Not making the grade: Two W-JCC elementary schools rated off track by state
Good morning: James River Elementary and Matthew Whaley need more work, the state department of education says. Today we'll also look at the schools' budget wish list.
Two elementary schools in the Williamsburg-James City County school system – James River and Matthew Whaley – did not meet the state department of education’s new performance standards, school board members learned Tuesday night.
School Superintendent Daniel Keever said the designations last month surprised him, but said remediation plans were already in place to improve student results.
The other 14 schools in the system were designated as being on track, with Jamestown High School earning the “Distinguished” designator.
James River Elementary was singled out as “Needs Intensive Support” in the report from the Virginia Department of Education, while Matthew Whaley was designated “Off Track”.
Keever said the new ranking system was “drastically different” from the way schools were previously measured, adding high schools are given an advantage based on the weighting of results.
He noted the General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission released a report on the new school grading system saying it was a needed improvement but could use some tweaks.
Keever said the two underperforming schools were getting added attention, including daily 30-minute reading and mathematics training with tutors for children who were not meeting the grade. James River and Matthew Whaley also now have a smaller ratio of students to teachers.
He told Williamsburg Representative Andrea M. Donnor that school parents and staff had been notified of what the results meant, and what steps were being taken to improve performance.
Roberts District representative Daniel Cavazos asked how long it would take to turn the results around.
“We want to see our pass rates continue to improve, no question, and we have that marker in terms of 85% by 2028,” Keever said. “We’d like to exceed (that).”
School budget wish list still short
The wish list for Williamsburg-James City County schools’ next budget still looks to be about $5 million to $7 million shy of projected revenue. Now comes the real work.
School board members gathered Tuesday for the first of three budget work sessions to develop their asks and talking points for when they meet with local governments next month.
Williamsburg and James City County, which provide more than half of the school budget, pledged to increase their contributions next year by $6 million, to $118.95 million.
Outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s new state budget would provide state funding of $81.5 million, an increase of $4.6 million, according to figures the board saw Tuesday. Those numbers are subject to change as a Democratic administration comes on board this month, working with a Democratic legislature.
The combined total of $200.5 million from local and state revenue is about 2.5% larger than last year’s school budget, which had grown by 8% over the previous year.
But the wish list schools have drawn up bring total spending to the $210 million to $212 million range.
Complicating the politics of the discussion is the system’s lagging school population: K-12 enrollment decreased slightly last year to 11,146 students, the lowest since Covid, and is not projected to grow next year.
Staff pay raises and new hires account for three quarters of the proposed additional spending on the schools’ wish list. Local schools are hoping to phase in the second part of a three-year round of pay raises to bring local compensation closer to what competing school systems pay.
“Compensation’s a big deal,” School Superintendent Daniel Keever told the school board.
Board members will spend most of their budget work session next week going through compensation issues, Keever said.
Roberts District Representative Daniel R. Cavazos said the challenge facing schools is “there’s only so much money available from our local partners and only so much from the state, and not much federal money.”
School board members unanimously voted to promote Vice Chair Andrea M. Donnor to the role of chair at their organizational session Tuesday night.
But they passed over the longest-serving school board member to select Berkeley representative Randy J. Riffle as vice-chair.
Donnor is one of two representatives from Williamsburg on the school board.
Riffle, who first took office two years ago, was voted in as vice-chair by a vote of 4-2 over Powhatan representative Kimberley M. Hundley, who has been on the board since 2022.
Hundley and Cavazos voted for her nomination, while Donner, Riffle, newcomer Ty Hodges and Williamsburg representative Amy Chen voted in Riffle’s favor.
Stonehouse representative Michael T. Hosang was not present.
VDOT survey on Centerville Road safety
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is seeking feedback for a transportation study to address safety and traffic issues along Centerville Road in James City County.
The study is developing improvements along Centerville Road between Richmond Road (Route 60) and Longhill Road, and on Richmond Road (Route 60) between Lightfoot Road (Route 646) and the Humelsine Parkway (Route 199) westbound ramps, with a focus on improving roadway and pedestrian safety, congestion, multimodal accessibility and connectivity for bicycle, pedestrian and transit users.
You can learn more about the study and take the online survey at https://vaprojectpipeline.virginia.gov/studies/hampton-roads/hr-25-04/ . The survey will be cut off after Jan. 21, 2026.
Top 5 things to do this weekend:
Outdoor skating at Liberty Ice Pavilion. Daily. $18 adults, $13 youth 12 and under.
Freedoms Paradox – a look at how free and enslaved Black Virginians lived. Saturdays and Sundays, Jan. 3 – Feb. 28. Peyton Randolph House, 101 E. Nicholson Street. Must have CW Admission to attend.
Native American Creativity at the Intersection of Culture and Art. Muscarelle Museum. Ends Jan. 11.
Winter Lantern Festival at Jamestown Settlement. Thursday through Sunday Jan. 11. 5-10 p.m.
Fresh Views of the American Revolution. American Revolution Museum Yorktown.
Passings
Keith Roger Chamberlain, 82, Dec. 30.
Thanks, I have fixed!
Caption is wrong in the school budget article. Says Andrew instead of Andrea.