August News & Highlights

Dear Cville Schools community–

With school starting on Wednesday, August 14, I wanted to give you some updates and a timeline for when to expect additional back-to-school information like bus routes or teacher assignments. And we wanted to catch you up on what we’ve been working on this summer.

As new housing is built and the City's population grows, we are facing potential overcrowding or the need to install learning cottages at some elementary schools unless we revise our school zones. We have received proposals for firms to assist us with these potential revisions. If recommended and approved, zoning changes could go into effect as early as August 2025. While this conversation is “new” in Charlottesville, attendance zone revisions are a common occurrence in most school divisions to prevent overcrowding. Learn more about our rezoning process and stay tuned for ways to engage this fall.

Your printed Cville Schools calendar will be in the mail soon! The calendar features school holidays and key dates, and it’s also a family handbook to answer many of your start-of-year questions. Want to see a sneak peak? Find a PDF here.

We use ParentSquare to send division, school, and class notices (and more). Download the free app on Apple or Google Play. If you log in to the web interface or use the app, you’ll have “all things school” in one central place. Note: new students get added to our systems within a few days of turning in all required identification documents.

In Cville Schools, we will maintain our current cell phone policy of “off and away the entire day” as we begin the school year. In September, Virginia will provide draft K-12 guidance and resources about cell phones. The state is hosting listening sessions now. Find details about the state's events here.

In collaboration with UVA, Buford is now an "Innovation Hub" lab school. This year will be the program’s soft-launch for 7th graders. Students will undertake comprehensive, interdisciplinary projects designed to provide practical experience and exposure to various industries. Learn more about Innovation Hub plans.

Last night was the first School Board meeting of the year (they are typically on the first Thursday of the month at 5pm at the CHS media center). You can attend in person, via Zoom, on @CvilleSchools Facebook, or watch later on YouTube. Speakers can attend in person or via Zoom.

Read the Mini-Minutes from last night here. One item of note is that CHS principal Dr. Justin Malone discussed new safety procedures, ranging from better door monitoring to e-hall passes to the first of our bathroom renovations (with all-gender, single-staff restrooms). View the slides to learn more.

As part of the Board’s earlier request for an evaluation of our current safety model, the division has posted a request for proposals for professional services to assist with an audit. The next update on this process will be at a Board work session in October.

Interested in future meetings? Community members can sign up to receive notices of School Board meetings. Staff and Cville Schools families automatically receive notices.

Felicidades to CHS teacher Tina Vasquez, who traveled to Costa Rica as part of a fellowship via the Fund for Teachers!

The Daily Progress named Martin Braun the Central Virginia Boys Soccer Coach of the Year after CHS won the state championship!

This year's division winners of a Shannon Grant for Excellence in Public Education are:

This school year we will start using a 10-point grading scale at Walker, Buford, and CHS. We will also continue transitioning grades 6–12 to standards-based grading, a system that documents students’ mastery and understanding of a class’s core skills and learning standards. Learn more at charlottesvilleschools.org/grading.

We're making good progress on hiring, but we (and the City’s Pupil Transit department) still have open positions.  

And CATEC now stands for “Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center.” Summit’s mascot will remain the Bees. Trailblazer’s new mascot will be the Eagles.

The school name review process will resume in the fall. The goal is to identify new names for Burnley-Moran and Johnson, and to begin the review process for our final two schools, Jackson-Via and Greenbrier. Stay tuned for more info.