Category Archives: Operations

Volunteers Needed for Safety Drill on July 14

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Volunteers needed on red background

Throughout the school year, ACPS has participated in a multi-organizational training project with our partners in the Albemarle County Police Department and Albemarle County Fire Rescue. Together, we are collaborating to review and test the policies, knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to respond to an active threat at a public school. We have conducted seminars, workshops, and a tabletop exercise. This work will culminate in a full-scale, in-person drill this summer on Friday, July 14. The purpose of this drill is to provide a safe environment for public safety and school personnel to practice plans and procedures in response to a simulated active threat incident.

We are seeking about 80 volunteers to role-play as teachers and students during the July 14 drill. If interested, please submit this Google Form by Friday, June 23. This is available to staff only; do not forward or share this link. Continue reading →

Approved 2023-24 School Year Calendar

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Calendar Image: August 2023

At their meeting on January 26, 2023, the Albemarle County School Board approved the official calendar for the 2023-24 school year. The approved calendar is available to view and print in English and Spanish on our division-level Calendars page. Under this calendar, the 2023-24 school year will open for students on Wednesday, August 23, 2023. For more information about the calendar development process, please visit our 2023-24 Calendar Development web page.

Last Week’s Inclement Weather Announcement

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Following our early-morning announcement on Wednesday, January 25, that schools would operate on a two-hour delay, we learned of some communication issues with our notifications to staff. While email messages were delivered successfully within minutes, text messages were delayed by up to 40 minutes, and voice calls to employees failed.

BrightArrow, the company that provides our mass communication platform, believes this failure was due to a software “enhancement” that was recently added to our account. That enhancement has since been removed from our account, and BrightArrow does not anticipate future issues. Continue reading →

School Schedule Changes Due to Inclement Weather

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School Closings

Before extreme winter weather arrives, we want to make sure you know about the various scheduling options we will consider, how to find out about school schedule changes, and our plan for remote learning in the case of an extended closure.

When bad weather becomes a factor in the school schedule, our top priority is the safety of our students, staff, and other members of our community. For each unique weather event, we consider information from several sources to help us decide if we should open on time, open on a delay, close schools, or dismiss early. The most complete resource for information is our Closings, Delays & Early Dismissals web page, which explains our inclement weather decision-making process and details our scheduling options, our decision and communication timelines, all of the ways you can find out about schedule changes, and more. Continue reading →

School Board Grants Additional Thanksgiving Holiday Leave to All 12-Month Employees

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Happy Thanksgiving

With appreciation and gratitude for everything you do each day for our students, their families, your colleagues, and our school community, the Albemarle County School Board has approved the superintendent’s request to grant a half-day holiday for all employees scheduled to work on Wednesday, November 23. This decision follows similar declarations by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. All ACPS offices and facilities will now close four hours early on November 23. (This day was already scheduled as a non-student day.)

Best wishes to you all for a very happy Thanksgiving holiday!

January 25 Is a Workday for All Employees

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January 25 calendar web button

As a reminder, Tuesday, January 25, is a workday for all employees, even though students will not be in attendance. The January 25 workday is one of the changes to the 2021-22 School Year Calendar approved by the school board at their meeting on November 11. On this day, staff will attend professional development and training. Please see your supervisor for more information.

Kronos calendars have also been updated to reflect the changes approved on November 11: Continue reading →

Half-Day of Leave Granted to All 12-Month Employees on Nov. 24

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Happy Thanksgiving! Following Governor Northam’s announcement that November 24 will be a half-day for state employees, the Albemarle County School Board has granted the same for ACPS employees. Now, in addition to closing for Thanksgiving on Thursday and Friday, November 25 and 26, the board has approved a half-day of leave on Wednesday, November 24, for all 12-month employees. All school division offices will close for the Thanksgiving holiday at 12 noon on November 24.

Please Share Your Opinion on the Draft 2022-23 Calendar: Respond by Nov. 21

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megaphone with Your Opinion Matters chat bubble

Beginning today, employees are being asked to share their opinions on our calendar committee’s first draft of the 2022-23 school calendar: Click here to take our employee survey.

The state department of education requires school divisions to provide either 180 instructional days or 990 clock hours of instruction per year. The draft calendar for 2022-23 reduces the number of instructional days to 175; however, it still delivers more than 990 clock hours of instruction. The reduction in instructional days will provide teachers with more workdays, more professional development opportunities, and additional time to meet the individual learning needs of students. Continue reading →