i’m only here because i hate half the school board with a burning intensity that requires me to stare meanly at them for several hours per month or i risk combusting.

albemarle county recently started streaming video of the meetings! you can watch online here:

streaming.k12albemarle.org/ACPS/player.ht…

i fuckin’ love the preamble to public comment the albemarle county school board reads every time. it reminds me of the time they let cops brutalize my friends in front of their children.

tonight’s public comment has been all students! it’s great to see students engaging with the school system.

a brilliant student who started off the meeting by explaining her science project that’s headed to the international science fair is addressing the school board about the racial makeup of advanced classes.

the next speaker is an elementary school teacher & a mom addressing the board about the need for afterschool care for working parents, particularly their own teachers.

the next speaker is in the same position - she says if her daughter doesn’t get a spot in the afterschool program next year, she may not return to work as an elementary school teacher. they are asking the district to consider allowing teachers priority access to the program.

former independent candidate for cville city council john hall says he is here to complain about the treatment he received from dr daphne keiser, the director of CATEC, and superintendent dr matt haas.

i am trying to be fair and compassionate - mr hall lives with serious mental illness. this is not the first incident he’s been involved in that resulted in him being removed from a building and banned from re-entering.

there was an incident a few months ago where he had to be removed from the city commonwealth’s attorney’s office after causing a scene. i don’t know the details about the incident at CATEC.

and that ends public comment. hall left after his comment but i can hear him yelling a bit in the hallway. i hope he’s ok.

(i should be clear - i wouldn’t out someone’s struggles with mental illness if it were something they were not public about. he addressed the issue extensively during his 2017 city council campaign.)

the baby screaming in the hallway is really capturing my feelings about this powerpoint

starting next school year, albemarle county students & staff will be able to anonymously report incidents using an app

maybe now the school district can gather adequate data that will allow them to take the concerns of students of color seriously

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1048295081306988545?s=21

just sucking on my car keys in class, don’t mind me.

all this talk about cool teens vaping is making me curious about vaping

i’m dying here. a school board member just asked the presenter, with a look of great concern, how difficult it is to refill a juul pod. the presenter confidently says it’s very simple, then says he’s never actually seen one.

the teens are extremely stressed out. no wonder they’re vaping.

the school board is voting on whether or not to move forward with a public hearing that would be the first step in giving themselves a modest pay raise (like 2%). buyaki is the only no vote - he says as a public servant, he doesn’t support any raise in their salary.

and that’s all folks. they’re going into closed session to discuss acquisition of real property & to get some legal advice.

sucks to be an albemarle county school board member today - they had a joint session with the board of supervisors before tonight’s regularly scheduled meeting. they’ve been meeting since 3:30 this afternoon and they aren’t even done yet.