Long time! :) I wanted to share a presentation I gave this June along with Mary Lassiter at a town hall hosted by the Village Initiative.

This event came shortly after the Williamsburg-James City County school board decided not to move forward with changing the name of James Blair Middle School, despite the evidence we presented about Blair’s role in institutionalizing slavery in Virginia, and despite the racist slurs that appeared in the community survey about the name change.

My portion of the presentation covers the report I published on how the school came to be named after James Blair in 1954, a moment when WJCC doubled down on segregation after the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.

Mary’s portion focuses on our campaign to rename Magruder Elementary school in York County, which is named after a Confederate general. The York County school board recently conducted its own survey, but it has not shared the results and has not made a decision on the name change.

Regardless of the school boards’ inaction, our Campaign for Honorable and Inclusive School Names is still committed to changing the names of these schools to ensure that every student in our area feels welcome and is treated with dignity. If you’d like to get involved, please get in touch.

But what about Round the Triangle?

Yeah…sorry I’m still thinking about what to do with this newsletter, but please let me know if you have ideas!

-Joe

This Thursday at 6:30 PM EST, the Village Initiative—a Williamsburg-based nonprofit—will host a town hall at the Stryker Center to discuss our campaign to rename James Blair Middle School.

I’ll be sharing findings from my recent report on the school’s history and that of its namesake, James Blair, and his role in institutionalizing slavery. My co-organizer, Mary Lassiter, will also speak about our campaign to rename Magruder Elementary in York County, which is named after a Confederate general.

If you're in the Williamsburg area, we’d love for you to join us and be part of the conversation. You can help spread the word for the event by sharing the graphic below on social media!

Thanks for your support,
Joe

The school board preserved the school name despite the renaming committee’s recommendation to change it and months of testimony describing the horrors that Blair inflicted on the Black community.

This indifference to racial equality recalls the 1954 WJCC school board that named the school James Blair, the same one that doubled down on segregation despite the Supreme Court declaring it unconstitutional.

Understanding what the name James Blair represents today means going back to when—and why—it was first chosen.

The Blueprint for a Joint Segregated School System

The school named after James Blair began as a whites-only high school. Its construction marked the start of the new joint school division between Williamsburg and James City County.

The plans for this segregated joint school division had white students attending the new high school and Matthew Whaley elementary, while Black students, first grade through high school, would be confined to one school, Bruton Heights. The rollout of this plan was overseen by infamous segregationist superintendent Rawls Byrd.

At the Dec. 10, 1953 meeting of the JCC school board, members briefly discussed naming the new high school for the first time. At the same meeting, the school board also reviewed an exchange between superintendent Byrd and a lawyer representing Black JCC citizens.

That lawyer raised the issues that Black students from the upper county would have to travel much farther to go to school under the new joint school division and that the current plans didn’t invest in Bruton Heights as much as the white schools.

Byrd had dismissed those concerns, saying that the county had voted for “a particular type of school consolidation” and that the unequal investment in the schools was due to there being fewer Black students.

Student population projections had allegedly showed 400 more white students by 1959, but at that time (1953) there were only 175 more white students than Black students.

Regardless, Byrd’s logic that more students justified more funding doesn’t explain why the division’s white schools were to receive higher quality amenities too, like a gym and a library, when the black school wouldn’t.

Earlier in 1953, Byrd had also responded to a letter from a “Mr. Whiting” who had requested that Byrd arrange a meeting between the school boards and Black citizens about building a new Black elementary school as part of the new joint school division.

In his response, Byrd used the excuse of public opinion to justify the unequal distribution of school resources, writing "the majority of county citizens do not want elementary schools in the upper end of the county."

Resisting Desegregation

News that segregation had been ruled unconstitutional was the headline on the May 21, 1954 issue of the Virginia Gazette. In their coverage, the paper had asked Byrd for comment on whether the Brown v. Board of Education decision would affect the planned segregated WJCC school division. Byrd said that the school boards would take a wait and see approach.

Earlier that May, the school boards had formed a naming committee for the new high school. By June 14, name suggestions had been submitted, but the school boards postponed discussion, distracted by the Supreme Court ruling.

Byrd had put the question to the Williamsburg school board about whether to proceed with the plan for the segregated joint school division. According to the minutes, the board had stated that “they had no definite information to cause them to change the building plans already set up."

Byrd said that he had attended a separate meeting of Virginia school superintendents, where a majority of the superintendents believed the Brown v. Board ruling could be circumvented. Byrd said he doubted that was possible "even if such a course were considered to be a desirable one."

A few days later at the JCC school board meeting, members also discussed the "wisdom of awarding the contract for the additional construction at the Bruton Heights School" in lieu of the Supreme Court decision.

At that meeting, Byrd said it was possible for the allocated money to be used elsewhere but that "he had no information which led him to be sure that any one of the other schemes was a better risk then going ahead with the Bruton Heights expansion" and that "there was no immediate answer as to the plan that would be followed in Virginia and other Southern states."

The school board decided to award the contract and proceed as planned with the segregated joint school division.

The Naming of “James Blair”

On July 8, 1954, the Virginia Gazette reported that the joint division’s new high school would soon have a name. A requirement for the school name to be selected was that it represented "a colonial citizen of the area,” the article said.

At the joint meeting, school board members discussed the top proposed school names: John Rolfe, Alexander Spotswood, and James Blair. They would eventually vote in favor of James Blair, who "had a more direct influence on education than anyone of the several names suggested."

The naming committee concurred, writing "[Blair's] services to colonial education cannot be over-estimated."

That influence on Virginia education, in Blair’s case, included loaning the College of William & Mary its first enslaved people and expanding the College’s investment in enslaved labor while he was president. Generations of black children were born into slavery to toil at the College-owned Nottoway Plantation, and the profits extracted from them would go towards white student scholarships.

The school boards didn’t mention Blair’s ties to slavery when they chose his name—but they were explicit in honoring his role in “colonial education,” a system that marginalized Black people and was supported by their enslavement.

Naming a whites-only school “James Blair” just weeks after Brown v. Board sent a clear message. It reaffirmed the racial hierarchy that Blair had championed, an educational system built on the suffering and exploitation of Black people.

The Push for Equal Education

In 1960, Black high school junior Lafayette Jones attempted to enroll at James Blair High School. Byrd, still superintendent, retaliated by calling Jones's father stating that if his son "did not rescind his request, his father-a carpenter - would never find work in town again."

At a Bruton Heights faculty meeting around the same time, Byrd reportedly told teachers that if Jones continued to try to attend James Blair, he would "shut down Bruton Heights and fire all the teachers."

Jones would graduate from Bruton Heights in 1961, recalling that Byrd said that "no black kid would ever go to that school," referring to James Blair. Byrd would enforce segregation for 10 years after the Supreme Court decision, and the first fully integrated class of 1969 would graduate only after Byrd retired.

On May 24, 2016, the WJCC school board voted to rename Rawls Byrd elementary school because of Byrd’s discrimination against the Black community and for his resistance to integration. Jones was a key organizer in the campaign to rename.

In a notable difference from the more recent school board decision, the 2016 board voted to change the name before conducting a survey.

“I think it’s really important not to delay on letting the public know, officially, that we very much support the changing of that name,” former school board member Jim Beers said at the May 24 meeting. “I think it’s appropriate for a statement.”

The 2016 board developed the policy for the naming and renaming of facilities in the WJCC school division that the Campaign for Honorable and Inclusive School Names referenced to request renaming James Blair Middle School in September 2024.

Renaming James Blair

This February, the current school board voted 5-1-1 in favor of looking into renaming James Blair Middle School based on our request. They formed a renaming committee, that committee issued a community survey, and when the results came back showing a slim majority opposed to renaming, board chair Sarah Ortego, along with members Kim Hundley and Amy Chen, reversed their earlier support. Or maybe they never supported renaming to begin with.

The 2016 school board had chosen principle over popularity when they removed Rawls Byrd’s name from the elementary school. Today’s school board did the opposite, justifying the unequal status quo by citing public opinion, just as Byrd had done when dismissing Black families’ calls for equal treatment 70 years ago.

But just as the decision to keep the name James Blair can be traced back to the racial prejudice of the segregation era, the Campaign for Honorable and Inclusive School Names takes inspiration from those who faced adversity to make our school division more equal.

We look to leaders like Rev. James B. Tabb, who would be one of the first to enroll his children at whites-only schools in Williamsburg. As president of the local NAACP, Tabb worked with the community across racial lines to make our school division fully integrated.

We also honor Mary Lassiter, one of our campaign organizers, and her classmates who were the first fully integrated class to graduate in Williamsburg, overcoming hardship to earn an education on par with their white peers.

And we’re following the precedent set by the 2016 school board, who understood that school names have meaning and that the school board has the discretion to show initiative when it comes to righting a past wrong.

We are disappointed that some of the school board members did not have the courage to follow through at this time, but our campaign is more resolved than ever to rename James Blair Middle School. We are committed to continuing public education on this topic, and in the upcoming election we will support school board candidates who have the moral conviction to stand for equality in education.

Two responses to the James Blair Middle School (JBMS) renaming survey used the n‑word in expressions of hate speech targeting Black people. These comments weren’t included in public reports of the survey results and only came to light when I pressed for unredacted records.

In March, the Williamsburg‑James City County (WJCC) division surveyed students, staff, parents, attendance zone residents, and community members about renaming JBMS due to Blair’s role in institutionalizing slavery in colonial Virginia. The school division compiled these survey results into a presentation which was shared with the volunteer renaming committee and the WJCC school board.

Curious, I filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the survey data spreadsheets. When I scanned the spreadsheets, I noticed two instances where the comment section read “(Comment redacted because of profane language).”

What I uncovered

I followed up with the school division to clarify what code citation justified these redactions. The Records Coordinator replied with the unredacted files, writing, “My apologies. I didn't notice that the file I released was the ‘redacted’ version.”

Here are the previously redacted comments (I have censored the comments, but you can download the survey data to see them uncensored):

• “Nahh, f*** the n****s.” — 8th‑grade student, James Blair Middle School (Student survey, response #328)

• “Rename it Black n***** Middle School.” —unidentified respondent, City of Williamsburg (Community survey, response #75)

What these remarks mean

Critics of renaming JBMS have focused on the estimated $92,334.50 price tag, trying to frame the debate around money rather than values. But these unredacted comments make it clear that finances are only part of the reason this school name change has been so fiercely resisted. Alongside budget worries voiced in good faith, racial hostility is an undeniable part of the opposition.

Even one racial slur would be one too many, but two people felt comfortable enough to use the n-word in response to this survey. These remarks cannot be dismissed as mere “profane language,” not when the issue at hand is fundamentally about race. They reflect a lingering resentment towards the notion that Black people deserve to be treated with dignity, a racial prejudice that can be traced back to James Blair.

Clearly, we have much more to do to address racism in our school community. Fortunately, we have a real opportunity right now to do just that by renaming James Blair Middle School. By choosing not to honor an enslaver, we would be taking a step towards racial healing and ensuring that every student in our school division feels like they belong.

What you can do to support the name change

• Email the school board before today’s work session
  Tuesday, May 6 • 4:30 p.m. • School Board Central Office
  You can find school board member emails here. Let them know you condemn these racist remarks and support renaming the school.

• Speak at the May 20 board meeting
  Tuesday, May 20 • 6:30 p.m. • James Blair Middle School
  Public comment is open and a final vote on the renaming is likely. A strong turnout will show that our community will not let racism win in this case.

This past week, the Williamsburg-James City County school division posted a survey asking community members to share thoughts on renaming James Blair Middle School by March 25. Submissions will be reviewed by the renaming committee formed last month by the WJCC school board and a final recommendation will be presented to the board at the April 1 work session. This all follows Mary Lassiter and I’s request last September to rename the school based on James Blair’s significant role in institutionalizing slavery in colonial Virginia.

Anyone can take the survey, but those living within the WJCC school division are especially encouraged to fill out the short form. You can do so here.

In the preface to the survey, the renaming committee provides important historical context about Blair, like how he personally enslaved people and expanded institutionalized slavery, including at the College of William & Mary. This context was not provided the last time a survey was sent out to rename the school in 2017.

The committee also clarifies the costs of the name change, estimated to be $92,334.50, or .05% of the division’s FY25 operating budget.

Critics of the name change have leaned on the argument that the time and money for the proposed school renaming should instead be spent “on the children,” alleging that this money could be better used to pay teachers or purchase supplies.

Does that mean that no school division money should be spent on infrastructure upkeep? In 2017, extensive renovations were made to James Blair Middle School, costing approximately $40 million. These changes were necessary because the school’s size could no longer accommodate the growing student population. In other words, the school building had become outdated.

Renaming the school is necessary in the same way, because the school’s namesake, James Blair, has long been outdated. We no longer have a segregated school system like when the school was named James Blair in 1954, one of many public building namings after pro-slavery figures in reaction to the civil rights movement. Today, we hold equality as a cornerstone of education, unlike Blair who enslaved generations of black children to labor on a plantation so white students could receive scholarships to go to W&M.

Changing the name of James Blair means more than altering signage and jerseys; it will make it so that all students that attend the school feel like they belong there. Just like the school needed more space to welcome the increasing number of students, the school also deserves name that all students today can be proud of.

Please do take the survey and read the committee’s preface before filling out the form. I believe that if we are not afraid to reckon with James Blair’s shameful history, our community will make the right decision and take a step in moving forward beyond the legacy of slavery.

-Joe

P.S. If you live in York County, the school board there is also reviewing our request to rename Magruder Elementary, named after a Confederate General. This is in violation of the school division’s own policy to not name buildings after individuals. We urge you to support our campaign there as well by emailing their school board or speaking at the next school board meeting tomorrow at 7 PM at York Hall.

It’s been awhile! I’m following up to give an update on the request to rename James Blair Middle school in Williamsburg, which the WJCC school board is expected to vote on next Tuesday, February 18. I’m asking for your help to ensure this measure passes, so that the community can take an important step to move beyond the legacy of slavery. Read to the end to see what you can do to support our campaign.

Why James Blair Middle Should be Renamed

The campaign, which was started by Mary Lassiter and her brother Carl in 2020, has been featured in Round the Triangle since the publication started. I interviewed historian Jennifer Oast about how James Blair, the co-founder of the College of William & Mary, was not just an enslaver himself but helped institutionalize slavery in Virginia. I did a follow up podcast about the campaign, which also discussed our request to rename Magruder Elementary in York County, named after Confederate General John B. Magruder.

Last September, our campaign submitted a formal request to the WJCC school board asking to rename James Blair Middle to James B. Tabb Middle, commemorating local community leader Rev. James B. Tabb. The board discussed the request at its recent work session last Tuesday, which you can watch here.

Because of James Blair’s advocacy for institutionalized slavery, Virginia’s colonial government allowed churches and other organizations to hold enslaved people. Blair loaned the W&M its first enslaved laborers, and while he was college president, W&M purchased a plantation with 17 enslaved people. The profits of that plantation funded scholarships for white students for decades. It is fair to say that generations of black children were born into slavery because of James Blair.

James Blair Middle School, originally a whites-only high school, was named for him in 1954 as part of Virginia’s pro-segregation Massive Resistance movement. It was a reaction to the Civil Rights movement and meant to enforce the unequal education system that Blair helped establish. My co-organizer Mary, who was part of the first fully integrated graduating class at James Blair High in 1969, remembers seeing a mural at the school’s entrance that depicted a towering Blair standing over a subservient Black enslaved man.

We believe it’s time to change this school name and instead honor someone who exemplified the values of our school division. Unlike Blair, Rev. Tabb was all about equality in education—he was one of the first to enroll his daughters in whites-only schools before full integration and, as the local NAACP president, played a key role in ushering our community into an integrated school system. He served as a pastor at multiple churches, received a funeral procession down Duke of Gloucester Street after his passing, and was honored posthumously with a joint resolution by the Virginia General Assembly.

Here’s how you can help rename James Blair Middle:

• Email the school board to voice your support for renaming James Blair Middle. Here are their email addresses: https://wjccschools.org/about-wjcc/leadership/school-board/members/
• Show up at the Feb. 18 board meeting. Arrive by 6 PM so you can sign up to speak during public comment. Let us know if you’d like help preparing a short speech.

Thank you so much for your support. Let’s work together to ensure our schools reflect the best of our community. If you’d like to connect with the campaign or have any questions, you can join our Facebook group.

Does this mean Round the Triangle is back?

At this time, I’m not sure when or if I will be bringing Round the Triangle back. If you want to see the newsletter return, please message me and let me know what you liked best about previous editions or what you would like to see in the future.

Before signing off, a personal update

Thank you to everyone who sent me nice messages in response to my announcement about my father’s illness. My dad, Dr. Anthony J. Caterine, passed away peacefully on January 9. I miss him every day. You can read his obituary here.

I am writing to you to let you know that I’ve made the difficult decision to pause the Round the Triangle newsletter for the rest of the year, if not longer. Sadly, my father was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and my time and energy right now needs to be focused on my family.

For those of you who are paid subscribers, I will be pausing all billing, and you will not be charged again until I resume sending out newsletters. If you would prefer to cancel your subscription altogether, I completely understand and am happy to accommodate that as well.

I hope that I’ll be able to relaunch Round the Triangle, or some version of it, sometime next year, but I can’t guarantee any definite timeline at this point.

I want to sincerely thank all of you for supporting this project, especially those who invested their dollars. It means a lot, and I look forward to corresponding with y’all again sometime in the future.

Sincerely,
Joe

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Calls for Collective Bargaining Grow

Summary: During public comment, multiple speakers advocated for collective bargaining rights for Williamsburg James City County school division teachers and staff, highlighting the importance of having a seat at the table to improve working conditions, pay, and benefits. Several speakers also spoke in opposition.

Background: Collective bargaining empowers workers to negotiate contracts with their employer. Many public employees in Virginia have won collective bargaining rights in the past few years since a longtime ban was lifted in 2021.

What’s next: For months, the Williamsburg James City Education Association has been calling for the school board to form a joint committee to create a bargaining resolution. During closed session, the school board consulted with legal counsel related to collective bargaining under Virginia law.

All Students Must Turn Off Cell Phones During School

Summary: The board discussed a revision to the student conduct policy which will extend the ban on cell phone use during school hours to high school students. Violating this policy can result in confiscation of devices.

Background: This policy change follows an executive order from Gov. Youngkin last month that requires school divisions to adopt “cell phone-free” education measures by 2025.

What’s next: The board said that this policy change will be communicated to students and parents, and that mental health resources will be available for students.

Other Headlines

• Community activist Mary Lassiter called for the name of James Blair Middle School to be changed to James B. Tabb Middle after a renowned local civil rights leader. Blair was instrumental in institutionalizing slavery in colonial Virginia.

• The school board approved the superintendent’s recommendation to declare September 15-October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month for WJCC schools.

• All 16 WJCC schools earned a “No Place for Hate” designation, following efforts last year to identify ways to address bullying and planning activities that encourage an inclusive and respectful school culture.

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I know - I did not send out the usual Williamsburg James City County school board work session summary last week! My apologies. But I have a pretty good excuse. My wife and I welcomed our newborn son to the world last Thursday! :) He is healthy and handsome, and we’re excited to raise him in Virginia!

Rest assured, Round the Triangle summaries …

Read more

The Project

With data from the US Department of Health and Human Services obtained by The New York Times, I filtered the data for Virginia and used a Google tool called Looker Studio to develop three dashboards designed to help readers dig into the details of this issue.

Timeline of Migrant Children Arrivals

📅 Timeline Dashboard: Readers can select a time period to see how many migrant children were sent to which zip codes within that window.

Key Takeaway: More unaccompanied children arrived in Virginia after the start of the pandemic (April 2020) than in the previous five years.

Relationships with Sponsors

👨‍👩‍👦 Relationship Chart: This chart allows readers to explore the types of relationships these children have with the adults they were released to (sponsors) after immigration proceedings.

Key Takeaway: Nearly 3,000 migrant children were placed with distant relatives or unrelated sponsors in Virginia.

Overview of Migrant Children in VA

📊 Overview Dashboard: Readers can search by country of origin, gender, release date, and sponsor category, with results illustrated on a map and table.

Key Takeaway: Culpeper County stands out, where a disproportionate number of migrant children have been sent compared to the relatively small local population. Dozens of migrant children in that county have gone missing.

The Goal

My hope is that these tools equip policymakers and advocates with the information they need to find solutions to better ensure these children receive the care and education they deserve.

If you have any questions about this story or these dashboards, message me!

Round the Triangle Q2 Financial Report

Income: $300

• $300 (Paid subscriptions)

Expenses: $97.22

• $60 (ChatGPT subscription)

• $7.46 (ChatGPT API calls)

• $29.75 (FOIA Invoices)

Balance: $237.78

• $35 (Q1 Remaining Balance)

• $202.78 (Q2 Remaining Balance)

Hope you’re having a great summer! This month, instead of the usual newsletter summary format, I’m trying out a more “minutes” type report for the Williamsburg-James City County School Board July 9 work session. You can view and comment at the link below:

Unofficial Minutes

I know I haven’t sent many emails lately. I’ve been working on a lot of projects - hopeful…

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Below is a summary of this week’s Williamsburg-James City County School Board regular meeting. Next month, there is no regular school board meeting. Be on the lookout for some investigative reports from Round the Triangle.

Subscribe now

If you’d like to receive a summary of the July 9 WJCC School Board work session, please upgrade to a paid subscription or refer a friend to earn one month complimentary access.

Refer a friend

No Hosang Shenanigans?

I know, right? After board member Michael Hosang’s tirade at the June 4 work session, where he insinuated that Black students performed worse when there were more Black teachers, he was noticeably tight-lipped at this week’s meeting.

Before the board comment period, which is when Hosang typically gets on his soapbox, board chair Sarah Ortego reminded the board, not “addressing anyone in particular,” that their comments, including the tone in which they are given, set an example for the community and have an impact.

“Of course, we want free and open expression,” Ortego said. “I just want to remind everyone that this is not a place to have personal arguments or vendettas.”

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WJCC School Board Summary June 18, 2024

Committees Present Annual Reports, Make Recommendations

• Career Ready Advisory Committee

  • Recommendations:

    • Provide stipends for Career and Technical Student Organization advisors

    • Expand local employer partnership network

    • Create more enrollment opportunities in trades-based courses

  • Board Response: Emphasized importance of community partnerships and diverse options for students.

Read Report

• Student Advisory Committee

  • Recommendations:

    • Foster a more positive learning environment

    • Improve attendance rates

    • Diversify learning mediums

    • Involve students more

    • Plan to evaluate collective student voice in coming year

  • Board Response: Supported adding student representative to committee, praised leadership from students and committee members.

Read Report

• Special Education Advisory Committee

  • Recommendations: More support for inclusive audit recommendations and family engagement opportunities.

  • Board Response: Highlighted the importance of connecting families with resources and role of community advocacy groups.

Read Report

Admission of Homeless Children Policy Update

• Background: These revisions were prompted by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which mandates full and equal educational access for homeless children.

• What’s changing?: The updated policy ensures immediate enrollment of homeless children and provides better services, including transportation and meals.

• The Bigger Picture: The recent Williamsburg Independent School System Feasibility Study noted there are roughly 231 students experiencing homelessness in WJCC and called for more comprehensive support.

Read Policy Edits

Other Headlines

• The board approved an amendment to extend the agreement with EverDriven Technologies to address the current shortage of 20 bus drivers. The contract is extended to June 30, 2025 with a budget of $1.2 million.

• To achieve the goal of 85% of K-12 students meeting state literacy standards by 2028, the WJCC Literacy Plan includes training school administration and teachers based on Virginia Literacy act guidelines.

• During public comment, several speakers advocated for recognizing lacrosse as a varsity sport. Board members appreciated the input but said careful planning would be needed in order to add a new sport.

Upcoming Events

• Policy Committee Meeting:

  • When: June 20, 8:30 am

  • Where: Virtual

• Special Call Meeting:

  • When: June 27, 8:15 am

  • Where: Room 300 in the Annex at the School Board and

    Central Office, 117 Ironbound Road, Williamsburg, VA

• WJCC School Board Work Session:

  • When: July 9, 4:30 PM

  • Where: Room 300 in the Annex at the School Board and

    Central Office, 117 Ironbound Road, Williamsburg, VA

This public meeting summary is produced and edited by me with the help of ChatGPT.

Below is a summary of this week’s Williamsburg-James City County School Board regular meeting for paid subscribers. Free subscribers will be given access this Sunday.

Refer a friend

No Hosang Shenanigans?

I know, right? After board member Michael Hosang’s tirade at the June 4 work session, where he insinuated that Black students performed worse when the…

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This month’s regular meeting of the Williamsburg-James City County School Board is tonight at 6:30 PM at James Blair Middle School. You can download the agenda here.

Here are some agenda items I’ll be watching:

• Extension of third-party transportation contract to cover the current shortage of 20 bus drivers in the school division.

• Annual report from the Special Education Advisory Committee, which requested updates to grading policy to better accommodate students with disabilities.

• The revised Admission of Homeless Children policy to ensure better support and access to education for homeless children.

• Amendments to Worker’s Compensation Policy including more comprehensive injury reporting and return-to-work procedures.

• WJCC Literacy Plan in line with the Virginia Literacy Act, aiming to bring 85% of K-12 students to state literacy standards by 2028.

Interested in another topic? Questions about the meeting?

Contact me!

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I’ve produced a few different podcasts about this campaign, which you can listen to below:

During this webinar, I will also share how you can support our campaign. We will be tabling at two upcoming events, Freedom Fest on June 15 and the Juneteenth Freedom Celebration on the 19th, and we will have other speaking engagements in the coming months.

Register for Webinar

Hope to see you at the webinar!

Join the FB Group

Good evening!

Below is a summary of this week’s Williamsburg-James City County School Board Work Session. To access the report, you can upgrade to a paid subscription or you can register for the Zoom meeting this Sunday, June 9 at 10 am where I will go over the report and facilitate discussion about the work session.

Register for Zoom

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First of all, I want to say that I’ve enjoyed greeting all of you every Sunday morning for the past several months, sharing recaps of local news and upcoming events. When I started this newsletter last October, my goal was to have 100 subscribers by the end of 2024, and thanks to you I’ve already reached 200 subscribers! I appreciate your support as I’ve tried different offerings like podcasts, news quizzes, and more.

As part of that experimentation, I started creating meeting summaries for the Williamsburg James City County School Board a couple of months ago with the help of ChatGPT. Last month, for the first time, I shared the meeting summary with all subscribers. This feature is what excites me the most about Round the Triangle, because I believe it has the most potential to inform you about what’s happening in our area and empower you to make positive change in our community.

That’s why, going forward, Round the Triangle will be focused on producing summaries of government meetings in the Historic Triangle area of Virginia. You’ll still receive quick, easy-to-digest emails about what’s happening locally, but now the content will be centered on government transparency, rather than news recaps or podcasts.

What to Expect

Free Subscribers:

• You’ll receive summaries of Williamsburg-James City County school board meetings the Sunday after the meeting

• Occasional Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reports on local government

• More local government meeting summaries to come…

Paid Subscribers:

• WJCC school board summaries the day after the meeting

• WJCC school board work session summaries the day after the meeting

• FOIA reports

• Early access to new local government meeting summaries

Read the Latest School Board Summary

James City County Board of Supervisors 2023 Expenses

Here’s an example of the FOIA reports you can expect. Below is a graph visualizing the expenses reimbursed to James City County Board of Supervisors members last year, including expenses related to travel, meals, and training. You can download the data here.

I’ve also obtained reimbursement records for Williamsburg City Council and the York County Board of Supervisors. Stay tuned for those reports later this month.

Access Data

WJCC School Board Work Session Live Recap

Sunday, June 9 at 10 am

As part of this new direction, I want to connect more with all of you. I’ll be hosting a live recap of the WJCC School Board Work Session next Sunday at 10 am on Zoom.

During this virtual session, I will go over what happened at the June 4 work session, explain my process for writing meeting summaries, and share my predictions for the June 18 regular school board meeting.

This is a great opportunity to meet other Round the Triangle subscribers and discuss educational issues in the Historic Triangle area. Hope to see you there!

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Howdy! Hope you’re having a great holiday weekend. For the first time, I’m sharing my AI-assisted WJCC school board summary with free subscribers. Paid subscribers still have early access, receiving the summary the day after the meeting, and they will also be the first to receive new summaries of other local government meetings as I develop them.

At this week’s regular meeting, the WJCC school board rejected a recommendation to combine currently gender separated life education classes, discussed funding challenges, and consulted with an attorney about collective bargaining.

Read the Summary

In case you missed it, I also published a new podcast on the Virginia Peninsula Swim Union’s decision to require students to compete based on sex assigned at birth instead of their chosen gender. I spoke with parents who opposed the rule change about why it’s discriminatory and negatively impacts the entire league.

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Alright, let’s get to last week’s headlines:

CW CEO charged with reckless driving after severely injuring W&M student

• Virginia State Police on Wednesday charged Cliff Fleet, President and CEO of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, with reckless driving for striking W&M student Rosemary Raynal with his SUV last fall, leaving her with brain trauma and fractures.

• The charge is a Class 1 misdemeanor, meaning that Fleet could serve up to a year of jailtime, although it’s possible it could be reduced to a lesser charge payable by fine. Raynal’s recovery timeline is still uncertain, said her mother.

• Raynal’s family expressed gratitude for the state pressing charges and hopes justice will be served. Fleet was the former CEO of cigarette company Philip Morris, U.S.A. He’s scheduled to appear in court next Thursday.

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JCC Police Officer indicted on child abuse and other charges

• This week the James City County Police Department announced that officer Caleb Crawford is being investigated by Virginia State Police after Child Protective Services notified the agency of Crawford injuring a child in March.

• It is still unclear if the child is Crawford’s. He has been charged with malicious wounding, child abuse, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. On the force since August 2021, Crawford was placed on adminstrative leave in March.

• The incident is the latest in a bad streak for the department, which a 2022 VSP investigation described as “toxic.” Another officer-related trial set to begin in Sept. is for officer Michael Rusk who shot fellow officer Christopher Gibson.

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Other Headlines

• The Associated Press investigation found that inmates at VA’s Marion Correctional Treatment Center, a prison mainly for those suffering from mental illness, were hospitalized at least 13 times for hypothermia. The FBI is also investigating.

• Alynn Parham, a history teacher at Jamestown High School, was awarded the Virginia Humanities' 2024 K-12 Educator Fellowship to develop lesson plans highlighting Black American activism during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras.

• The Virginian-Pilot started a new series on police surveillance in VA, starting with an examination of “Flock Cameras,” or automated license plate readers. A survey showed that the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office currently has 22 Flock Cameras.

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Upcoming Events

Yorktown Market Days:

• When: Saturdays, 8 am - 12 pm

• Where: 331 Water Street, Yorktown

Marine Science Day 2024:

• When: Saturday, June 1, 10 am - 2:30 PM

• Where: Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Blackbeard Pirate Festival:

• When: Saturday June 1 to Sunday June 2

• Where: 100 Eaton St, Hampton

According to the VPSU February meeting minutes, President Corinne Picataggi, who is also the Chief Technology Officer at the College of William & Mary, made the motion to vote on this amendment but later voted "no" and expressed concerns about potential discrimination. In her response to an email, Corinne stated that as president, she does not make motions or vote per the union’s bylaws. There were other contradictions in the minutes, so it’s possible the notes regarding her actions were also inaccurate.

One parent I corresponded with from Queens Lake, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the idea to require students to compete based on sex assigned at birth was initially raised in her community. While some families supported the rule change, many others, including the anonymous parent, chose to boycott the swim team in protest. However, that parent said she regrets that decision, wishing she would have stayed with the team, so she could have continued to talk with other parents about the decision from within the organization.

Our guest on this week’s podcast, Melissa, a parent of a swimmer from the Kingspoint Dolphins team, told me how this amendment came about and shared her opinion on how this decision goes against the league's spirit of openness and fun. While the policy most directly impacts transgender children, it also imposes more emphasis on competitive edge, which contradicts what the league was supposed to be about.

Melissa also speculates that this effort to ban trans athletes is tied to a broader conservative movement in York County, which has a school board with a right-wing majority.

If you are concerned about this decision and its impact on inclusivity and equality in youth sports, consider reaching out to the VPSU on Facebook to express your thoughts.

Additional Resources:

• The Rightwing Takeover of the York County School Board

• VPSU Facebook Page

• VPSU February Meeting Minutes

Cover photo from Kingspoint Dolphins Swim Team page.

I’m pleased to share this week’s AI-assisted school board summary even faster than before! I’ve made some updates to the program, which I go into at the end of the summary for those interested.

I’m eager to hear what you think about these improvements! Your feedback is invaluable in refining this tool, so please share your thoughts!

School Board Summary Access

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As a reminder, to access the full summary, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid subscription or get a friend to subscribe to Round the Triangle. Additionally, I’m offering gift subscriptions to WJCC employees. If you’re a WJCC employee, email me at jwcat757@gmail.com to get access.

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Okay, here’s this week’s school board summary:

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