Charlottesville City Schools will have two mental wellness days each school year, beginning in 2025-26.
“I know that it can be very difficult to find a moment’s rest during the academic year,” said Superintendent Royal Gurley in a December announcement. “Teachers are supporting student success not just during the school day but after hours as well. These paid days off are one way our division can help teachers press ‘pause.’”
The wellness days are scheduled for September 19, 2025; March 6 and September 18, 2026; and March 6, 2027.
CCS and Albemarle County Public Schools both have teacher vacancy rates below the state average of 3.4 percent for the current school year, but burnout and workload are still a concern for both districts. ACPS does not currently have an equivalent number of mental wellness days for its employees.
“After coming back from C OVID, my ‘mental wellness’ seems to be getting better but is still low,” one ACPS teacher told C-VILLE in an email. While he generally supports the idea of mental wellness days, the teacher said he’d rather see issues contributing to educators’ stress—lack of time to complete their workload and an excess of meetings that cut into planning time—addressed.
