Racial disparities in Charlottesville’s and Albemarle County’s gifted education programs have come under intense scrutiny in recent months. Leaders of both school divisions say they are pursuing changes to make the programs more inclusive and fair to all students and perhaps affect statewide policy. While about 12 percent of white students in Albemarle County currently […]
Author Archives: Josh Mandell
Josh Mandell graduated from Yale in 2016 and has been recognized by the Virginia Press Association with five awards for education writing, health, science and environmental writing and multimedia reporting.
Posted inGovernment and public institutions
Months after renaming comments, Cale’s Albemarle schools legacy still unclear
After learning about a 1956 article in Commentary magazine that ascribed racist statements to former Albemarle schools Superintendent Paul H. Cale, the namesake of Cale Elementary School, the School Board directed Superintendent Matt Haas to begin a review of the names of county schools and determine if any are “inconsistent with the division’s values.”
Posted inUncategorized
Charlottesville School Board to consider three applicants for interim appointment
A former city councilor, an author of a book about early childhood parenting and a former city School Board member have applied for an interim appointment to the Charlottesville School Board. Last week, Charlottesville City Schools received applications from: Ned Michie, an attorney who served on the Charlottesville School Board from 2004-2017 Kristin Szakos, a […]
Posted inUncategorized
Downtown businesses briefed on planned tech center
The team behind the Center of Developing Entrepreneurs gave the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville a briefing on the mixed-use project at the group’s annual meeting.
Posted inUncategorized
Albemarle School Board to discuss dress code changes
The Albemarle County School Board will soon discuss whether to ban Confederate imagery from its student dress code. School Board member Katrina Callsen suggested including the topic in the agenda for an upcoming meeting at end of the board’s budget work session Thursday evening. “I think we need to discuss a ban on the Confederate […]
Posted inOur neighborhoods
Big apartment complex planned for Seminole Square
A vacant grocery store in the Seminole Square shopping center eventually could be replaced by hundreds of new apartments. The Charlottesville Planning Commission on Tuesday gave feedback on design concepts for an apartment complex on the former site of the Giant Food store. Great Eastern Management Co., which manages Seminole Square, has proposed constructing 11 […]
Posted inUncategorized
School Board supportive of living wage proposal
The superintendent of Charlottesville City Schools wants to pay all of the division’s employees a living wage next year. At a School Board budget work session Saturday morning, Rosa Atkins shared a preliminary budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 that would establish a minimum hourly wage of $15 for custodial and nutritional staff and instructional […]
Posted inUncategorized
Haas requests $194.3M for Albemarle schools’ budget
Albemarle County Public Schools superintendent Matt Haas presented the School Board with a $194.3 million budget request Thursday. The plan represents a 4 percent increase from the current school year. With revenues projected to grow by only 3.7 percent, to $193.7 million, the school system is predicting a deficit of $642,975. The requested budget would […]
Posted inUncategorized
Planned data science school backed by largest ever gift to UVa
The University of Virginia plans to use the largest private gift in the institution’s history to establish a school of data science. “There’s no doubt that our future will be shaped by how we use data and how we allow it to be used,” UVa President Jim Ryan said. “To really take advantage of this […]
Posted inUncategorized
Walker students vote on uses for $6,000 grant
Three months ago, the sixth grade at Charlottesville’s Walker Upper Elementary School was presented with an exciting question: How would you use $6,000 to make your school better? On Wednesday evening, Walker held a schoolwide referendum on 15 potential uses that were put forth by the sixth-grade class. A proposal to organize basketball and soccer […]
