Agnor-Hurt Elementary School sits above Berkmar Drive in the urban ring of Albemarle County. Agnor-Hurt opened in 1992, and is one of the newer schools in the county. Agnor-Hurt has undergone recent renovations, and has bright and cheery coral, turquoise and teal wall accents freshening the space.
Part of the renovations is a new large flexible room to “accommodate the needs of 21st century learner”. The move towards these open spaces has been evident at multiple schools that I have visited these past months. I’m always bemused by the pendulum swing of educational fashions. Additions were built at Red Hill and Scottsville in the 1970s, pods with open floor plans that closely mirror the renovations that I am seeing in schools now. As a first grader, I remember having class time in the open space. Several years later, permanent walls were erected. I think open classrooms can work great– allowing teachers and students to collaborate and be inspired by the best work of one another. I also think that mismanaged, open floor plans can be loud and chaotic to the detriment of learners. I think talented teachers can make almost any arrangement work, but I also recognize that 40 years ago we tried many of these ideas that are being presented to me as completely novel today.
Geographically Agnor Hurt sits one mile from Woodbrook Elementary, and two miles from Greer. The close proximity of these schools, and the fact that all 3 are at- or over-capacity, indicate how densely packed this area of the county is. Agnor-Hurt’s district is geographically split in half by 29 North and by Woodbrook’s district. Students come to Agnor-Hurt from the northern part of Rio Road west of 29 North, and down Rio Road on the east side, towards CATEC, Pen Park, and the Charlottesville Catholic School. That portion of Rio Road has been transformed in the past year or two by the addition of many more high density townhomes.
The combined area of the school districts of Agnor-Hurt, Greer, Woodbrook and Hollymead could fit into the area of any single other elementary school district in the county (except for maybe Cale, and I think we could just squeeze them in). 30% of our elementary school students live in less than 5% of the land area of our county. While the basic educational needs of all students remain the same regardless of where they live, the logistics of delivery are very different when one lives off a heavily traveled thoroughfare off a major artery, and another lives on the side of a mountain 30 miles from a traffic light.
One consequence of the county’s development of this area is how unfriendly these roads are to any non-vehicular travel. Agnor-Hurt is served by a series of 3-4+ lane roadways. Even though Agnor-Hurt is in a densely packed part of the county, and has a very small district footprint, students could not safely walk or bike from the vast majority of the homes served by the school. For parents who live in this area and do not have reliable or readily available transportation, the public transit system, CAT, is challenging to use to get to Agnor-Hurt because East and West Rio Roads are not served by the same bus line, and they would have to transfer, resulting in a minimum 30 minute ride from Pen Park to Agnor-Hurt. On the northern portion of the urban ring we’ve managed to create all the transportation inconveniences of a sprawling city.

Hollymead Elementary School shares a campus with Sutherland Middle School in the heart of the Hollymead subdivision off of 29 North. Hollymead is a rectangular building with tidy and orderly halls and classrooms. Recent renovations have updated the library and enhanced an interior courtyard with entrances from the library, art room and hallway. The courtyard can be used as an auxiliary classroom space– and already is in heavy use by the art teacher.
When asked about challenges particular to Hollymead, Principal Teel, who happens to have been my first grade teacher, enlightened me about the challenges of managing morning arrival of over 500 students who arrive in a variety of methods.
Each morning 9 school staff and an Albemarle County sheriff are responsible for varying arrival points. There are multiple crosswalks that must be supervised for walking students crossing streets. Those streets are busy with cars and buses transporting other students. Adding to the fray are students who ride bikes to school. In about 30 minutes 500 kindergarteners through fifth graders enter the building, and make their way to their classrooms.
Unanticipated challenges can arise, and must be dealt with sensitively. Several years ago new rules about dogs had to be implemented because of safety concerns. Some children were afraid of other families’ dogs, and in their agitation could put themselves at risk. Other issues arose from dogs in cars acting aggressively as school personnel helped students exit. One protective dog bit a school worker who was helping a student during arrival. These incidents resulted in having to institute policies about dogs. Now walked dogs must stop at a distance from a school, and cars containing dogs have to park, and the parent must walk the child to the building.
Issues such as these must be handled sensitively. School personnel have to deal with such complicated and fraught situations regularly. During my conversations with principals, we’ve discussed such things as custody and visitation disagreements and feuding families. Schools have the mission of educating students, but they are also charged with protecting children and the learning environment. It likely doesn’t occur to the average person that part of that stewardship involves setting policy about family pets, and negotiating changing family status.

Meriwether Lewis Elementary School sits on Owensville Rd which connects Ivy and Garth Roads. It pulls from a section of Albemarle that has fairly stable growth because of its rural designation. Most available land has already subdivided into small scale 2-5 acre neighborhood developments or 15-30 acre lots with large McMansion-style houses. Meriwether Lewis, like Murray just down the road, has a fairly stable trajectory for student growth.
As I visit more schools, the conversations tend to turn to less obvious topics of conversation. Principal Irani and I discussed two topics new to me during my visit. Fresh from my visit from Murray, I mentioned my new understanding of FTEs (Full Time Equivalents) and how that connected to ensuring that there were enough teachers in your building. Principal Irani reminded me of all of the other personnel needed to run a school, the custodians, office assistants, bus drivers and maintenance. As we talk about teacher salaries, and paying a competitive wage to these professionals, it’s important that we also pay a living wage to the other people who provide a safe and nurturing educational environment for our youngest community members.
Principal Irani also gave me more information about the World Languages Program which will soon be piloted at Meriwether Lewis. Already successfully implemented at Cale, the World Languages Program gives students a chance to learn a foreign language beginning in elementary school. There are two different models– one an immersion program where one or two classes of students have instruction in a non-English language all day, in the other model a greater number of students have a 60-90 minute period of language learning once or twice a week. The language instruction is not centered around students learning grammar, instead content instruction takes place in the second language. For instance, students might have their science or art instruction in a second language. I’ve been reflecting on the American attitude toward language instruction. Recently I asked one of my students how many languages he speaks– he told me seven. Many of my students who have immigrated to the United States from Africa or Asia speak three or more languages– they might speak the colonial language of their country, their regional tribal language(s), the native language of their country, English, and even several more due to region or family. They have a fluidity of communication that I simply do not have. I wonder if we as a country will begin to appreciate the value of multi-linguistic communication and embrace foreign language instruction. It seems that by using the model being piloted at Meriwether Lewis that we can incorporate foreign language learning at a young age without it being a huge budget line item.
One of my earlier observations was reinforced by my trip to Meriwether Lewis: principals have an inordinate amount of responsibility. I’ve observed the relentlessly long hours that principals put in. And it doesn’t stop in the summer. As the principal, you’ve got to connect with the students, parents, teachers, support staff, superintendent and the school board. You’re responsible for everything from advocating for and managing the school’s budget, to overseeing the physical plant, to comforting a crying child (or for that matter, a weeping teacher). Many thanks to Principal Irani for his time and conversation.

It’s unusual for anyone, let alone people who regularly arrive at work at 7am, to schedule an appointment at 5pm. Principal Molinaro of Woodbrook asked that we meet late so that she could give me her undivided attention. Our conversation centered on the particular challenges that have faced Woodbrook over the last few years. Up until recently, the subdivision and school of Woodbrook were majority white, affluent schools. As the community of Woodbrook aged, and newer subdivisions were built north of town, the school population diversified, to the extent that Woodbrook has become a majority minority school. About 50% of students are eligible for free/reduced lunch.
Principal Molinaro has particular passion and expertise in working with underserved students. As we were meeting she took a phone call from a new parent who was confused about a call that she received. Principal Molinaro explained that it was a courtesy call to notify the family that they could expect door to door visits in their neighborhood. After she hung up, Principal Molinaro expressed a familiar truism to me– that many parents of underserved students did not have pleasant school experiences themselves, and how important it is to welcome them and make them comfortable in order to make them partners with the school.
A word that kept cropping up in Principal Molinaro’s conversation was “joy”. Having a joyous, collaborative, respectful school was her number one goal. She talked most clearly about something that had been mentioned in other school tours– the changing of the classroom model from desks in rows, to flexible physical layouts that really help learners learn. Young learners need to stand, sit, lie down and move. An outcome of this flexibility and freedom is a more social conflict and off-task behavior. Rather than being reactionary, and limiting classroom movement, Principal Molinari has mandated an end of day meeting where students take responsibility for discussing negative interactions from the day, and present solutions to preserve a positive classroom environment.
These are the skills that the SOLs don’t measure, and are so important as students move through life. Students need to negotiate and communicate with peers, teachers and employers. Students need to have the words, skills and confidence to advocate for themselves. It’s particularly important for underserved youth to explicitly receive the instruction in these skills, because their families may not have the same resources and experiences as more affluent or connected families.

Sixteen years ago I did my second student teaching stint at Stone Robinson Elementary School. Over the years as I’ve thought about who Stone Robinson serves, I’ve been hard pressed to name communities in that section of the county. I do my best when I describe it as who it doesn’t serve– North of the Scottsville district– but not so North as to to be in the Stony Point district. While I’m sure that families who historically lived in the Stone Robinson district identified their own neighborhoods and enclaves, those groupings weren’t large enough to have the name recognition to outsiders like White Hall, Earlysville, or Esmont do. More recently, subdivisions like Glenmore create their own communities. Principal Williams, beginning her first year at Stone Robinson, and I discussed the challenges of building a sense of community in a far-flung and diverse area as this district.
Stone Robinson has a fairly high percentage of economically-disadvantaged students for Albemarle County, and the lower SOL scores that often accompanies poverty. One of the challenges for schools that are perceived as doing poorly or being in decline is that more affluent families will opt out– turning to homeschooling, private schools, or even moving altogether. Albemarle County is still small enough that just a few families opting out of a school can result in a school moving from just passing Annual Year Progress to failing, and facing penalties from the state and federal governments. When affluent families opt out of public schools, they also remove intangible resources like parent involvement and cultural currency.
To turn around these trends, Principal Williams is going to spend her first years at Stone Robinson working to build community, and raise SOL scores, particularly in math. She is another principal who has worked at Central Office prior to assuming responsibilities as a principal. I’ve been struck by how many principals at the county have been nurtured from within the system. Many of the principals that I’ve spoken with have been teachers, instructional coaches, and assistant principals before taking on head leadership in a school. This means that most of the principals have a decade plus experience in the county, and have a solidarity with central office and the superintendent. Many of the principals have spoken of the support that they feel in their ability to make autonomous decisions in support of the well-being of their school.