CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Tuesday’s town hall meeting with Albemarle County School Board Chair and White Hall representative Dr. Rebecca Berlin and Rivanna representative Judy Le was filled with frustrated and at times emotional parents and teachers urging for more transparency from Albemarle County Public Schools.
The town hall, held at Northside Library for parents and families from Baker-Butler and Hollymead Elementary as well as Lakeside Middle School, was the first since now former Rio representative Jim Dillenbeck held his own at the library on Sept. 30.
That event led to controversy, with Dillenbeck resigning at the behest of his fellow board members the following week, after fellow board members accused him of revealing confidential information. But Dillenbeck’s event did prompt the board to commit to holding more town halls in the future, with ACPS Family Council announcing Tuesday’s event on Oct. 2.
“An important part of our job is to listen to constituents,” Le said afterward. “So because (Dillenbeck) had a controversy around his town hall didn’t mean that what we hear from people is invalid. So, it’s still important for us to do these.”
In contrast to the modest attendance at Dillenbeck’s town hall, Tuesday’s event was packed with teachers and parents, and the meeting itself quickly went off-course.
While parents and teachers were encouraged by Family Council to submit questions ahead of time, which the Family Council committed to publishing afterward along with answers, most of those prepared questions were not addressed, much to the frustration of some parents in attendance.
Instead, Berlin and Le received a number of complaints, with many coming from teachers and parents from Baker-Butler, where Principal John Wheeler has been on leave since late September. In addition, teachers at the meeting shared concern over the fact that Baker-Butler Assistant Principal Tonya Carter was recently put on a “special assignment” to ACPS’s central office for the next 30 days, leaving the school with Assistant Principal Andrea Journell as its lone administrator.
When asked about this assignment, Berlin and Le were unaware of the details, but Le said Acting Superintendent Dr. Chandra Hayes plans to be at the school daily to offer assistance, starting Wednesday.
“Certainly, all the things that we heard tonight, I’ll be following up with Dr. Hayes about,” Le said. “And that’s certainly what our role is, to talk to her about the issues that we hear from the constituents so she can find the solutions.”
As frustrations mounted, Berlin and Le at times were apologetic to those in attendance. Berlin apologized for the division being understaffed in divisions like Special Education and Human Resources.
“All I can say is I’m sorry, and I hear you,” Berlin said. “And one of the things that we are doing as part of what we’re directing Dr. Hayes to do is to say, ‘There are places that we need additional staff ASAP.’ And one of the places is within HR, who, the staff were qualified to do investigations.”
Berlin also mentioned that a rise in leaves is a result of many teachers self-reporting issues to their administrators.
“We have some teachers who are saying … like ‘A child was walking out and I wanted to remind them. I grabbed their hand because I wanted to get their attention. Now I’m afraid that I grabbed their hand and maybe I shouldn’t have done that,'” Berlin said.
That example drew a strong negative reaction from the attendees, as many expressed fear over the increase in leaves and lack of information about them.
“I would hate for one of (my son’s) teachers to go to the principal and be like, ‘Oh, this happened with him,’ and then be on leave,” ACPS teacher and Baker-Butler parent Stefanie Herbert said. She previously mentioned how her son was without a special education teacher for the second time this school year. “… Maybe notify me as a parent if we’re worried about something. It’s just like, ‘Hey, this happened today. Okay, let’s talk about it.’ But can there be more?”
Ultimately, Le and Berlin ended the town hall committing to continue to work with Hayes on a daily basis on making sure each school has the support they need.
This will not be the last time the school board holds one of these events, as another town hall is scheduled for Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at Greer Elementary for families from the school, as well as Journey Middle School and Albemarle High School. Berlin will be in attendance, along with Jack Jouett Representative Dr. Kate Acuff.
Berlin also announced at the beginning of the town hall that there were three applicants for the vacant Rio district school board seat, the post formerly held by Dillenbeck. Since he resigned during his term, the board appoints his replacement. School division spokesperson Jason Grant told Cville Right Now on Monday that the division only had two applicants. But Tuesday night, Berlin corrected him.
The three applicants, whose applications are posted on ACPS’s website, are former school board member Leslie Pryor, former co-chair of the school board’s Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee Daisy Rojas, and Family Council AHS co-rep Jennifer Ortuno. The three will be interviewed during the board’s meeting this Thursday.
