You’re Invited: 2024 Retirement Planning Webinar – Jan. 9

Retirement Planning

Tuesday, January 9, 2024 | 4 to 5:15 p.m. | Zoom

Are you considering retirement? Have you thought about your retirement date? No matter your retirement date, you likely have questions, such as: How much money will I need in retirement? Where will it come from? What are my options for saving? How does health insurance work?

Please join us for a Retirement Planning Webinar on Tuesday, January 9, from 4 to 5:15 p.m. Anyone, including significant others, is welcome to attend; no registration required. On January 9, click below to join us on Zoom:

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2024 Leader of the Year Award: Nominations Due Jan. 15

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Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) is excited this year to add a Leader of the Year award to our annual employee recognition program! We value our amazing school leaders and their commitment to supporting academic success for all students, improving instruction, creating a positive and welcoming school environment, cultivating leadership, building strong family and community partnerships, and achieving the goals of our strategic plan.

Please help us recognize and celebrate our outstanding school leaders by working with your school to nominate a principal, assistant principal, or central office leader for our 2024 Leader of the Year award! Continue reading

Stay Interviews: Share Your Experiences & Ideas

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ACPS wants to thank everyone who participated in a stay interview last year. We truly want our employees to remain in their jobs, feeling happy, satisfied, appropriately challenged, and heard!

“Stay interviews” provide an opportunity for employees to communicate the best parts of their jobs and share ideas about how the division can do better. We’re excited to enter the second year of this initiative, and we’re eager to offer more opportunities for our employees to share their voice and experiences. Your valuable feedback helps us identify trends that can inform division leadership and guide the division’s future decision-making. If you would like to participate in a confidential stay interview, please continue reading to learn more about the process and to sign up for a time to meet! Continue reading

Your ACPS HR: Get to Know Your Benefits Team

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This article is the fifth in a series about getting to know your Human Resources team. In this post, we’re introducing you to the benefits team.

ACPS provides a robust benefits package to employees that is designed to be competitive among area employers and Virginia school divisions, and supportive of employees and their families—from hire through retirement. Our benefits team administers our various employee benefits programs, manages relationships with associated vendors, and helps employees resolve any issues or concerns that may arise as they access their benefits. Continue reading

VDOE Update Regarding Licensure Correspondence

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The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) will no longer mail teaching licenses, licensure letters, or correspondence to teaching licensure applicants. Applicants and license holders can use the e-Government (eGOV) Online Licensing Portal to check the status of their licensure and to access all licensure documents from the VDOE. You must register for an eGOV account to use the portal; directions are provided below. Please also note: Continue reading

Your ACPS HR: Meet the Safety & Wellness Team

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“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
—Benjamin Franklin

This is the fourth article in a series about getting to know the new ACPS Human Resources Department. This week, we’d like to introduce you to the Safety and Wellness Team.

With wellness as one of our four core values, ACPS invests in the safety and wellness of our employees and their families. We do this by providing targeted health education and resources needed for every body, driven by data, community outreach, and evidence-based decision making. Continue reading

Your ACPS HR: Meet the Talent Team

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This is the third article in a series of Compass posts about the structure of the new ACPS Human Resources Department. As we explained in the first post in our series, Human Resources used to jointly serve the school division and Albemarle County Government. One of the major reasons for transitioning to separate HR departments to serve each organization was related to the nuances of recruiting and retaining school division employees, such as teachers, drivers, nurses, teacher assistants, Extended Day Enrichment Programs and cafeteria staff, office associates, and principals, compared to public safety and government office staff. Our ACPS HR Talent Acquisition Team is focused on and committed to recruiting, supporting and retaining a diverse workforce that is representative of the students and community we serve. Continue reading

Your ACPS HR: What Is an HR Business Partner?

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This article is the second in a series about the new Albemarle County Public Schools Human Resources Department. The restructuring effort has prioritized Human Resources’ ability to meet its mission to recruit, retain, and develop employees to ensure Learning for All. HR’s mission helps ensure that the strategic plan can be realized and that every employee is able to contribute to the success of every student.

As part of the HR redesign, the school division received quite a bit of feedback. One consistent theme in the feedback supported a move from “transactional” to “transformational.” Continue reading

Updated COVID-19 Infection Control & Isolation Guidance

COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies Update

As a reminder, the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration ended on May 11, 2023, and in response, ACPS discontinued its COVID Leave Bank program effective August 12, 2023. COVID-related absences are treated like absences for any other illness, requiring employees to use their accrued leave. To aid in this transition, ACPS will add a one-time grant of five sick leave days to the sick leave balances of all benefits-eligible employees on or around September 1, 2023. Eligibility requires employment commencement by that date. For more information, please see our August 22 Compass post.

The division’s current COVID-19 infection control and isolation protocols and guidance can be found on the Mitigation Strategies page of our COVID-19 Response site. Continue reading