Powhatan Today, July 21, 2021
Page 6A
Powhatan celebrates Independence Day
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Powhatan residents shared so many photos to show how they celebrated July 4 that the submissions needed to be split over two editions.
RESIGN
Joe Walters Continued from pg. 1
Cella requesting that he issue a writ ordering Alexander to hold a special election to fill the vacancy that Walters will be creating upon his resignation effective July 31, she said. The remaining school board members have until Tuesday, Sept. 14 to appoint a qualified voter in District 4 to fill the vacancy until the special election is held, Alexander said. If the school board does not or cannot make a decision within that time frame, the circuit court would make the interim appointment. The interim District 4 school board member would serve in this capacity until the winner of the special election is sworn into office. The interim would be allowed to run for office. Whoever is elected in the special election would serve the remaining time of Walters’ original term through Dec. 31, 2023. The earliest possible special election date would be Tuesday, Dec. 28, although it would be extremely inconvenient due to the holidays, Alexander said. It is also a legal option to request that the judge hold the special election in conjunction with the 2022 General Election, which would save the county a significant amount of money and give potential candidates plenty of time to decide to run and campaign for office.
In his comments during the meeting, Walters said it has been his honor and privilege to serve on the school board for five and a half years, four of those as chairman, but he has “recognized that I simply do not have the personal time necessary at this point in my life to continue to dedicate to this important position, my professional career, and, most importantly, my family.” “As the other board members are aware, the time necessary to serve in this position has increased significantly over the past 18 months,” he said. “My family has faithfully supported me without hesitation as I have served our wonderful community as a school board member, and I owe them, and they deserve, much more of my time than I am currently able to provide.” Waters said he is proud of the school board’s accomplishments during his years in office, including the school division’s response to COVID-19 and projects such as the construction of Powhatan Middle School and the joint transportation facility, both completed on schedule and under budget. “No one could have imagined the impact of COVID-19 on our school system, but I firmly believe the decisions made utilizing established health and safety protocols, consistent with guid-
BOARD Continued from pg. 4
ple have been describing it as a form of critical race theory, which it is not. She shared a Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) link that addressed what social emotional learning is, found at https://www.doe. virginia.gov/support/prevention/social-emotional/index.shtml#content. Social emotional learning is the “process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions,” Hymel read from the VDOE website. “Social emotional learning begins at home and continues through adulthood. Embedding SEL intentionally in school culture advances the work that begins and continues at home.” In accordance with HB 753, passed during the 2020 Virginia General Assembly, the Virginia Department of
ance from the Virginia Department of Health, kept our students and staff safe and permitted valuable learning opportunities to continue in the classroom and virtually,” he said. He also thanked the District 4 residents who offered encouraging comments, calls, and emails. All of the items on the 7 p.m. meeting agenda were discussion items, so Walters said he would not attend it. He suggested the school board begin discussion about the steps they need to take next, but the members tabled discussion on the matter until they have more information on the steps they need to take. At the end of the regular meeting, Ayers thanked Walters for his service, saying he has been an extraordinary board member and that he was always calm and a mediator. “I understand his desire to be with his family and his children, but it is a loss for this board not to have him here with us,” she said. In a separate interview, Jones also thanked Walters for his five and a half years of service on the school board. “His steady leadership, professionalism, and integrity enabled the school system to reach new heights during his tenure. We will miss his expertise in human resources and, on a personal level, I will miss his unwavering support and clear guidance,"
Jones said.
Mike Massa In his letter to PHS employees, Massa said he recently took a road trip with his family through the Great Lakes region and realized it was the most time he had spent with them in a while. He realized that “while I have given everything I have in me to support our students at PHS, I am not able to say the same related to the attention, time, and engagement I have been able to give my family.” The realization prompted him to submit his resignation on July 13. “This was a very difficult decision for me; however, it is one that I know will benefit the needs of my wife and children,” he wrote in a letter to staff. Massa told the high school staff that working for them for the last five years has been the best years of his professional life. “Your dedication to our craft, the strength of your instruction, and your support and care for our students have been inspirational to me. The courage you have shown in providing our students with a safe learning environment and quality instruction during COVID was a resounding and remarkable success,” he wrote. In addition to thanking his staff, Massa praised Jones and the division leadership team for
Education (VDOE) established a uniform definition of social-emotional learning and developed the Virginia Guidance SEL Standards for all public students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade in the Commonwealth, according to the website. Jones said those standards are still being developed and are supposed to be finished this summer. However, Powhatan does not have to adopt the state standards for social emotional learning. “If there is something in there that we feel like doesn’t meet our needs or our students’ needs or reflect our community, we do not have to adopt those standards. So we do have flexibility there to devise a social emotional learning program that meets the needs you said earlier but for our community,” he said. Two years ago, teachers asked the division for more consistency with SEL, which led to the division looking for programs that could help, Jones said. One of those programs, Sanford Harmony, has been criticized recently in public meetings in the way it approaches SEL in some areas.
their support and accessibility over the years “I can’t imagine there is another county with such available, engaged, and supportive central office personnel. I have also been blessed to have worked with a great administrative team. I will miss them dearly as they are not just my coworkers but also people who I admire and who I am proud to now call my close friends,” he wrote. Massa finished by saying he didn’t know what he would be doing next but it would be an adventure that allows him to have time and energy for his family “while also finding the time to support public education.” Jones said the school division will miss Massa's leadership and passion at Powhatan High School and praised him for the work he has done in the last five years to “ensure that each and every student had the opportunity and support needed to succeed.” “Whether it was driving a homeless student to school every day to make sure he could finish his senior year or a simple conversation with students in the Commons, Dr. Massa's personal connection and commitment to students served as an example that will not be forgotten. I wish him the best as he takes time to be with his family and know that he will be successful in whatever path he chooses to take next,” Jones said.
The last year has been a pilot year using the SEL programs, which are large programs the school division has been able to pick from to find lessons that work in Powhatan, Jones said. The school division has been receiving feedback from teachers and staff that is overwhelmingly positive, he added. The division also has a community group that will be meeting to evaluate the programs, how they are being used, and if they are an asset. “As I talked about with VIC, now that we have a year’s experience and we have been able to pull what lessons work for us, we could not use Sanford Harmony anymore and just build our own lessons moving forward,” Jones said. “Now that we have some experience in doing it, we could put together a committee of primarily teachers that could build next year’s lessons that would build on what we have done, or we could continue using Sanford Harmony, or we could look at a different program.” Laura McFarland may be reached at Lmcfarland@ powhatantoday.com.
