This year, York County School Division dealt with snowstorms that wreaked havoc on the schools schedule, enjoyed a calmer budget season than recent years and retained its entire school board after citizens re-elected each member to another four-year term.
Find these stories and more highlights from the year in WYDaily’s annual review.
January
- The York County School Board maintained its leadership team in 2015 by appointing Mark Medford and Robert George as chairman and vice chairman, respectively.
- In 2014, Barbara Haywood reached her 25th year as a representative on the school board. WYDaily sat down with her in January to talk about her motivation for staying involved in the division.
- Employee salaries and funding issues dominated the two public comments made during the division’s first budget hearing regarding fiscal 2016.
- Informal meetings between members of the York County School Board and the York County Board of Supervisors brought on talks about unifying the two boards.
February
- Severe snowstorms disrupted the school calendar, forcing the York County School Division to evaluate several options for making up for lost time.
- York County Schools Superintendent Victor Shandor debuted a proposed budget for the division for the fiscal 2016 that included more than $3 million in new spending compared to 2015.
- After four months of mediation between a construction company, a bond performance company and the York County School Board, a compromise has been reached regarding compensation for the work done at Dare Elementary School in 2011.
March
- Reductions in the division’s health insurance costs, combined with an unexpected infusion of federal dollars allowed YCSD to cut its request for additional funding from York County by $618,000.
- School Board members approved Superintendent Victor Shandor’s $129.9 million budget for fiscal 2016 by a 4-0 vote.
April
- The York County School Board reviewed a series of proposals that would extend the length of the school day at the elementary and middle school levels. The discussion came after heavy snowfalls forced the school division to miss the equivalent of eight days of class time this school year.
- Health insurance premiums for division employees dropped average of 6.6 percent for the 2015-16 school year. The York County School Board unanimously approved the renewal of the division’s health plans in April.
May
- Although York County did not fully fund its request for fiscal 2016, the York County School Division was able to cover its priorities in the adopted budget.
- The school board approved a new salary schedule for division employees that included pay raises for most YCSD workers.
June
- The school board reviewed a feasibility study that evaluated two potential sites for a new elementary school, one near the Marquis at Williamsburg shopping center – off Route 199 near Water Country USA – and one adjacent to Yorktown Middle School.
- The York County School Board approved changes to the school division’s student handbook, outlining new practices for weather-related closings and delays.
- YCSD Director of Secondary Instruction Kipp Rogers left the school division to become the chief academic officer for Norfolk Public Schools.
July
- Grafton Bethel, Magruder and Waller Mill elementary schools and the Grafton middle and high school complex received more than $11.8 million in construction work over the summer to cover annual maintenance and meet the needs of an expanding school division.
- The school division announced the hiring of Anthony Vladu as YCSD’s director of secondary instruction.
- The York Foundation for Public Education announced the completion of the Bay Electric Company Inc. Technology Initiative, a five-year fundraising campaign that will create an endowment to fund the purchase of technology upgrades in the school division.
August
- One year after a shortage of school bus drivers had the York County School Division scrambling, the school division had a staffing turnaround.
September
- Eighteen months after school board members tabled a conversation on whether to push back high school start times, the York County School Division decided to once again explore the possibility.
- Veronica Seguin, a student at Grafton High, beat out three teen chefs in the preliminary round of “Chopped,” a Food Network show that challenges chefs to create meals using mystery ingredients, before competing in the finale and taking home the $25,000 prize.
October
- The York County School Division graduated 991 students in 2015, 37 fewer students than last year; however, York County’s on-time graduation rate increased, gaining .01 percentage points from last year. YCSD’s on-time graduation rate is 94.6 percent for 2015.
- Belinda H. Willis has been named the new foundation liaison for the York County School Division.
- Sgt. Mark Medford of the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office – who is also chairman of the York County school board – was recently appointed the Virginia State D.A.R.E. Coordinator. Medford’s appointment makes YPSO the new lead agency for Virginia D.A.R.E.
November
- Residents re-elected all incumbents to the York County School Board. Though Barbara Haywood, Cindy Kirschke, Mark Medford and Page Minter cruised to victories, Robert George (District 5) endured a recount after the tally showed he edged Sean Myatt by one vote.
- By the end of the school year’s first semester, all but two elementary schools – Dare and Bethel Manor – will have begun testing the district’s “Breakfast in the Classroom” program.
- All five high schools in the York County School Division are now recognized as Blue Star Schools for their students’ financial literacy.
- A handwritten letter by a Tabb Middle School student alleging racial harassment by a peer went viral, and the York County School Division’s response received the brunt of the backlash on social media.
December
- Robert George officially won back his seat on the school board in a recount that was conducted at the beginning of December.
- Bethel Manor Elementary School was one of two schools in the state to be named a National Title I Distinguished School.
- York County Administrator Neil Morgan and York County School Division Superintendent Victor Shandor co-authored a letter that calls on the state to work toward restoring K-12 funding to pre-recession levels.
