New CHS Principal Justin Malone on the 2024-25 school year

Charlottesville High School is kicking off the 2024-25 school year with a new principal, Justin Malone. Since starting on July 1, Malone has worked to get CHS ready for students to return. “I was ordered a new desk when I came on board and then went on vacation,” says Malone. “When I came back, not […]

Fresh start

Students returned to Charlottesville High School on Monday, November 27, after a series of fights spurred staff absences and a string of closures prior to Thanksgiving break. Charlottesville City Schools labeled the multi-day suspension of classes a “cultural reset.” The first day back went relatively smoothly according to interim principal Kenny Leatherwood, but he noted […]

Cops (not) out

After protests over police brutality rocked the nation in the summer of 2020, both Charlottesville and Albemarle ended their school resource officer programs. The districts replaced the officers with care and safety assistants, unarmed adults tasked with building relationships with students, monitoring hallways, de-escalating conflicts, addressing mental health concerns, assisting with security issues, and upholding […]

PICK: Grand Illumination Holiday Concert

Justice fir all: It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Keep that in mind as you hold on to tradition from afar and watch Charlottesville’s Grand Illumination Holiday Concert remotely this December. Performers from around the region, including the Charlottesville High School choirs, Odyssey of Soul, and Rattlebag, take the Paramount stage during a TV […]

Still here: Public health experts urge caution as holidays approach

Nationwide, nearly 100,000 new COVID cases were reported last Friday—the most in a single day to this point. And with COVID-19 spreading across the country faster than ever, that number will almost certainly rise. Locally, positivity rate has remained low, currently at just 2.4 percent, said Thomas Jefferson Health District medical director Denise Bonds at […]

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 […]

High school seniors modify end-of-year traditions

By Claudia Gohn Senior year traditions—from proms and sports banquets to senior nights and graduation ceremonies—have long been a way to commemorate the end of high school, giving students the chance to celebrate and say goodbye to one chapter of life before beginning a new one. But with schools closed since March and social-distancing regulations […]

In brief: Happy (socially distanced) graduation, Memorial Day, and more

Rad grads Charlottesville’s 2020 high school graduates imagined they’d be walking across a grand stage right about now, with “Pomp and Circumstance” blaring as an auditorium applauded. That’s gone, of course, but the virus hasn’t stopped our schools from showing love for their seniors. Districts around town have held variations on the traditional graduation ceremony, […]

High school seniors mourn loss of milestones

by Charlie Burns Ever since its emergence in the United States, the coronavirus has impacted people’s lives in distinct ways, and laid waste to societal norms as we know them. For high school seniors, this includes social and academic expectations for their final semester. Senior year has always been notable for prom, graduation, lasting memories […]