Parents get their say on W-JCC school redistricting Tuesday

It’s June 15. In today’s edition we’ll preview Tuesday’s school board meeting. Williamsburg man charged with exposing himself to teenage girl in store bathroom. Early voting starts Thursday in primaries to challenge incumbent Republican Rob Wittman and Democratic Sen. Mark Warner.

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Parents and community members will have their say on the proposed redistricting of the Williamsburg-James City County schools when the school board meets Tuesday evening.

Parents have pushed back against the first proposed redistricting map on everything from diversity issues to dividing up neighborhood attendance zones.

“Any time you talk about changing someone’s assigned school or boundary, people are likely to not love that, because they love the school that they’re currently attending,” Superintendent Daniel Keever told a community meeting last week. “There is not going to be a map that we release that is supported by 100%” of the community.”

Keever spoke at a community meeting sponsored by The Village Initiative for Equity in Education, which criticized what it said was a lack of racial balance in the schools.

He said the redistricting process began two years ago when the school system started work on two Bright Beginnings schools that will house 350 pre-kindergarten students who are currently in elementary schools, leaving the equivalent of 32 empty classrooms.

Keever said the goal of the redistricting was to make good use of school space to avoid having students in modular classrooms while balancing demographics.

He said the committee working on the problem since last year has tried to keep students together as much as possible as they advance through grades, keep bus routes as short as possible, maintain neighborhood schools and minimize disruption. But some schools are not built near to where most students live, he said.

After Tuesday’s meeting, the committee will produce a second round of maps for the community to review by August, Keever said.

The schools have been working steadily to provide information on the process since learning from their consultant last year that fewer than half of local residents were aware it was underway.

Last month the consultant held three town halls to explain the process, review the maps, and answer questions.

The school board meeting begins June 16 at 6:30 in the auditorium at Berkeley Middle School.