Local News
Area residents voice bus stop, summer school concerns; School Board adds snow make-up days
Two residents asked the Warren County School Board to improve specific supports for students and board members voted unanimously during their Wednesday, March 4 meeting to add three days of instruction to the school calendar to make up for recent snow days.
The School Board also received a new update on the COVID-19 mitigation health plan for Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) regarding social-emotional learning and supports.
WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger updates Board on the vaccination rates in the school system.
During the board’s community participation portion of its meeting, Noel Williams of Front Royal, Va., voiced concerns to the School Board about elementary school students who have fallen behind during the ongoing pandemic.
Williams wanted to know how the students would be supported by WCPS to catch up on their education, explaining that she has two grandnephews in second grade and another in first grade who are “doing pretty good in science, but their math and their reading, they are falling behind on. How are we going to catch these kids up in these grade levels?”
Williams said the children also have missed a lot of school due to snow and asked if there was consideration being given to summer school.
WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger said there will be summer school this year. “We’ve also encouraged parents to continue to work with the principals at each of the schools to bring students in on additional days or on Wednesdays for remediation or extra individual tutoring sessions,” Ballenger told her. “So, we do have plans in place, and we are working toward summer school.”
Another resident, Pernille Brandt of Linden, Va., told School Board members that she and neighbors nearby her Apple Mountain residence recently “got a lovely letter telling us that our bus stop was being moved.”
Brandt decided to drive her car to where the new stop is located and told the board members that her children, a fifth grader, and a high school freshman, would have to walk 3.3 miles to get to it. If they walk another route to the same bus stop — walking under the overpass to 66 and down 55 to Dismal Hollow Road — Brandt said, “it will only take them 48 minutes and it’s two-and-a-half miles.”
“I am lucky, I can drive my kids to school, but there are kids on that mountain that are not that lucky,” added Brandt, who said she thinks part of this change is designed to push back against Apple Mountain residents who urged the Warren County Board of Supervisors against approving a new Sheetz in the area.
“I want you guys to think about keeping our kids safe,” Brandt said. “I’m really surprised how little our kids’ safety matters. There are going to be kids that are walking an hour and 10 minutes to get to the bus. That’s really not okay.”
In response to a query today from the Royal Examiner, Superintendent Ballenger wrote in an email that WCPS has “provided a temporary solution and we are working to find a permanent solution for the students and families of Apple Mountain.”
Ballenger added that as the school division reviews the bus stop, “we must ensure that it is a safe stop and that we are not placing students in danger when loading and unloading the bus.”
Action agenda
Following a lengthy discussion largely centered on inconveniencing families and students during Spring Break, School Board Chairman Arnold Williams Jr., Vice Chairwoman Catherine Bower, and members Ralph Rinaldi, Kristen Pence, and James Wells voted unanimously to approve a recommendation by WCPS to revise its 2020-2021 School Calendar and change Monday, April 5;
Friday, April 30; and Friday, June 18, 2021, to school days.
Due to the number of days and the number of hours in the division’s current school calendar, WCPS needed to adjust its calendar to make up for three missed snow days on December 17, February 1, and February 18. All other inclement weather days were scheduled as virtual learning days, said WCPS Assistant Superintendent for Administration Melody Sheppard.
State policy requires the length of the school year to be 180 teaching days or 990 teaching hours and requires the first five days be made up if inclement weather results in the closing of schools. The WCPS 2020-2021 School Calendar did not have built-in days for inclement weather, Sheppard said.
With the calendar update, April 5 will be a virtual school day while the other two dates will be in-person instruction. “There’s really no great solution,” Sheppard said.
School Board members also voted unanimously to approve the purchase of 920 units of the 2020 Virginia Into Literature Comprehensive Student Resource Package with Hardcover Student Edition Prints from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt at a cost of $135,766.93.
The purchase of the package is for grades nine through 12 and will finish K-12 English textbook purchases, said WCPS Director of Secondary Instruction Alan Fox. The purchase also will allow digital access for six years. “Our schedule will allow two students to use the same license in one year, so it is not necessary to purchase a digital license for every student,” Fox added.
Board members also unanimously approved the appointment of K-12 science textbook adoption committees, which are:
Elementary Science Textbook Adoption Committee Members
Course Representatives
Science K – Kaitlyn Tharp, Holly Gardner, Amy Plauger, Melissa Hanscome, Jessica Ashwood
Science 1 – Carey Brogan, Felicia Warner, Chris Seiders, Amanda Litwin, Jennifer Reinhard
Science 2 – Cathy Harron, Lori Abbott, Anna Wadas, Katie Mullen, Amber Walker
Science 3 – Kelly Mitchell, Nicole Stevens, Samantha Donaghy, Lauren Vice, Bernadette West
Science 4 – Faith Falkenstein, Tiffany Swanson, Rebecca Hutson Hodge, Amber Ring, Whitney Dinkle, Justyne Louck
Science 5 – Stephanie Gibb, Kaitlyn Tuttle, Eileen Willett, Cheri Morris, Debra Curtis, Sara Kenney, Laurel Gilliom, Julie Besecker, Natalie Fetty
Others – Lisa Rudacille (Director of Elementary Instruction), Justin Maffei (STEM Coordinator), Jennifer Cameron (Dean EWM), Lori Layman (Principal ASR)
Secondary Science Textbook Adoption Committee Members
Course Representatives
Science 6 – Cindy Rutherford, Emma Vanderlinden
Life Science – Melissa Lucas, Emma Vanderlinden
Physical Science – Robin Jensen, Jen Davis
Bio 2: Ecology – Brian Cantwell
Earth Science – Jim Kenney, Debbie Cheek, deLyn Alumbaugh
Earth Sci 2: – Astronomy Stephanie Scriva, DeLyn Alumbaugh
Physics – Stephen Rinker, Ken Castor
Others – Alan Fox (Director of Secondary Instruction) and Justin Maffei (STEM Coordinator)
Other notable items
WCPS Special Services Director Michael Hirsch provided the School Board with the division’s updated COVID-19 Mitigation Health Plan Phase III, which was revised this month and does not vary significantly from Phase II of the plan.
Hirsch pointed out that significant resources have been allocated to support the division’s Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Initiative.
According to the Phase III plan: “Our current SEL teacher will be collaborating with our school social workers and trauma coach to ensure staff and students are supported. This support includes linkage to community-based mental health supports who currently partner with WCPS, as well as direct support to students and staff.
“In addition, out-patient counselors will be available in each middle and high school to meet the additional mental health challenges the pandemic has created,” the plan says. “These supports will begin March 15, 2021. Private Insurance, as well as Medicaid, can be used to access these supports.”
“The social-emotional learning of both students and staff has been impacted by the pandemic” and extra supports are needed, Hirsch told the School Board, adding that out-patient counseling remains available for students with parental consent after March 15. Support is being offered confidentially to meet mental health needs, he said.
A few changes to the pandemic mitigation plan that begins when students return from Spring Break on March 15 is that students will sit one per seat on the school bus unless they are siblings, and face coverings will be worn at all times. If one student per seat cannot be done, an additional face shield or mask may be worn as appropriate, according to the plan.
For elementary schools, the expectation that staff and students wear face coverings when six feet of social distancing cannot be maintained has been removed. The plan states: “Face coverings will be required in classrooms for all grade levels, even while distanced 6-feet apart while recognizing developmentally appropriate protocol and extenuating circumstances. Face coverings should not be placed on young children under the age of two, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to remove facial covering without assistance. In addition to this guidance, face coverings will be encouraged.”
For other changes, read the plan in its entirety here.
School Board members also received an update from Ted Cole, a representative from Warren County’s financial advisor, Davenport & Company, LLC, on the County’s interest in refinancing part of the existing 2014 Virginia Public School Authority (VPSA) Bonds through the 2021 VPSA Spring Pool.
There is no cost or direct savings to the School Board as the County currently makes the payment for these bonds, Cole said, and while no motion was necessary at the Wednesday meeting, the School Board will be asked to adopt a resolution at its March 17 meeting supporting the refinancing of these bonds. The Warren County Board of Supervisors also will be considering a similar resolution at their March 16 meeting, said Cole.
Additionally, the Skyline High School Wrestling Team received recognition during the meeting for capping off what Ballenger called an “impressive season” during the 2020-2021 Virginia High School League (VHSL) Class 3 State Championship, finishing the season as Northwestern District Class 3, Region 3B Champions, and the Class 3 state runner-up.
Kyle Symons, the head wrestling coach, said 11 out of 14 starters will return next year.
The Hawks had three team members win individual state titles and seven others finished in the top 5 and earned all-state honors. The team’s 2nd place finish in the state is the highest any team at Skyline High School has achieved, according to Ballenger.
Bill Cupp, Skyline’s athletic director, introduced wrestlers and Skyline coaches to the board and the student-athletes brought along their trophies. Kyle Symons, the head wrestling coach, said 11 out of 14 starters will return next year.
The board adjourned a little after 8 p.m. on Wednesday and went into a closed session regarding a personnel issue.
