Not over: Activists reflect on Black Lives Matter protests, next steps in 2021

While the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color this year, Black people have been dealing with “a pandemic of racism” in the United States for centuries, as Black mental health advocate Myra Anderson told C-VILLE over the summer. When Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes […]

Moving forward: School board votes to continue in-person reopening plans

After nearly six months of remote learning, Charlottesville City Schools is moving forward with its plans to begin in-person classes at the start of the new year. During its virtual meeting last Thursday, the Charlottesville School Board unanimously voted to allow the district’s COVID-19 advisory committee to continue working on its reopening proposal, which received […]

Hard decisions: New learning center comes to Stonefield, as controversy reignites over in-person instruction

Beginning next month, Albemarle County Public Schools will bring kindergarten through third grade students back to classrooms for in-person instruction two days a week. That’s frustrated some teachers who maintain that the safety concerns outweigh potential benefits. Meanwhile, off-site learning centers aim to assist with childcare by hosting virtual learning. As local schools began the […]

Tough call: Albemarle allows in-person learning for select students, while Charlottesville opts for all-virtual reopening

After weeks of discussion and debate, the verdict is in: Charlottesville City Schools will reopen virtually for all students, while Albemarle County will allow a limited selection of students to participate in in-person learning. Both districts finalized their decisions at school board meetings on Thursday. During the division’s virtual meeting, ACPS staff detailed the division’s […]

Here to help: Meet some of the people who are getting food to the hungry

In normal times, one in six Charlottesville residents—nearly 8,000 people—lack adequate access to affordable, healthy food. That’s 6 percent higher than the statewide food insecurity rate. And with thousands of citizens newly unemployed due to COVID-19, our food insecurity numbers have significantly increased, exacerbating underlying disparities. Dozens of area nonprofits have been working for years […]

School’s (not) out: City schools debate reopening

As new cases of the novel coronavirus pop up each day, it’s become increasingly difficult for area schools to decide how and when to reopen. And after over five hours of discussion and debate on Monday night, the Charlottesville School Board got no closer to a definite answer. Last week, the district rolled out a […]

Telling the truth: Local schools overhaul history curriculum

As protests against police brutality continue around the country, school districts are tackling another form of systemic racism and oppression: whitewashed history. Since last year, Albemarle County Public Schools has been working to create an anti-racist social studies curriculum, elevating the voices and stories of marginalized people and groups, which are often misrepresented by (or […]

Cops out: City schools remove SROs, while county holds off

In light of the ongoing protests against police brutality and systemic racism, school districts across the country have cut ties with police—including here in Charlottesville. On June 11, Charlottesville City Schools announced it was discontinuing its memorandum of understanding with the Charlottesville Police Department, ending its current school resource officer program. Instead, the district says […]

Housing hero: Community mourns loss of Richard Shackelford

Beloved public housing advocate Richard Shackelford passed away in his Crescent Halls apartment on the morning of May 21, after a heart attack. He was 66 years old. Shackelford—known as “Shack” to his friends—grew up in Charlottesville, on the corner of Fifth and Harris streets. For many years, he worked as a gym instructor for […]