My recent visit to Charlottesville High School coincided with the start of the school day, so students thronged inside around me. Check-in staff chatted with each other and with arriving students, faculty, and staff. Morning announcements updated Black Knight Nation about the latest sports news and prepped everyone for spirit week—from “pick-a-friend-and-dress-as-their-twin day” to “holiday jammies day” on Friday. At Principal Dr. Justin Malone’s request for a moment of silence, the entire school fell quiet and still. The vibe was warm, friendly, and orderly, with no trace of last year’s challenges when squabbles and students roaming the halls made the news a few times before a teacher “sick-out” drew yet more attention.
The 2023 Teacher Sick-out at Charlottesville High School as Change Catalyst
Junior Jayla has been student council president since her freshman year and represented CHS on the Charlottesville City School Board last year. She chalked up last year’s problems to something pretty basic: “A level of disrespect from the students, and the adults in the building were just tired.”
A fight involving a non-student adult in the Charlottesville High School building was the last straw that prompted the teacher sick-out and spurred CHS to close for several days. Yumeca Webb-Jordan became assistant principal last year after nearly 19 years on staff. According to her, the sick-out signaled “a kind of breaking point for teachers wanting to know how to best serve our students and how [to get them] to engage in class,” and the shutdown created an opportunity for teachers and administrators to get together and strategize.
Malone didn’t become principal at CHS until this academic year, but he said, “Other schools had lots of empathy for what CHS was going through. Our experience was not unique.”
Community-Sourced Solutions At CHS
The city tapped Kenny Leatherwood as interim principal for the remainder of the 2023-4 school year. Leatherwood’s experience of Black Knight Nation stretched all the way back to his first teaching job, when he was fresh out of college in 1977. He coached some basketball in there, too, and returned to serve as principal from 2014-17. This trove of insider knowledge was invaluable for such a sensitive transition.
When he stepped in, his mission was clear. “We just came in with the mindset to help CHS get back to being CHS,” he said.
Part of that work required resetting expectations. “There was a need to get together on the boring stuff, the policies and procedures,” said Amanda Korman, Community Relations Coordinator for Charlottesville City Schools. “It’s the boring stuff, but it’s the kids knowing the expectations so that they could succeed.”
Leatherwood said, “Ninety percent of the students were trying to do what they were supposed to.” Structure, reengagement, and recalibration were key to motivating the remaining ten percent.
Volunteers Made an Impact at Charlottesville High School
Community support was crucial, too. According to Dr. Denise Johnson, appointed strategic advisor to CHS last year, the sick-out presented, “a rallying call for more community support,” and the community answered. “A lot of people stepped in and wanted to give back…to volunteer and help make the school get back to where it was,” Leatherwood said. “The community really came together.”
That community included teachers, staff, alumni, local organizations, UVA fraternities and sororities and more. “On the first day back after the reset, volunteers did a greeting area for students and teachers as they reentered the building,” Johnson said. “People [also] helped with lunch duty, greeted people, made themselves available to speak one on one with students.”
Jayla reported that, “Students can sense when there’s discord, and that can affect school morale. The day we came back, it was just so bright, and I could tell there was hope…. I knew everything was going to be okay, that CHS could be an even better place than it was.”
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CHS Alumni and Students Worked Together
The outpouring of support illustrated the staying power of Black Knight school pride, both in the surge of alumni showing up to be present throughout the school day and in the range of deep CHS connections among staff. Johnson pointed out that she and Webb-Jordan were alums. “I could be in any school in the world,” she said, “but I want to give back to my community.” And with all his CHS experience, Leatherwood said, “Even in my absence, I always felt CHS was part of my DNA.”
Community spirit definitely boosted morale, but Johnson emphasized, “Students played a crucial role…It was great to watch the students step up and lead and establish the kind of community they wanted to have.”
Jayla’s a proud and active member of that community. On top of her student council presidency and stint as school board rep, she also plays clarinet in wind ensemble and twirls the baton as the marching band’s only majorette. “I’ve been shown so much kindness ever since I’ve been here,” she said, “and I’m very proud to be a Black Knight and to be at CHS.”
Now that CHS has returned to an even keel, the main goal according to Malone is, “keeping up high expectations. We have a lot of improvement, and that feels good, but we would always be seeking to do better than we’re doing.”
Jayla added, wisely, “Nothing can ever be perfect. If we’re striving for perfection, then we’re doing something wrong.”
What’s Happening at CHS A Year After the Sick Out?
Principal Malone is excited about Link Crew, a new initiative that recruits current students to help orient incoming students before the start of the school year. Along with a new mural project that stretches along one exterior wall of the courtyard off the cafeteria- a collaboration among CHS art students and the artist Chicho Lorenzo.
Inspired by students’ renderings of leaves, Korman says the project is all about “working with the students to leave something beautiful for the next generation of students.”
During my visit, Korman toured me through the Charlottesville High School Engineering Lab, with its flanks of computers and display screens, a maker space complete with 3-D printers, and white boards slathered with diagrams and equations. All the evidence of the energy that fueled CHS’s chapter of BACON (Best All-Around Club of Nerds) to win this year’s Northeast US championship of the Aerial Drone Competition. Two CHS student competitors set world records there, too.
Community spirit definitely boosted morale, but Johnson emphasized, “Students played a crucial role…. It was great to watch the students step up and lead and establish the kind of community they wanted to have.”
Next, we traveled to the Urban Farming class, which was in the middle of making final edits on student films on subjects from climate change to native species as part of a long-term project with Lighthouse Studios.
Peter Davis is the Urban Farming teacher. He spent his first years at CHS as a special ed teacher until his after-school urban farming club evolved into his current full-time gig. Now, he teaches 65 students across six sections of Urban Farming under the auspices of Career Tech.
Wandering outside for a glimpse of the winter-ready gardens, we encountered another unique CHS class. Heritage Spanish, where native speakers hone their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills while learning about issues that impact Latinx people in the U.S. Teacher Stan Marshall began as a mainstream Spanish teacher. This program developed in part, he said, “to get the kids talking to their parents and connecting with their family stories.” And now, he said, “It feels like a family.”
For a recent outreach project for the school, students built benches for the outdoor space around the gardens. With each bench incorporating flags of countries students hailed from, including Colombia, Honduras, Spain, El Salvador, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, the U.S., and Peru.
Happy School Days at CHS
Everywhere, CHS bustled with energy and creativity. Supporting Jayla’s assessment that, “You might come to high school not knowing what your passion is, but you’ll meet amazing people who will help you find something.”
This year CHS proudly celebrates its 50th anniversary, and last year’s issues feel like blips on a screen. As Johnson said, “this was a difficult moment, but CHS continues to build and rise no matter what happens.”
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is a mom who has chaperoned her share of school trips, helped in art classes, applauded at concerts, served lunch to teachers and every time she learns something new. She has a new novel out too! Learn more about her writing at jodyhobbshesler.com.