This Morning: Snow, Schools and Cruise ships
Good morning,
All schools, courts and government offices will be closed today as a winter storm bears down on the Historic Triangle… Williamsburg/James City County schools begin study on renaming James Blair Middle School and will offer credit protection services for victims of school hacking…and York County takes steps to control cruise line crowds.
School Board Approves Process to Review James Blair Name
Williamsburg-James City County’s school board voted to begin the process that could lead to renaming James Blair Middle School Tuesday night. Board members heard from 15 people, a majority of whom favored removing the name of the slaveholder who was one of William & Mary’s founders.
The board voted 5-1 to begin the process -- which could take three to four months -- of gathering community input into the school’s name. Michael T. Hosang voted against and Daniel R. Cavazos was not present at the meeting.
The majority of speakers during the 30-minute-long comment period spoke in favor of renaming Blair, including a contingent of six William & Mary students.
Jaida McFadden, a 13-year old black middle school student, told the board keeping Blair’s name at the school “deeply affects black students’ own sense of belonging.” Many of the speakers in favor of removing the name echoed her theme, saying a name sets a moral tone for students at the school.
“The name of a school is more than a title,” said Samuel Ray, co-chairman of the educational committee of the York-James City – Williamsburg branch of the NAACP. “It represents the values we uphold and the history we choose to honor. “
Opponents of the measure said schools should focus on educating students rather than trying to remove the names of an accomplished man whose ownership of slaves was established practice in colonial Virginia.
“We need to stop being ashamed of our history….it’s messy,” said Jon Mollins.
The process approved by the board establishes a committee that will gather community input and make a recommendation to the board in time to make changes by next school year.
The committee would comprise about a dozen people including representatives of James Blair’s student body, its staff, parents and guardians, residents of the school zone and two school board members.
School Chair Sarah Ortego, acknowledging the strong emotions produced by the issue, urged all parties to be respectful of one another, adding “how we go about having this conversation…. will determine who we are” as a community.
York County Approves Control on Cruise Line Passenger Landings
In the wake of last year’s Princess Cruise Line flap, York County Supervisors voted Tuesday to limit where cruise visitors could disembark in the county going forward.
They unanimously approved requiring a special use permit to build any facilities that could dock tender boats from large ships, and limit them to commercial and industrial-zoned districts.
Residents flooded the county with complaints when news surfaced that Princess Cruise Line wanted to bring its ships into the York River and allow passengers to disembark in Yorktown. A petition against the idea garnered 7,900 signatures, one opponent said.
Last year the line announced it would be taking its ships to Norfolk instead.
Several opponents who spoke Tuesday night said Yorktown’s character would be ruined by large crowds of cruise passengers who would use the town merely as a disembarkation point.
“Williamsburg is where all the money is going to go,” said Harry Raphael.
While they supported the requirement for a special use permit, speakers pushed to add a requirement for an independent environmental impact study as well.
Supervisors echoed concerns about huge cruise ship crowds, but said they had little power to prevent it other than by controlling where ship tenders could dock.
County attorney Richard E. Hill said a variety of federal and state agencies control maritime related issues, and the county has no power to prevent any ship from stopping in the York River.
Supervisors agreed that a special use permit gives the county more control over the process and allows future boards to add more requirements if state or federal laws change.
American Cruise line riverboats call on Yorktown, but their boats carry no more than 200 passengers and are a fraction of the size of cruise ships.
After Hacking Incident, WJCC Schools Will Provide ID Protection to Students, Staff
Williamsburg-James City County Schools will pay to provide credit and identify protection services to more than 12,000 students and staff in the wake of last week’s hacking incident.
After meeting behind closed doors for an hour prior to their regular meeting, School Board members voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve the move.
Acting School Superintendent Daniel Keever said the schools found they had been hacked on Feb. 9 and were able to restore most functions by Feb. 14 after bringing in cybersecurity specialists.
Parents and school employees should have received an email last night offering them credit and identity protection services for one year from Kroll, a leading provider of identity restoration services, he said.
Keever said employees who had been with the schools since 2022 and the system’s more than 11,000 students would be covered.
“We do not have any evidence that any personal information is being used maliciously, but we want to reassure our community with confidence and tools to protect themselves,” he said.
Keever said he did not know how much it will cost to provide the service, referring questions to the school system’s outside legal counsel.