WILLIAMSBURG — Williamsburg and James City County officials said last week that they remain open to having a joint school system, but county officials want an answer soon as to what direction their city counterparts are leaning.
Following a move by the city more than a year ago to study a school system split and the county’s subsequent termination of their joint contract, the Williamsburg-James City County school system is on target to separate prior to the 2028-29 school year.
But now, county officials want to know by Oct. 1 whether the city has at least a preference.
“The apparent lack of an anticipated decision date is causing unnecessary concern in the community and is hindering the county’s ability to adequately plan for a separation,” Ruth Larson, chair of the county Board of Supervisors, wrote in an Aug. 12 letter to Williamsburg Mayor Doug Pons.
Williamsburg City Council voted in June 2023 to begin exploring the feasibility of splitting the school system, which has been run jointly since 1955. Consultants hired by the city to study the issue found that a split would cost millions and disrupt thousands of students. The study also revealed a stark difference in achievement levels between city and county students.
Following an update at last Thursday’s City Council meeting, the city said in a news release it anticipated that “both localities will keep planning for what individual school districts could look like, while also working to potentially remain united.” Research continues by looking at joint operating models that govern other school divisions in and outside of Virginia, the release said.
Looking at those other joint divisions, along with their funding mechanisms, should provide the city and county with “the ability to collaborate on a potentially modernized joint operating structure that better serves both communities should the decision be made to remain in the current joint school district.”
The city said it’s aware of the need for finality.
“The council is anxious to resolve this issue and look forward to making the best decision possible for Williamsburg students and the overall community in the months ahead,” the city’s statement read.
James City County leaders, however, responded that the city’s intention “remains as unclear as the day it was released.” As of now, the county is planning to hold public meetings next month as part of its own study assessing the feasibility of operating a separate school system.
If a school split were to occur, roughly 1,100 students in a Williamsburg system would attend one of three schools — Matthew Whaley, Berkeley or a newly converted James Blair High School. It would mean the displacement of more than 600 students and likely require the construction of a new middle school.
A split would cost city taxpayers more per student than the existing arrangement with James City County. Then there’s also the matter of staffing, splitting up buses, equipment and other property and how to make student transitions.
Worrisome to both localities through the process has been findings showing that Williamsburg students have been falling behind in some academic areas. In July, the WJCC School Board responded to the city’s request for an action plan regarding student performance in part by pointing out that the underperforming numbers could also be a result of the learning loss that all schools saw after the pandemic, especially among vulnerable groups.
“That is precisely why tremendous efforts have been made day in and day out by our dedicated administrators, teachers and staff to make up for the learning loss that is evident in your study,” school board Chair Sarah Ortego wrote in her July 26 response. “The fruit of these efforts are just now coming to bear and more is expected in the coming months as we enter the next school year and beyond. These efforts and results simply cannot be captured by viewing one post-pandemic year of data that is now two years old.”
The school board’s letter further noted that the schools are already seeing improvement, particularly in Standards of Learning scores and other standardized assessments. In addition, the school board is still in the process of honing its strategic plan despite the “uncertainty of our school division’s future,” Ortego said.
“Rest assured, the academic growth and personal success of every child is paramount for our teachers, staff, and administrators, and we trust in their capacity to deliver,” Ortego’s letter added.
The Board of Supervisors is open to renegotiating a contract that more fairly distributes cost, representation and “provides an excellent educational system for the our students,” the county’s statement said.
According to Larson, agreeing to a new contract could take several months, but that the localities could have a new contract in place by Dec. 31. “To that end,” she wrote in her letter to Pons, “we stand ready and willing to enter into negotiations with you on October 2, 2024.”
The city’s feasibility study, along with other documents, can be viewed at williamsburgva.gov/feasibilitystudy.
Kim O’Brien Root, kimberly.root@virginiamedia.com
