools, and all but three of the W/JCC schools, would have been graded as meeting the state’s expectations for student achievement, growth and readiness. Three of the Williamsburg/James City County schools – Warhill High School, Toano Middle School and Stonehouse Elementary – would have ranked “Off Track” for not meeting expectations and would have been eligible for extra state support.

A statement from the state board noted the stricter standards, which replace the old accreditation system, were triggered by the impact on student learning following the Covid school shutdowns.

Before the pandemic, 93% of state schools received the highest rating under the old accreditation system, and afterwards 90% still did.

“Yet, while 90% of schools were receiving the system’s highest rating, our students were struggling and not able to master grade level content after missing so much school,” a state board statement said. No one from the state school board responded to our request for an interview.

Virginia Board of Education comparison of new accountability system vs. old accreditation method

The new standards, adopted after two years of public hearings and multiple comment periods, add several new requirements beyond mastery of school subjects. They are aimed at transparency to keep parents and communities informed of their schools’ progress. They do not mark any school as “failing” but identify those that need additional help, according to a board statement on its web site.

Under the new system, schools achieving 90 points or higher on a 100-point scale will be labeled Distinguished for exceeding the state’s expectations. Tabb High School, Tabb Middle School and Mount Vernon, Bethel Manor, Dare, Seaford, Tabb, Grafton and Magruder elementary schools ranked in that category in York County.

Those scoring between 80-89 will be considered On Track because they are meeting state expectations. Schools ranking between 65-79 points will be considered Off Track because they do not meet state expectations and will have access to additional state support.

Schools ranking below 65 points will be labeled as Needing Intensive Support and will be eligible for intensive support from the state.

The achievement of 35,000 students learning English as a second language in school must now be counted after three semesters of work. That is how schools report to federal authorities who provide funding for the program, but Virginia kept that out of its state school ranking measurements until after students had been in the program for 11 semesters, the state board reported.

Chronic absenteeism is also being counted toward the school rankings. So is growth in SOL achievement.

The percentage of students graduating on time will now significantly affect high school scores. And a readiness component measuring absenteeism and students’ readiness for life after graduation will be more than a third of the score for high schools.

That readiness component recognizes student success should be based on multiple post-graduation pathways beyond going to college, including work, trade schools and enlisting in the military.

Study for the Cumaean Sibyl, Sistine Chapel ceiling (Courtsey Muscarelle Museum of Art)

The newly expanded Muscarelle Museum of Art opened its first major exhibition Friday, bringing 24 rarely-displayed masterpiece drawings by Michelangelo to the United States for a 12-week run.

Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine displays the artist’s early drawings and studies for his famous frescoes in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.

The pieces may only be exposed to light for 12 weeks every seven years, a museum spokeswoman said, so after the Williamsburg run they will be stored in darkness until the next decade.

The exhibit “offers an unprecedented glimpse into the mind of one of the most famous artists in the world, revealing the unfiltered thoughts, ideas, struggles and breakthroughs that shaped one of history’s greatest masterpieces – the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel ceiling,” said Adriano Marinazzo, a Michelangelo expert who is the Muscarelle’s curator of special projects.

It also showcases the renovated Muscarelle building, which nearly tripled in size during its recently completed renovation and blends historic traditions with contemporary design.

Michelangelo destroyed many of his sketches, intending them for his eyes only. Of the hundreds created for the Sistine Chapel ceiling, less than 50 survive today, with nearly half on view in “The Genesis of the Sistine.” It includes a long-overlooked drawing hypothesized to be Michelangelo’s first sketch in preparation for the Sistine Chapel ceiling decoration.

Also among the exhibition’s 38 objects is a famous portrait of Michelangelo by his contemporary Giuliano Bugiardini, two self-portrait sketches of Michelangelo while he was painting the ceiling and a letter to Michelangelo from his friend and painter Francesco Granacci detailing his efforts to recruit assistants for the ceiling frescoes. Additionally, life-size reproductions of iconic frescoes, including “The Creation of Adam,” allow museum goers to compare themselves to the scale of the monumental works.

To improve visitor flow the museum is using timed entry reservations for the exhibit. Entry to the museum is free, but there is a $15 special admissions cost for the Michelangelo exhibit. Reservations and ticket purchases can be made online.

James City Trash Centralization Project Gets Test in Grove

James City County is going to test its concept of taking over garbage collection with a pilot program in the Grove Community.

The plan is to contract with a garbage hauling company to pick up curbside waste in the community and have the county directly bill participants, Solid Waste Director Bob Dittman told the board of supervisors last week. By giving the garbage hauler more customer density along its route and providing dependable payments, the hauler could be more profitable and still lower its fees, he said.

Residents would not be required to participate, he said, but the test amounts to “dipping our toe in the water” for the county’s longer-term plan.

Supervisors decided a year ago to give notice to the five garbage collectors working in the county that it plans to consolidate garbage collection. State law requires a five-year waiting period before such a plan can go into effect, giving the county until 2029 before it can launch.

At the time supervisors heard a report from Shaphard Research, which conducted telephone surveys across the county. The report, which has a 4.86% margin of error, said most county residents were satisfied with their current hauler.

County Administrator Scott Stevens said consolidating garbage collection would lower overall rates by making the process more efficient and would also cut the number of miles traveled by trash trucks from about 6,000 miles a week to 2,000. The county would handle all the billing and be the point of contact for customers.

Dittman, who has 40 years’ experience in waste management, told Williamsburg Watch the county has the option to contract with one hauler, parcel out agreements to several of them, or run the garbage collection by itself.

But the new side-loading garbage trucks used for curbside collection require a two-year lead time and cost $300,000, making contracting cheaper to gear up, he said.

“(Contractors) are our best way into it,” Stevens said, adding the county might want to use a handful of trucks to provide bulk hauling.

Several of the supervisors voiced concern about residents who cannot roll their trash cans to the curb, or prefer not to.

“They’re scared that they’re going to end up with a company that comes in and says if it’s not on the curb, bye-bye,” said Powhatan District Supervisor Michael J. Hipple.

Stevens said the county has the option of letting elderly or disabled residents apply for an exemption, and let everyone else pay an extra convenience fee to avoid curbside delivery. Picking up garbage at the top of a driveway or a backyard cannot be done with a side-loading truck with a single operator but would require two people to drive and pick up the trash bins, he said.

Hipple also voice skepticism that residents would pay less, noting “usually when the government gets involved in something the cost never goes down, it always goes up.”