VOTE411 Voter Guide

As your new School Board member from the Samuel Miller District, I promise to be practical and thoughtful and listen to parents, taxpayers, teachers and the broader community to understand their concerns and act on them. As a former journalist, I will ask tough questions of administrators, in public, and hold them to account. I won’t get all A’s, probably, but I will do my homework.

I will prioritize hiring and retaining the most qualified teachers in the Commonwealth. I worry about low morale and want to give them the time and resources to do their job well, deal with unruly students and share new ideas, in the most up-to-date, uncrowded facilities possible. There is one thing that unites Americans in this divisive time, regardless of hometown. Most of us have a favorite teacher or coach. They are the backbone of public education and deserve our respect and support. Class sizes need to remain small and ACPS needs to continue strategies to fight chronic absenteeism. Administrators from Central Office should listen to teachers, communicate strategy with clarity and transparency and spend more time in our schools.

ACPS also need to up its game in literacy and math. We should all be happy to see new reading and math curricula in our school, such as HMH Into Reading. But teachers and parents need time and support to learn the new material. As an ACPS parent, I’m no fan of the importance placed on state SOL tests, but they are the best gauge of how all our students are performing academically. ACPS scores on the new, tougher SOLs are steady, but not stellar, and there are yawning disparities between income groups in the county. We need to end the soft discrimination of low expectations and give our students a high-quality, relevant, challenging education to live a positive, productive life.

Visiting schools in the Samuel Miller District, I’m always impressed getting to know teachers, many with advanced degrees, who are true experts in their field and who love and cherish their students. Some good teachers leave the crowded urban counties around DC to find a better quality of life in Albemarle, especially if they have kids, and we need to continue to recruit teachers from around Virginia and the mid-Atlantic.

Luckily, about 87% of teachers stay at ACPS today, and the number of teachers who are retiring or resigning is going down, post-pandemic. By far, most of the ACPS budget pays for salaries and benefits. This budget cycle, ACPS spent $6.5 million to give teachers a 3% raise. Such increases should continue in the fiscal years to come if the budget supports it. I’m glad that new medical clinics for Albemarle County staff and teachers are now open as a strategy to trim increasing health care costs (up 25%.) The clinics are a welcome recruiting tool in themselves. Virginia ranks 26th in teacher pay, below the national average, and that needs to change.

As a union member myself (SAG-AFTRA), I support collective bargaining and believe that it gives teachers a positive voice in the workplace. However, some teachers tell me they are close to burnout. ACPS must listen to and trust their teachers and give them the time to teach, along with effective use of TAs and a new effort to recruit substitutes from the ranks of experienced, retired educators.

The School Board’s greatest responsibility is the strategy, vision and direction of ACPS, not day-to-day operations. Right now, the Board’s mission for ACPS is something I agree with and will fight for: learning FOR ALL, meaning every student, no matter where they live or their family income, should have the same opportunities and support to thrive and graduate. The idea is to put an end to the unfortunate realization that, today, too many students of color, or those with special needs, struggle in class and on their state SOL scores.

In reading, 88% of white ACPS students passed the 24-25 SOL, while only 47% of Black students passed. There is a persistent achievement gap, for many years, and just wishful thinking won’t make it go away. It certainly helps that there is a new bell-to-bell “no phones” policy in place at ACPS, and that should always be there as technology changes. Kids can’t pay attention and learn with Instagram or Snapchat in the background.

We should also commend the ACPS current strategy to try and close the achievement gap: strong instruction with relevant materials, interventions in literacy and math (including tutoring and summer school), and a renewed effort to fight absenteeism. Those strategies need to continue. But we can and should do more by getting feedback from teachers and parents, especially in communities of color, to understand why some students fall behind and what can be done now so they succeed academically.

With new growth at Rivanna Station, the possibility of a new AstraZeneca pharmaceutical plant and new housing development in the urban ring (eleven thousand new housing units projected), ACPS now projects K-12 enrollment to grow by nearly 1,100 students (or 7.8%) in the next ten years. Clearly, the School Board must solve this overcrowding dilemma before 2035. And when it comes to new construction, renovation or redistricting, the Board should heed the wise counsel of principals, teachers, parents and financial and demographic experts.

ACPS should continue to work closely and transparently with the Board of Supervisors (which approves overall school funding) and increase Capital Improvement (CIP) spending on school renovations and improvements to benefit county taxpayers, employers and economic growth. For the future, ACPS has choices. The Board must listen to what the Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee recommends. The system can keep and expand the cheaper High School Center Model (called ACE), expand existing schools with additions or design and build a brand-new high school in the Northern Feeder Pattern, likely off Seminole Trail.

A new school would solve overcrowding as AHS and I would support it if it made financial sense (and school improvements are a priority statewide after the November elections.) The cost for a new school is huge- $110- $200 million or more. But there are promising public-private partnerships to explore. These partnerships have been successful and saved money in other cities, such as Falls Church. It’s also probable that the General Assembly and Governor will allow Albemarle to pass a one percent sales tax increase to fund new school construction (an earlier school bond referendum passed overwhelmingly) adding $26 million or more per year to our infrastructure budget. Albemarle families can’t wait much longer as schools age and get more congested.

I’ve met several ACPS bus drivers who live and drive in the rural parts of Samuel Miller and all of them, without a doubt, are pros at what they do. They love the job, their students, and take pride being the first kind smile a student sees in the morning (after their parents or caregivers of course.) Albemarle is the sixth largest county by area in the Commonwealth and is always a tough challenge for busses and schedules, especially in winter weather. It takes an experienced, well-compensated, well-trained team to traverse the 14,000 miles on often winding county roads.

ACPS transportation needs to be safe, reliable and efficient. Unfortunately, in past years, ACPS has let down families with unreliable bus schedules. Too often, there were no busses at all to serve their neighborhood. That seems to be fixed. On the Board, I would make it a priority to attract and retain the best drivers, schedulers and techs and treat them well with competitive compensation and benefits. In the future, we should also find the money to replace old busses, where needed. ACPS should also continue to establish and publicize safe walk zones around our schools for families who live near them.