Magruder Elementary School Name Issue Inching Toward Resolution

In today's edition: Magruder name change still being studied....Local home sales down last month...Michael Hipple gets challenger for his James City County board seat.

Feb 25, 2025

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Magruder Elementary (York County Schools Picture)

York County School officials said Monday they are getting closer to making a decision on whether to change the name of Magruder Elementary School, four years after it became an issue in the community.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” Superintendent Victor D. Shandor told speakers who showed up at the school board meeting to demand action on a name change.

That’s in part because there is disagreement over whom or what Magruder was named for.

Those pushing for a name change say the school’s name is meant to honor Confederate Gen. John B. Magruder, “a traitor to this country,” said Mary Lassiter, a Bruton resident who has been advocating to change the name of both that school and James Blair Middle School in Williamsburg.

Others say the school was named to honor the Magruder community, a hamlet of nearly 200 people named after the general that was largely settled by blacks after the Civil War. Magruder residents were forced out in 1942 to make room for Camp Peary.

“I’m waiting for a response from you all,” Lassiter said. “When are we going to be put on the agenda?”

Shandor told the board that school officials have been doing research and would have a report for the board in about a week so they could move on to the next phase of the decision.

“It is being worked on,” Vice Chair James E. Richardson assured the speakers.

Board members were also briefed on what the schools’ response would be if federal immigration officials attempted to pick up a student in school.

James Carroll, the schools’ chief operations officer, said in the five weeks since President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing ICE to enter schools, hospitals or churches to pick up undocumented aliens “there have been no documented cases of that happening” in the area.

“However, we are prepared,” Carroll added. He said principals were instructed to demand to see a signed warrant, and to consult with the school board office and parents, before allowing a student to be detained.

He said such an incident “would only be if they were looking for a serious criminal.”

Area Home Sales Drop in January

Fords Colony (Williamsburg Watch aerial)

Although home sales across Virginia grew slightly last month from 2024, home sales in the Historic Triangle dropped, the Virginia Realtors group reported Monday.

Across Virginia, home sales increased 1.8%, the Realtors said. The number of active listings was up 22% and the median home price increased by 7.3%, to $399,999.

About half of all counties and cities in Virginia had more sales in January than they had a year ago, the Realtors said. Areas that saw increased sales include the Greater Piedmont region, the Northern Virginia suburbs, the Charlottesville area, and parts of Richmond.

In James City County the median sales price dropped by half a percentage point but was still higher than the state average, at $454,250. Median sales prices increased 15.3% in York County, to $437,000.

The region’s highest median home prices were in Williamsburg, where wild swings can occur due to the comparatively small number of transactions -- the five homes sold in January had a median price of $470,000.

Williamsburg also recorded the largest drop in home sales year over year, down 54.5%.

James City County was next, down 21.4%, followed by York County with a 5 percent drop in home sales.

Consumers who chose to buy had more housing stock to choose from. Listings increased by double digits to 397 homes listed for sale in our area in January, according to the Realtors’ report.

Home sales slowed nationally because consumers faced a triple whammy of higher home prices, higher interest rates and higher property taxes.

It’s unclear how the Trump Administration’s policies on tariffs and government employee layoffs will further impact Virginia.

“Mortgage rates are expected to go down this year,” said Realtors Deputy Chief Economist Sejal Naik. “But their path is projected to be bumpy due to uncertainty around the impact of new policies on consumer sentiment and overall prices in the economy. Sales activity is likely to closely follow these interest rate movements.”

Democratic Challenger Seeks Michael Hipple’s JCC Board Seat

A local businesswoman who is active in community affairs is running for the James City County Board of Supervisors seat currently occupied by Michael J. Hipple, saying the county needs more high paying jobs and more affordable housing.

Ti’Juana Gholson is running in the Powhatan district as a Democrat.

Gholson owns several companies that provide mentoring to small business and women-and minority-owned firms.

She and her husband Lawrence work through the nonprofit Inner Peace Coalition to push for attainable housing and other resources for low-income county residents.

She serves on the boards of the Virginia Peninsula Community College, the Williamsburg Community Action Agency and the Williamsburg Community Foundation.

Neither Gholson nor Hipple returned calls in time for our deadline.

Gholson’s campaign website says James City County relies too much on low paying jobs in the tourism industry and needs to create higher paying career opportunities for young people.

She said she supports making affordable housing available to lower income and elderly people but also wants to protect natural and historic resources – two goals that can be mutually exclusive in growing communities.

Hipple, a former member of the Republican party who identifies himself as an Independent, has been the Powhatan representative since 2013.

Williamsburg Aviation Scholarship Open For Applications

The Williamsburg Aviation Scholarship Program (WASP) is accepting applications for flight training scholarships for high school students interested in aviation careers.

More than 40 students have received flight training since the program graduated its first class in 2016 at Waltrip Williamsburg Executive Airport.

WASP was founded by self-described “airport bums” Tuck McAtee and Charley Rogers as a way of getting young people interested in aviation careers. McAtee, a former Air Force military and F-16 test pilot, died Jan. 24. He was a pilot for more than 60 years.

He and Rogers, a longtime airport ambassador and airport employee, set up WASP as a tax-exempt organization whose funding comes from private and corporate donations and an annual golf tournament, which takes place June 14 at Kingsmill.

Scholarships are open to any high school student in Hampton Roads who will be 16 as of June 1, Rogers said. Flight training begins in July.

Students must apply by the end of day Wednesday, April 30, at this link.