Schools panel debates best practices for city

How to create a sound learning environment for students in upper elementary and middle school — when many begin struggling — was the chief concern during a city schools’ panel discussion Wednesday.

“By the time you see eighth-grade scores, something starts happening,” said Kathleen Galvin, a School Board member, of the achievement drops seen in city schools around middle school.

The event was held to explore research on upper elementary and middle school environments and the developmental needs of their students, as the city school division entertains the idea of restructuring its schools. Residents had an opportunity to submit questions in advance and also ask questions at the discussion, held at Charlottesville High School.

The city has six elementaries, one upper elementary, one middle school and one high school.

Five panelists were featured. All were affiliated with the University of Virginia, four of whom work for the Curry School of Education. The panelists offered a range of thoughts on how students could succeed at such a transformational age, particularly focusing on teaching social and emotional learning in core classes, enhancing student-to-teacher relationships and using schools as community places.

But the answers to which configuration might work best in Charlottesville, small classrooms or small schools, were difficult to pin down, as were solutions to how the division should deal with racial tensions that creep in as students enter Walker Upper Elementary School and Buford Middle School.

The division has come up with four options for its schools reconfiguration: leave everything as is; close one elementary school; have six elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school; or have six elementary schools, one middle school and one high school.

“It just depends,” said Dan Duke, a professor of education at the Curry School, of grade configurations. Duke noted that kindergarten through eighth-grade schools are beginning to get more attention nationally — largely because students make fewer transitions, which many say create difficulties.

Other models have also been successful elsewhere, Duke said, citing the Manassas Park model of having schools for kindergarten through second grade, third through fifth grade, a middle school and a high school.

Even though the same students move through Walker Upper and Buford, Susan Mintz, an associate professor at the Curry School, said there are “still factors that make it difficult.”

The change in grade configuration is designed to help the division become more efficient in its use of buildings. The idea sprang from an efficiency review that was presented in January — the report recommended that Charlottesville close an elementary school, which would save $466,830 annually, according to findings.

City parent Barbara Myer asked what configurations could do to aid the community with racial issues.

“We need to come together sooner, in a broader way,” she said.

Data compiled by the division say that closing Walker Upper Elementary School would save an estimated $871,731. However, those savings do not include renovation costs that would undoubtedly come into play.

Yet Mintz noted that grade configurations themselves could do only so much to tackle some of the larger issues that exist in the city. Joe Garofalo, an associate professor of mathematics, agreed.

“What you’re talking about is a community issue, not just a school issue,” he said.

No decisions have been made and nothing will change for the upcoming school year, which begins next month.