Warren County School Board resets school-start date for Aug. 27

The ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Warren County School Board to set a new start date for the 2020-2021 academic school year, which will begin on Thursday, August 27 for students attending Warren County Public Schools (WCPS).

Division administrators have until August 5 to finalize plans for exactly what school will look like this fall, according to WCPS Superintendent Chris Ballenger, who led discussions during the School Board’s three-hour special meeting on Wednesday, July 22 in Front Royal, Virginia.

WCPS Superintendent Chris Ballenger leads the discussions during the School Board’s three-hour special meeting on Wednesday, July 22 in Front Royal, Va.

The School Board voted unanimously — with aye votes from Chairman Arnold Williams Jr., Vice Chairwoman Catherine Bower, and members James Wells, Kristen Pence, and Ralph Rinaldi in attendance — to heed advice from Assistant Superintendent Melody Sheppard to set the first day of school for August 27 rather than August 11.

The later start date will allow more time for new and returning teachers to partake in professional development that will prepare them for duties during what is expected to continue to be a pandemic-impacted school year.

The School Board’s vote also set the last day of school for June 8, 2021. The existing school calendar had the last day scheduled for June 4, 2021.

Sheppard explained that the WCPS Calendar Committee, which comprises one teacher from each school and possibly an administrator, got together earlier this month and made the recommendations for changing the school year start date.

Assistant Superintendent Melody Sheppard suggests the first day of school for August 27 rather than August 11.

New teachers will come on August 3-7 for orientation and professional development. All teachers will return for professional development on August 12-21.

“We took all the teacher workdays out of the first part of the school year and front-loaded them so that WCPS would have the opportunity to give our teachers the professional development that they need in order to be successful this school year,” Sheppard said.

“I like the extra training on the front end because that’s really where you’re going to need it with all this shifting around and virtual learning,” said Rinaldi, who represents the Shenandoah District.

Parent training opportunities and back-to-school events are scheduled for August 24, 25, and 26, according to the new calendar, giving local citizens the chance to meet teachers and administrators, and learn about the student curriculums.

Also during those dates, parents will be able to learn how to use the technology that WCPS will utilize during any virtual learning that will be scheduled for the upcoming academic year, said Sheppard.

In fact, all weather make-up days will become virtual learning days this school year, which now lasts only a few days longer than the original end date, a change that Williams said is “a big win for everybody.”

“Pushing the school year back will allow us a little more time to get prepared for the new school year and will give us the opportunity to get our teachers well-informed and well-prepared to deliver new instruction,” Sheppard explained.

Bower moved to accept the new school year calendar with a second made by Rinaldi.

“It’s going to be tough on everybody in our school system this entire year to make sure all of our students are educated,” said Williams, who added that he realizes how difficult it has been for WCPS administrators to rework the calendar, among other challenges.

“And I don’t think it’s going to get any easier this year,” he said. “The bottom line is that we have to take care of our students and our staff.”

The fully revised WCPS 2020-2021 School Year Calendar is available online at: https://www.wcps.k12.va.us/images/DOCUMENTS/Community/Revised_2020-2021_School_Calendar.pdf.

In the only other action agenda item during last night’s School Board meeting, members unanimously approved WCPS joining the Comprehensive Instructional Program (CIP), a consortium of public school divisions in Virginia working collaboratively to improve student achievement as measured by Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments.

Ballenger explained that the CIP is designed to help instructors by providing them with activities and assessments that are highly aligned to Virginia’s Curriculum Frameworks in content and rigor.

“These resources have been submitted by teachers who have demonstrated superior performance as evidenced by their students’ scores on Virginia’s SOL assessments,” he said, adding that the CIP also analyzes data across the consortium to identify successful schools and divisions and share their practices with other consortium members.

Currently, the consortium consists of all school divisions in Region VII and Region VIII, as well as individual school divisions, such as Botetourt, Alleghany, Nelson, Page, Shenandoah, Essex, King and Queen, Waynesboro City, Danville, and Colonial Heights.

The cost of the CIP is $10,744 annually and Ballenger said WCPS will fund it through instruction and by absorbing an administrative position.

Bower made the motion to accept WCPS joining the CIP, with a second by Wells.

The bulk of the three-hour meeting was spent reviewing the draft WCPS 2020-2021 Reopening Plan, which included four options that will be provided in an upcoming survey to be distributed to the community for input.

The first three options presented last night included variations on in-school learning for different grade levels on alternating days combined with some virtual learning.

Three of the options would make Wednesday a remote learning day for ALL students so that deep cleaning may be performed at all the schools and on all the buses to help sanitize against the spread of the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fourth option would set all instruction at all grade levels to be delivered remotely for the first quarter of the school year.

Regarding the Blue Ridge Technology Center, WCPS is exploring various options for instruction and plans to release more information closer to the start of school.

Likewise, online instruction for students attending Mountain Vista Governor’s School will begin on August 10, with plans to add in-person instruction in September after school divisions have established both instructional and transportation schedules, according to the reopening plan.

Students receiving special education services may include increased time for face-to-face learning and/or direct instruction, as determined by each student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). Instructional delivery will be designed to ensure the least restrictive environment as required by each student’s IEP and IEP teams will review individual student data to determine the need for supplemental instruction, according to the plan.

Students with disabilities also will continue to receive access to instructional materials for use at home, as needed, including assistive technology tools.

Happy Creek District School Board member James Wells thanks the WCPS administrators for working diligently on the available options presented to the Board.

School Board member Wells, who represents the Happy Creek District, thanked the WCPS administrators for working diligently on the available options, which may or may not change before being distributed in a survey for the community’s input. “I know you’ve been burning the midnight oil working on them,” he said.

Bower, who represents the Fork District, said she hasn’t “slept the last few nights just thinking about all of this and how it’s going to happen and I absolutely agree that this K through 3 — and most likely K through 5 — they need to be in the classroom every day. They need the socialization; they need the instruction; you can’t teach reading virtually,” she said.

All students also need the safety of attending school, Bower said. “For many of our students, [school] is the safest place they can be. And they need the two meals a day we offer. I worry about our students that aren’t going to be there five days a week. Are we going to need to address getting meals to them?”

Sheppard said the administrators are working on that now. Transportation schedules also are being devised as part of the plan, as are technology needs, with all WCPS students in grades K-12 being provided with a laptop.

“I would like to see all of our students in school every day for equity reasons,” said Bower, who did not wear her mask during the meeting. “But right now, I don’t see how that’s going to happen.”

A lot of parents are ready for their children to return to school, while others remain uncomfortable with that idea, she said, adding that the School Board has “to find a way to accommodate everybody as best we can.”

Superintendent Ballenger said both transportation and classroom space — which must follow federal and state social distancing guidelines — are affecting decisions for WCPS, which is considering how to utilize the space within the middle schools to also accommodate fifth-graders, for instance. In turn, that idea would make more space available in the elementary schools for social distancing.

“It’s a lot to process,” said Williams, who represents the North River District.

Time is a factor in finalizing the reopening plan, Ballenger acknowledged, adding that there is still a lot of planning that must get done by August 3, when new teachers arrive. “The further we push this off, the more difficult it is to make sure we get all of our ducks in a row,” he said.

“The more students we can get in school, the better, I think, personally,” said Williams, who also wore no mask during the meeting.

The School Board requested that Ballenger put together a survey for the community to respond to the options, which is forthcoming.

The next scheduled School Board meeting is Wednesday, August 5 and it is expected that the School Board will approve a reopening plan then. Once approved, the plan then must be submitted to the Virginia Department of Education.

Watch the entire Warren County School Board meeting on this exclusive Royal Examiner video:

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