October 19, 2016
Dear families—
What a start we’ve had for the school year! We’ve hosted visits from the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Governor! Our programs and teachers have already won awards and grants. We’ve opened a student-run credit union branch at CHS, and we’ve jumped into a season of fine arts performances by both our students and visiting professionals. We’re off to a smooth start, with more exciting events to come. Read on for practical information and for highlights from these first weeks of school.
–Dr. Rosa S. Atkins
Division-Wide News
Remember, there will be no school for students on October 28, November 7, and November 8 for professional learning or teacher workdays. Some schools will hold parent-teacher conferences on November 7.
Charlottesville Schools Superintendent Rosa Atkins was named one of two national finalists for the Women in School Leadership Award for Superintendents, sponsored by the School Superintendents Association and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Thanks to all the United Way Day of Caring volunteers who helped in our gardens, classrooms, and more on September 21!
Did your student enjoy Farm-to-School Week? (Thanks, City Schoolyard Garden and the Local Food Hub!) If you would like to help our schools make these sorts of efforts more of a year-round reality, consider joining a new parent group that will work with the schools as part of a grant from the health department. The first meeting is Monday, October 24, at 7 PM (location TBD), and you can learn more by joining their Facebook group.
CHS News
The CHS Marching Knights received an invitation to perform in the London London’s New Year’s Day Parade & Festival in 2018. Schools are vetted before invitations to the largest New Year’s event in the world. It will be the band’s first international trip!
The band is also enjoying a strong marching season, most recently earning 1st place Percussion, 1st place Music, and 1st place class AAA at the Midlothian High School Showcase of Bands. On October 29 at 2pm, they will host their annual Cavalcade competition, a great chance to see and hear top bands from across the state.
CHS earned top honors (again) as a w!se Blue Star school for financial literacy, and the schools’s three economics and personal finance teachers also earned top honors as Yellow Star teachers. Congratulations to our students and teachers Meagan Maynard, Deb Tewksbury, and Yumeka Webb-Jordan!
CHS history teacher Zach Bullock was named one of 50 worldwide “flipped ambassadors” by the Flipped Learning Global Initiative. In flipped classrooms (used by a number of teachers at CHS and in other Charlottesville schools), teachers typically present “lectures” via brief video presentations that students watch as homework. That leaves class time for activities, solving problems, and the opportunity to ask questions of teachers or classmates.
Congrats to Caleb Rose and Stella Sokolowski, just named to the All-State Jazz Ensemble. Only 40 are selected from across Virginia! And 15 CHS Orchestra members were selected for the 2015 South Central Senior Regional Orchestra!
Elizabeth Bambury and Rachael Inlow took advantage of a Jefferson-Madison Regional Library program, listening in English & español to acclaimed Chilean poet Christian Formoso. iMuy bien!
Knightingales Brianna Ramirez, Rebecca Sutphin, Casey Casarez, and Kiana Anderson were invited to sing with the UVA Women’s Chorus in a benefit concert for SARA (the Sexual Assault Resource Agency of Charlottesville).
Signs of diversity– photography students have hung an exhibition of their images of CHS students and staff in the atrium. Part of the national Inside Out project, the images showcase the beauty and diversity of our students. In addition, a new Latino Student Association has formed and has held events at CHS to promote an appreciation for Latino cultures.
Francis MacCall and Naia Fairchild, who has down syndrome, served as king and queen of homecoming. In March 2015, Naia and her mother offered the keynote address to the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress.
Art I and art II classes visited Ix Art Park to work with local artist Chicho Lorenzo. Students cut stencils and spray-painted their designs on canvas and around the Art Park.
CHS and Buford students explored how businesses use technology in Charlottesville’s annual CBIC Tech Tour.
Human Bio field trip Health Sciences library at UVA this morning to get access to scientific articles using the UVA databases. The kids were helped by several mentors from the Med school.
French exchange program Besancon
come learn how the latest brain research can make learning easier! Tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:30 in the media center.
Walker and Buford News
Buford Middle School enjoyed another successful Harvest Festival, celebrating the school’s amazing garden and building community. Thanks to City Schoolyard Garden for their leadership!
Buford students and their U.Va. mentors collected more than 2,000 pounds of food for the Blue Ridge Area Food bank through their involvement with the Young Women Leader Program.
Buford engineering students recently made a presentation at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum to teach national leaders from education, technology, science, history, & math about the school’s innovative engineering partnership with U.Va, the Smithsonian, and other partners.
CHS and Buford students explored how businesses use technology in Charlottesville’s annual CBIC Tech Tour.
Buford history students have been doing some hands-on learning about life on the Great Plains, delivering wheat to the market and building a sod houses.
Ready for the fall foliage? Walker art students beat nature to the punch by creating beautiful leaf-inspired art.
Sixth-grader Jin Pickering’s recently used a lemonade stand to raise money to feed the homeless through the Haven, tripling his goal!
Walker CLASS students played “Human Hungry Hippos” to end a great week!
The Walker Upper Elementary School Family extends an invitation to all current 4th graders and their families (and any CCS families, for that matter) to attend Bingo Night on Wednesday, November 16 at 5:30pm.
As part of our new iSTEM program to build a bride to the engineering programs at Buford and CHS, Walker students recently measured their soil components for their green roof project.
Elementary News
Thanks to the Special Education Advisory Committee for organizing a September ice cream social to help build community and support for our families in the special education program!
The Walker Upper Elementary School Family extends an invitation to all current 4th graders and their families (and any CCS families, for that matter) to attend Bingo Night on Wednesday, November 16 at 5:30pm.
City fourth-graders have been on the go, between their annual science field trip to Camp Albemarle and their field trip Cabell hall to hear the the Charlottesville Youth Orchestra’s superhero-themed performance.
City Schools enjoyed special foods, visitors (including chickens and goats), plus time in the garden during Farm-to-School Week. Thanks to City Schoolyard Garden and Local Food Hub for organizing, and thanks also to Casa Alma and Caromount Farms for time with feathered and furry friends!
Students are heading to U.Va.’s Fralin Museum to brainstorm ideas for the museum’s annual competition of writing inspired by art.
More community helpers visit our our elementary schools! First, it’s “Lunch with a Cop,” when police officers visit schools at lunchtime, sometimes accompanied by McGruff the Crime Dog. Now, the Charlottesville Fire Department is making visits to teach home safety tips. Sometimes they even bring a fire truck to recess for “show and tell.” Thanks to all!
Thanks to @UVa_Football for visiting the students we serve in the UVA hospital ed program. @uvahealthnews
You’ve got mail! Burnley-Moran Bobcats have been writing and receiving letters from their senior pen pals at JABA’s Mary Williams Community Senior Center. In addition, their artwork is on display at the Welcome Gallery as part of art teacher Ryan Trott’s exhibition of his works inspired by children’s art.
Clark preschool teacher Pat Barbara was published in The Mailbox, a newsletter of tips and best practices for educators. Our preschool makes a difference near & far! And after reading the novel Rules, fourth-graders invited the school’s occupational therapist, Lydia Cornejo, to the class to answer their questions and make connections to the book.
You’ve heard of taste-testing some new foods, but how about taste-testing some new books? Greenbrier fourth-graders rotated through stations hosted by “chef” and teacher Ms. Kumar. And ESL students took turns reading to a therapy dog that visited the class. The school’s reading night is coming up on November 10.
NBC news visited Jackson-Via for the visit of Alice the Goat during Farm-to-School Week, and students, staff, and PTO volunteers are gearing up for spirit week, which concludes with their annual Rocktoberfest event, with a potluck, games, and more.
Johnson’s “Donuts with Dads” event overflowed from the cafeteria into the hallways with students plus their dads, uncles, friends, and grandfathers (not to mention some moms who wanted to be part of the fun, too). In addition to breakfast, students received a book to keep. Another day, guest/mom/Walker teacher Ms. Rasnake visited the school to offer a hands-on activity exploring density.
Venable’s back-to-school night had some new leaders in charge this year — the students. The new student-led format will also be a feature of the school’s spring parent-teacher conferences, thanks to a grant from the Shannon Foundation.
School Board Update
At their October meeting, the Board approved the calendar for developing the 2017-18 budget and the membership lists of advisory committees. The Board also heard reports about the after-school CLASS program as well as the new extended day program for selected elementary students who need assistance with literacy. The Board discussed capital improvements as well as the schools’ annual indicators of success.
For details or other reports, visit our electronic schoolboard, accessible via our web site.
Register here to receive notices of future Board meetings. We livestream at ustream.com.
Upcoming Events
Upcoming events include:
Last Day of First Quarter, October 27
Teacher Workday (no school for students), October 28
Cavalcade, the CHS Marching Knights’ annual band competition, October 29, CHS Athletic Stadium, 2pm. Tickets at gate.
School Board Meeting, November 3, 5pm, CHS Media Center
Teacher Workday/Parent Conferences at some schools (no school for students), November 7
Buford Engineering Night, 6pm
Professional Learning Day (no school for students), November 8
Bingo Night at Walker (4th-graders invited), November 16, 5:30pm
Buzz-by-Belmont Clark 5K, November 19, 9am. All families welcome! Details here.
CHS Band Kicks off the Schools’ Fall-Winter Concert Season, 7pm, MLKPAC
Thanksgiving Break, November 23-25
Remember that you can subscribe to our Google calendar of school holidays and as well as Google calendars for school-specific events. Instructions are at charlottesvilleschoools.org/calendar.
View previous editions of the Superintendent Message.