School redistricting, homeless students, phone ban: W-JCC Superintendent's town hall with us
It's the first day of May. Today: a rundown of Superintendent Daniel Keever's conversation with Watch readers...James City pulls marina from market...Williamsburg Pottery owner dies.
Williamsburg area parents who want to know how the upcoming redistricting may affect their students were encouraged Wednesday to attend one of three forums coming up this month.
School Superintendent Daniel Keever, speaking at Williamsburg Watch’s Town Hall Wednesday evening, said the meetings will include a look at preliminary redistricting maps.
“Is this a challenging process for a community? Yeah,” Keever said. “It’s always quite emotional.”
Williamsburg-James City County schools launched the redistricting study to plan for the opening of two Bright Beginnings pre-K schools on the campus of Norge and Clara Byrd Baker elementary schools.
The 350 students in those classes currently are housed in the school system’s regular elementary schools and taking three of them – Stonehouse, Matthew Whaley and James River – to capacity or over capacity.
The space freed up by the new Bright Beginnings schools will open more capacity at those schools and an opportunity to shift students.
Keever said a committee including community members, school staff and a school board representative have been meeting weekly to discuss options.
Based on your feedback this month, the group will adjust the plan and take it to the school board for approval in October, Keever said. The new attendance zones would go live in the fall of 2027.
Forum dates:
Tuesday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m. – Lafayette High School
Wednesday, May 13, at 1 p.m. – Williamsburg Regional Library (Scotland St.)
Wednesday, May 13, at 6:30 p.m. – Berkeley Middle School Tuesday, May 12.
Watch readers who attended in person asked the superintendent questions on a variety of issues, including:
Homeless students
Keever said the number of homeless students going to public schools “is more significant than you would anticipate in our community.”
The superintendent said homeless students may have problems with transportation, or getting proper meals, or having a place to clean their clothing.
“Their ability to perform day in and day out and reach the highest levels of academic achievement is starkly different than their peers that don’t have that same scenario,” Keever said.
He said the schools work to provide transportation, food and even clean clothing as required by case.
Smartphones in school
Keever said W-JCC schools successfully implemented a no-phones policy in the 2024 -2025 academic year, following former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order to ban the devices.
Reactions from both students and parents was mixed, Keever said. While he could not point to specific academic improvements from the policy, he said he believed it is helping students focus and communicate.
He said in public spaces like the cafeteria “students are talking to each other and that’s an upgrade over students at the table on their phones.”
Keever said the staff has also been monitoring how much time students are spending on computer screens at school after concerns rose about excessive screen time. He will report the findings in July.
Civics and democracy
When an audience member who is new to the area asked whether students are being taught civics and American government, Keever said there are civic courses for 5th and 8th grade students. High school seniors must take a course in Virginia and U.S. government to graduate.
“Our principals and our schools spend time talking about what does citizenship mean?” he said. Keever said students should learn “how do you serve as a member of a community, as a citizen? And talking about the need for appropriate dialogue with one another in collaboration and communication with one another is an essential component of that.”
View full Town Hall here:
James City County will hold on to marina
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Williamsburg Watch to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.