Be a cheerleader for Charlottesville public schools!
Use our advocacy toolkit to email and call Charlottesville City Council, submit public comment, and spread the word on social media! Personalize it by telling your elected representatives what public education means to you.
Spread the Word
Use your social media network to advocate for the renovation and expansion of Buford Middle School and moving forward with an early childhood center at Walker.
Messaging Notes
Customize! We’ve provided form letters and sample messages to facilitate broad engagement in a process that can be intimidating or overwhelming. But your comments will carry more weight if you add even just a few words or perspectives of your own.
There are great quotes (including from our own Shymora Cooper) in this weeks’ Charlottesville Tomorrow story that you can cite in your letters, including: ““When kids spend eight hours a day here, they often spend more time with their teachers than their families,” said Buford Assistant Principal John Kronstain after pointing to the place where water seeps through the gymnasium wall and gathers on the floor. “And this is the home we give them?”
Finally, please keep in mind that the needs of Charlottesville City Schools and our students didn’t start with – and won’t end with – reconfiguration. This is a long game for our efforts to build community support for and investment in public education. Charlottesville United for Public Education is grounded in mutual respect and collaboration so that we can continue to strengthen our movement – and our schools – in the days, months and years to come.
Updated Email to City Council (April 10, 2022)
Thank you for your work to piece together a solution to fund a majority of the renovation and reconfiguration of Buford Middle School. I am encouraged by reports that City Council is poised to approve a budget that meets commitments to both public education and affordable housing, among other critical budget items to help our community thrive.
In addition to allocating at least $68.8M for the Buford project, I encourage you to approve the full funding request from Charlottesville City Schools for next year’s operating costs along with a one cent real estate tax increase and 0.05% meals tax increase. The additional revenue will help secure more robust and stable funding for future projects.
There are important pieces of the overall "reconfiguration" vision that our community still needs to address, including how we prioritize an early childhood center at Walker in the CIP planning process, and creative ways to complete necessary renovations of Building B at Buford.
I appreciate and fully support a FY 2023 budget that reflects this renewed commitment to public education and builds a solid foundation of investment in our schools and our students.
Updated Email to City Council(March 30, 2022)
As a Charlottesville resident, I urge you in these final days of difficult budget negotiations to find a way to make good on promises for both our public schools and affordable housing.
We recognize this is a difficult time to consider raising taxes, but there are options on the table – including phasing in the real estate tax increase in the coming years and a cent meals tax increase – that can be part of a solution to cover our public schools and affordable housing commitments. There are ways to advance both of those priorities without freezing the Capital Improvement Plan, just as there are better practices to consider for the City to support all needs of the community in a more robust and consistent way (increasing the percentage transferred to the CIP annually, for example).
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that nearly half (46%) of all students enrolled in Charlottesville City Schools (CCS) are economically disadvantaged. The majority of students are students of color, where Buford and Walker serve the highest percentage of Black, Brown, and economically disadvantaged students across the entire school district. Recent news articles have exposed the poor conditions at Buford that don’t set our students – or our community – up for success.
The bottom line is that the City needs to commit to the Buford project and move forward with the design process now. Any delay will add millions to the cost of the project and once again put the needs of our children on hold. There is strong community support for and momentum behind the project.
This is a pivotal moment – and one that offers us a tremendous opportunity to think and act with creativity and courage to do the right thing by our kids and our community.
Email City Council
I am a [parent whose child attends…/community member/ student/teacher]. I support the renovation and expansion of Buford Middle School to house grades 6-8, and the creation of a citywide preschool center on the campus of Walker Upper Elementary School (“reconfiguration”). I urge you to fully fund the $75 million renovation project so our students can receive a high-quality education in a 21st Century learning environment.
Nearly half (46%) of all students enrolled in Charlottesville City Schools (CCS) are economically disadvantaged. The majority of students at CCS are students of color, where Buford and Walker serve the highest percentage of Black, Brown, and economically disadvantaged students across the entire school district. Decades of inaction and a lack of investment in our public schools have led to learning gaps and disruptions across race and income. This level of discrimination impacts the ability of students to thrive outside the classroom. Black, Brown, and low-income students are paying the price.
Where we work and learn matters. Delaying this project will hurt another generation of students and end up costing more. I’m asking City Council to ensure that the learning experience and outcomes for all students are strong regardless of socioeconomic status.
Research shows that investing in public education starting in early childhood pays dividends for the economy and community. Charlottesville cannot afford to pause this project while it has momentum and just keep talking about the reconfiguration project for another decade. We need you to act now! Please use the full weight of your office to find a solution to fund public education.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sincerely,
[Name]
[School/Community]
[email]
[phone]
Call City Council
Hello! My name is _____________. I am a [say: “parent,” “grandparent,” “teacher,” or “constituent”] calling from _________ in Charlottesville. My zip code is ____________.
I am calling today to ask City Council to keep its promises to Charlottesville City Schools. CCS students deserve every dollar that City Council agreed on last year to spend on updated classrooms and equal opportunities. Over 50 years have gone by since the city’s last school construction project and our community can’t wait any longer. The facilities of Buford and Walker are far behind what children and families in this community need to succeed.
The city has put off school maintenance for far too long. I am asking our leaders to solve these problems, not run away from them once again. Our neighborhoods cannot thrive without strong public schools and safe spaces for our kids to learn. Please support our schools and take their needs seriously! That starts with fighting for – and fully funding – new facilities for Buford to more equitably support our middle schoolers, provide a centralized early childhood center at Walker, return 5th graders to the elementary schools and set all our kids up for success in high school and beyond.
Thank you for your time.
Clerk of Council: (434) 970-3113
Submit Public Comment
I am a [parent whose child attends…/community member/ student/teacher]. I support the renovation and expansion of Buford Middle School to house grades 6-8, and the creation of a citywide preschool center on the campus of Walker Upper Elementary School. I urge you to fully fund the $75 million project so our students can receive a high-quality education in a 21st Century learning environment with minimal disruption in critical years for our children. We have been talking about this for more than a decade, while another generation of kids has gone through our schools. With community momentum at an all-time high, now is not the time to pause — it’s time to act.