TSA_Harrisonburg

Richmond impasse forces special meeting
School Board passes capital improvement plan, waits on Assembly. By Deb and Joe Fitzgerald

Tuesday marked the Harrisonburg School Board’s final regular meeting of the school year, but only on paper. The board is being forced to schedule a follow-up meeting, tentatively set for 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 7, because the General Assembly left Richmond without completing the state budget. That delayed budget will determine how much funding the Harrisonburg school division actually gets.

The most substantive piece of business on Tuesday’s agenda was the discussion and approval of the HCPS Capital Improvement Plan. The board reviewed updated cost projections for several maintenance items, noting that HVAC and roof costs have escalated roughly 15% since last year’s estimates, and that the city has asked the division to limit the CIP list to items over $100,000. Track replacement at HHS came up as a notable cost (around $400,000), with members agreeing it’s not yet a safety hazard but should be addressed before it worsens. There was also discussion of HHS auditorium work (clarified as not yet complete, separate from the earlier renovation phase), elevator replacement, additional roof and window work at Keister, and ongoing parking lot repairs.

A larger portion of the conversation centered on long-term capacity planning tied to residential growth (referencing developments like Bluestone Town Center and the Link). The board discussed the tradeoffs between purchasing land for a future school versus building additions onto existing schools, noting that land acquisition is a slower, more council-dependent process that has historically been politically difficult, while building additions involves less outside coordination.

While other localities often bank land for future school construction, selling it at a profit if the land is not needed, some council members in Harrisonburg have treated the idea as a desire to build new schools. This is part of a pattern of city staff and council members sometimes treating school spending as being in competition with other projects, which staff and council can more closely control.

A potential land purchase was pushed to year five (2031) of the plan, with some discussion about whether to qualify it as “purchase land or build addition” to keep options open. The board reiterated that the CIP is a plan, not a budget, with land purchase being the most flexible line item.

The board approved the division CIP, which will get folded into and become part of the Harrisonburg City Capital Improvement Plan.

In a routine piece of end-of-year housekeeping, the board also approved transferring $1.3 million between various division funds, moving existing dollars to where they’re needed most. No new money from City Council is required.

-$546,472.07 into the Operation and Maintenance function to fund various school facility upgrades and school safety improvements.

-$468,356.16 into the Technology function for laptop, Chromebook, monitor, teaching screens, and docking station refreshes at the schools and central office.

-Transfer of $259,994.15 into the Administration, Attendance and Health category to cover a change in state coding for positions and pre-paying software licenses.

Continuing with periodic updates from the Division’s strategic plan implementation teams, this presentation from Harrisonburg City Public Schools’ Action Team 6 outlines progress on seven strategic goals tied to the division’s commitment to safe, modern facilities and a talented, culturally competent staff. Workforce-focused strategies include conducting a salary audit and competitive pay raises, expanding dual-language and ESL support, building relationships with HBCUs and other teacher-training partners to diversify hiring, and partnering with the Harrisonburg Education Association on collective bargaining agreements around pay, benefits, and working conditions.

On the professional growth side, the division has built mentorship and induction programs for new staff and administrators, is developing a micro-credentialing and career pathway system, and is enhancing teacher and support-staff evaluation systems to emphasize constructive feedback rather than punitive review. Other strategies address how time and space are used: schedules at the middle and high school levels have been adjusted for instructional time and student needs, a calendar committee gathers community feedback annually, and ongoing facility investments include HVAC and roof upgrades, new camera systems, and major construction projects. Finally, the division highlights the successful completion of Rocktown High School ( still called “HHS 2” when the strategic plan was created), which has now opened its doors to students.

A number of policies were discussed. All were approved unanimously except the last one on the list below, Policy 415.

New Policy 430: Parent/Guardian Notification of Safe Storage of Prescription Drugs and Fi****ms. This is a new policy reflecting state legislation that goes into effect July 1. This policy requires Harrisonburg City Public Schools to notify parents and guardians within the first 30 days of each school year, and in multiple languages on the division website, about the importance of securely storing fi****ms and prescription drugs in the home. The notification must also cover relevant state firearm storage laws, statistics on firearm-related accidents and deaths (including youth su***de), and resources for getting help for a child who may be at risk of harming themselves or others.

New Policy 439: Financial Aid Information and Guidance for High School Students. This is a new policy reflecting state legislation that goes into effect July 1. This policy commits HCPS to helping high school students and their families understand and access financial aid, including the FAFSA and Virginia’s alternative aid application, by providing guidance on eligibility, deadlines, and resources each year, and by posting related data publicly on the division’s website. HHS and RHS are also required to set five-year goals for increasing the share of graduating seniors who complete a financial aid application and to track and report their progress toward those goals. Importantly, completing a financial aid application remains entirely optional, students and families can opt out without penalty, and the division must protect students’ personal information throughout the process.

New Policy 758: Academic Planning and Course Selection. This is a new policy reflecting state legislation that goes into effect July 1, with the language taken from a Virginia School Board Association sample policy. This policy commits Harrisonburg City Public Schools to giving students and families clear, comprehensive information on academic planning, course selection, graduation requirements, and career and post-secondary preparation, with school counselors helping students build plans tied to their individual goals. It also requires the division to notify parents and guardians at least 30 days before course registration deadlines and explain how to request changes to a student’s course selections.

Policy 217: Emergency Drills. Minor revisions to reflect updated Code of VA requirements, with the language taken from VSBA sample policy. Some language was added to require the inclusion of bleeding control kits at safety drills, and to practice cardiac arrest drills.

Policy 415: Extracurricular Activities. Revisions made here reflect the new Code of VA requirement that go into effect July 1. This new section of the policy bars school employees and volunteers from using social media as the only way to communicate with students about extracurricular activities, requiring division-approved apps instead, unless the Superintendent grants a written exception with clear usage instructions. The exception can be revoked anytime. This one has been postponed till July, and will be added to the agenda of the special meeting planned for July 7.

Planners say no to Market Street townhouses: Neighbors highlight traffic concerns at an already complex intersection

By Deb and Joe Fitzgerald

Harrisonburg’s Planning Commission on Wednesday voted 3-2 to recommend denial of a request to build a townhouse complex across East Market Street from Martin’s grocery store and adjacent to Fairway Hills.

The commission spent the bulk of their meeting on the requested rezoning of a 6.6-acre site at 2210 and 2230 East Market Street, a property currently zoned R1 for single-family homes.

The developer wanted to change the zoning to R8 (Small Lot Residential) to build 49 townhouses. The property sits between the Fairway Hills neighborhood and East Market Street, across Betts Road from the Chatham Square neighborhood.

The applicant requested both the rezoning and a special use permit (SUP), required to build with more than eight townhouse units in a row under the zoning sought. A rezoning would change what’s allowed on the land in general, and a special use permit would add the specific permission for the townhouse format they wanted to build.

To address neighbor concerns, the developer made several commitments: a 20-foot landscaping buffer and 6-foot privacy fence along the back yards of six Fairway Drive homes, at least 10 extra guest parking spaces, a small tot-lot playground for residents, and a sidewalk along Betts Road.

A significant complication is that the Betts Road/East Market Street intersection was recently reconfigured to restrict left turns and through traffic via an R-Cut (Restricted Crossing U-Turn), making it harder to get in and out of the neighborhood, a change that is planned to become permanent this summer. City staff reviewed the proposal and recommended denial, citing not the traffic concerns, but saying the townhouse development doesn’t fit well with the surrounding neighborhood character or the city’s long-range land use plan for that area.

For neighbors in Fairway Hills opposing the project, the main issue was traffic. With only one planned entry and exit point onto Betts Road, and the recent reconfiguration of the Betts/East Market Street intersection limiting how drivers can get in and out, residents worry the development adds significant traffic to roads that already have safety problems.

Some called for a second access point, possibly onto Market Street, or a reconsideration of the Betts Road intersection. Compounding that concern is the lack of sidewalks in the surrounding Fairway Hills neighborhood and the absence of any traffic calming measures, leaving pedestrians (especially kids) more vulnerable as vehicle volume increases. Neighbors also pushed back on the adequacy of the proposed buffer, arguing that a 20-foot landscape strip isn’t enough to meaningfully protect the privacy and character of adjacent back yards.

Beyond the immediate neighborhood, opponents flagged the broader impacts on city infrastructure such as water, sewer, and especially schools, with the city’s own analysis projecting 37 new K-12 students assigned to Smithland Elementary, Skyline Middle, and Rocktown High. Finally, several residents made the pointed argument that they bought and invested in their homes based on the existing zoning, and that approving this rezoning undermines the reliability of those land use decisions.

Council representative Laura Dent briefly floated the idea of a motion to table the whole proposal, but acknowledged that doing so at the Planning Commission stage would only act as a delay.

Commissioner Randy Seitz noted dryly that the City Council has gotten quite good at tabling things (such as the Link and, the previous night, the Peach Grove Avenue project), then made a broader observation: many proposals coming before the commission this year run into the same limiting constraint, traffic. He noted that the issue is a more complex problem than simply promoting bikes and public transportation, an issue raised several times by Commissioner K.C. Kettler; Seitz said that the tension is very real. The city needs both affordable and workforce housing, but residential growth puts pressure on major arterial roads such as Market Street in ways that affect the entire community, but most especially the immediate neighborhood.

With two members absent, a five-member quorum heard the matter. Seitz moved to deny the rezoning and SUP in line with staff’s recommendation; Vice-Chair Porter and Commissioner Rob Jezior joined him in a 3-2 vote to deny. Council representative Laura Dent and Commissioner Kettler dissented. The proposal goes to City Council in July carrying both an unfavorable staff recommendation and the commission’s denial.

Two other proposals were uncontroversial and were dispatched with unanimous votes during the first 20 minutes of the meeting.

A property owner at 453 West Water Street is asking the city for permission to run a short-term rental (like an Airbnb) out of a converted garage on their property. The owner lives on-site in one of two connected units on the property and wants to rent the garage space to up to four guests at a time. City rules normally only allow this kind of rental when guests stay in the main house, so a special permit is required. The catch is that the garage was renovated without permits by a previous owner, so the current owner has to get that work officially approved and obtain an occupancy certificate before any guests can stay. City staff reviewed the request and recommended approval, with conditions limiting the number of guests, requiring adequate parking, and allowing the permit to be revisited if the rental becomes a neighborhood problem. A motion to forward the proposal to city council in July passed unanimously with little discussion.

T&E Meats, a meat processing facility and slaughterhouse that has operated at 256 Charles Street for years, asked for a special permit to bring its operation into official compliance with city zoning rules. The business currently exists as a “nonconforming use”, meaning it was operating before the rules caught up with it. Earlier this year, City Council updated the zoning ordinance to allow this type of facility in the industrial zone where T&E is located, but only with a special permit. Getting that permit removes the nonconforming label and gives the business a cleaner path to future improvements. The owner isn’t proposing to expand right now, but conforming status would make that easier down the road. As part of the deal, the business has agreed to several conditions: keeping livestock in screened, out-of-sight areas for no more than 48 hours, marking required parking spaces, and installing a grease trap to protect the city’s sewer system. City staff recommended approval, Planning Commission agreed, and a motion to forward the proposal to City Council in July passed unanimously with little discussion.

Council delays Purcell area rezoning vote; Peach Grove student housing complex pulled from agenda

By Deb and Joe Fitzgerald

The Harrisonburg City Council considered a number of rezoning requests at its Tuesday meeting, but noticeably absent was a student housing request denied by the Planning Commission last month.

The 739-bed complex beside the Vito’s/Food Lion strip mall on Port Republic Road was the first major student housing complex voted down by either Planning Commission or City Council in recent years. The applicant temporarily withdrew the request for rezoning after the Planning Commission rejection.

The rejected project was the first aimed at JMU students since the university adopted a plan to increase the student body significantly but move a majority of the students onto the campus. The move could leave 4,500 or more existing bedrooms of student housing vacant over the next 14 years.

The commission’s recommendation of denial is not binding on the council, and there is no way to know how the university’s new plan may affect the council’s delayed decision on The Link, which would add at least 340 and as many as 445 bedrooms of student housing.

The council voted Tuesday to delay their decision on the most significant rezoning on the agenda, a proposed project on 1.23 acres on South Main near the Purcell Park neighborhood.

The owner of 1340 South Main Street (between Maryland and South Avenues, next to the old RiteAid/new Dollar Tree) asked the city to update a set of previously approved development agreements and renew two special use permits that have since expired. The original 2017 approvals envisioned a mixed-use building combining apartments and ground-floor commercial space. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval last month, and more detail is included in that coverage.

The project would include 26 apartments, 20 of them single-bedroom, and up to 5,000 square feet of commercial or retail businesses. Residents of the neighborhood around the project asked that the project be tabled or denied, citing concerns with pedestrian safety, parking, and traffic. The neighborhood is bounded by traffic arteries Port Republic Road and Main Street, making left turns into the area difficult. To a question about existing traffic trying to get into the neighborhood from Main Street, Public Works director Tom Hartman said the answer is patience.

Although discussion by council indicated the rezoning was likely to pass, they voted to table the topic until their July 28 meeting, pending a community discussion of the traffic issues. The vote followed an extensive discussion of exactly how to table the issue and how long they’d table it. The motion was made by Council Member Monica Robinson, who is up for reelection this year. Council member Dany Fleming, also up for reelection, had earlier suggested a similar delay. Fleming has also twice pushed for a delay of the vote on The Link.

Council members spoke of possible future traffic mitigation efforts, but didn’t say what those would be.

For whatever reason, Mayor Reed allowed the developer to speak to council opposing the motion to table. Ordinarily, only council members are allowed to speak after a motion is made.

In other items, council approved a special use permit at 1315 Carrera Lane, also in the Purcell Park neighborhood, to operate a short-term rental in the finished apartment above their garage, and approved a request from the owner of 850 Canterbury Court, near Westover Park, to rezone their property to allow them to expand their front porch.

School Board extends superintendent's contract
Rocktown English teacher Audra Vasiliauskas named HCPS Educator of the year

By Deb and Joe Fitzgerald

The last Harrisonburg School Board meeting of the school year was packed with student recognitions, staff honors, and enough serious business to keep things official.

Topping the list of serious business was the unanimous approval of an extension of the contract of HCPS Superintendent Michael Richards. Richards will complete year 2 of his current 4 year contract on June 30. Virginia law caps superintendent contracts at four years. All contract terms must expire on June 30, so Richards current contract will terminate on June 30. His new 4-year contract begins on July 1. No renegotiated contract terms were made public at this point.

Recognitions took up most of the first hour of the meeting, with principals, coaches, and teachers recognizing student accomplishments in a wide variety of fields. Spring athletes were honored, and HCPS Electric Vehicle Grand Prix student participants delivered a top-notch presentation on the achievements of the HHS and RHS teams.

Cody Polk, outgoing Harrisonburg Educational Association (HEA) President was recognized. Polk, a teacher at Stone Spring Elementary school, served as president of HEA for 2 exceptionally consequential years. He was instrumental in getting the collecting bargaining resolution to a point where both HEA and the HCPS School Board approved. Seth Berkeley, an HHS science instructor, will succeed him during the first year of contract negotiations under collective bargaining.

Harrisonburg Educational Foundation (HEF) Executive Director Cody Oliver and Vice-Chair Adam Copeland handed out individual school All Star educator of the year awards. HCPS attorney Joel Francis of BotkinRose then presented the top honor, Division Educator of the Year, to RHS English teacher Audra Vasiliaukas, along with a $1,000 grant sponsored by the firm.

The Board approved the calendar of meeting dates for the next academic year, and the VSBA services agreement.

Board Clerk Lisa Knupp was nominated for a new Virginia School Board Association recognition honoring the unsung work of clerks across the commonwealth, but the rules say the nomination requires unanimity. One absent school board member means the vote gets a do-over one more time at the next work session.

A number of policies were passed unanimously, all with minimal discussion:

New Policy 757: Acceleration
This policy creates two pathways for students to move ahead faster than their grade level. Any student in kindergarten through 7th grade (whether or not they’re in the gifted program) can be evaluated for skipping a grade. For subject-area acceleration, 8th graders can be placed into above-grade courses based on ability, academic history, and student/parent willingness, with guidance counselor support. Middle schoolers who complete high school credit courses can count those credits toward graduation, as long as the course matches the high school version in content and rigor. Parents also have the option to request that a middle school high school course not appear on their child’s high school transcript. There’s a specific form and deadline for that request.

Policy 733: Testing Programs. Also up for a 5 year review, with changes aligning with VSBA language.

The proposed new version removes this language from the HCPS policy: “{The parent(s) and/or guardian(s) of a student, or an adult student, has the right to refuse to have the student participate in any state standardized assessments. In the event that right is exercised by a parent(s) or guardian(s) of a student, or an adult student, then the individual making the request should be informed of the consequences of their request and the impact their decision may have on the individual student.”

Virginia regs do not include an official “opt-out policy” for state assessment like SOL’s.. Parents, though, may refuse testing for their children. The regulation most commonly cited, 8VAC20-131-30, allowed parents to refuse participation in certain cases, but that regulation was repealed effective September 25, 2024. The Virginia General Assembly passed House Bill 1957 in 2025, which will make several changes to SOL assessment administration beginning in the 2026-27 school year, including counting SOL scores toward classroom grades. That makes refusal a bigger deal going forward, since a zero on the SOL could now drag down a course grade.

As approved, this policy now also states that test results are shared with teachers, parents, principals, and school leaders as soon as possible after testing. Students are never required to disclose their race or ethnicity on a test itself, though school staff may pull that information from a student’s permanent record if needed, and no one is required to share that information unless federal law requires it or an “other” option is provided. Finally, for any individual assessments related to special education eligibility, parents must be informed and give consent before the assessment is administered or results are shared with outside agencies.

Policy 409: Parental Involvement in Education. This policy is back again for review, as during the last meeting, the Board requested some guidance from legal counsel on when to include “guardian.” Counsel indicated that while it is the case that “guardian” may not be relevant in some specific situations, there is no harm in adding it to all instances where “parent” occurs. Those changes have been made. Additional changes are included as recommended by the VSB last month, dealing with processes for changing student course selection.

Policy 667/751: Acceptable Computer System Use. Minor changes to this recently approved policy in order to explicitly include “instruction on key modern digital safety topics, including online scams, misinformation, and content generated by artificial intelligence.”

Policy 319: Staff Travel. Revisions here move logistical details of how the policy works to the level of a regulation, and simplification of the policy itself to explicitly state that reimbursement from school district funds is only available if the activity was approved in advance by the Superintendent and the employee submits a travel expense statement with supporting documents after the trip.

Policy 421: Teacher Removal of Students from Class. Modified to align with the Virginia School Board Association language. Teachers have the authority to remove a student from class for disruptive behavior, but only after several steps have been taken: the behavior must genuinely be disrupting the learning environment, other interventions must have already been tried and failed, and parents/guardians must have been notified and given the chance to meet with the teacher or administrators. Before a removal can happen, the teacher must have already filed two written incident reports with school administration, each sent to parents within 24 hours. Once a student is removed, the principal decides where the student goes, such as to another class, the office, an alternative program, or suspension/expulsion.

Policy 715: Health/Physical Education. This one is up for a 5 year review, with changes aligning with VSBA language. The changes make explicit that health and physical education instruction meets state standards and covers the full picture of student wellness, not just physical health, but mental health too. Instruction may include age-appropriate lessons on the safe use and risks of prescription drugs, as well as menstrual education for grades 4 through 8.

Policy 718: Driver Education. This one is up for a 5-year review, with changes aligning with VSBA language, and makes explicit what the curriculum covers, such as safe driving practices as well as alcohol and drug awareness, aggressive and distracted driving, speeding, reckless driving, motorcycle awareness, organ and tissue donor awareness, fuel-efficient driving, and how to handle traffic stops appropriately. The program also includes a required 90-minute parent/student session covering parental responsibilities, Virginia’s juvenile driving laws, drunk driving dangers, and the risks of distracted and reckless driving (though students who are 18 or older, emancipated, or without a parent/guardian in their custody are exempt from that component.) There is a fee for the behind-the-wheel portion, but the School Board can waive it for students who can’t afford it. Students must meet academic requirements to participate and cannot operate a vehicle without a learner’s permit or license. Driver education instructors must hold valid licenses and clean driving records. Any instructor who accumulates six or more demerit points in a 12-month period is suspended from teaching driver ed for two years.

Scheikl rejected as MTC speaker: City not consulted in removing former superintendent

By Deb and Joe Fitzgerald

After spending years helping lead one of the two school divisions that built and sustained the Massanutten Technical Center for more than 50 years, Oskar Scheikl said he was honored when MTC Director Kevin Hutton invited him in March to speak at Tuesday night’s graduation ceremony, a gesture he described in a Wednesday social media post as both meaningful and deeply appreciated.

On May 1, he was formally uninvited. The official reason, delivered by email, stated that the MTC director had “exceeded the scope of his authority” in extending the invitation. The joint MTC Board that governs the institution till June of 2027 was not consulted. Scheikl, reading between the lines, concluded the directive came from Rockingham County Public Schools leadership, in part because he now works part-time as a data systems coordinator for Harrisonburg City Public Schools.

That appears to be reason enough for a former county superintendent to be told he was no longer welcome to address students at a center he helped lead for years.

“That’s how petty the interactions have become,” Scheikl wrote.

This also fits a pattern observers have been documenting about city-county interactions for more than two years, a period that has seen a grinding accumulation of exclusions, large and small.

In March 2025, county board members voted down HCPS board member Dr. Andy Kohen, the most senior member of the MTC board, for MTC vice chair, with no explanation offered. They simply voted no and said nothing. Kohen is the only Jewish member of the board and has been openly supportive of LGBT students, a stance county board members do not share. (Link in comments.)

That same month, reports surfaced that Rockingham County was quietly exploring building a new MTC facility without formally notifying city officials, while simultaneously pushing to rewrite the governing agreement to give county members 80 percent of the vote, all based on budget numbers they had misstated in a press release. (Link in comments.)

The city’s school board rejected the county’s proposed changes, offered reasonable counter-proposals, and got nothing workable in return. (Link in comments.)

By June, Rockingham County was taking presentations on a $75 million new facility while city Superintendent Michael Richards wasn’t in the room. Richards wrote a letter calling it out directly: the process “lacked meaningful inclusion.” (Link in comments.)

By August, the city’s school board voted 5-0-1 to end a 55-year partnership. “The trust has been broken,” said board member Kaylene Seigle, the board’s only Republican, who abstained. “This is a sad day.” (Link in comments.)

The city is moving forward. A planning committee has been working on career and technical education alternatives, with a promising partnership with Blue Ridge Community College taking shape and the possibility that the city’s students may ultimately be better served and at lower cost. (Link in comments.)

But Scheikl’s removal as speaker is a reminder of how personal and how small this has gotten on one side of this dispute. A former county superintendent, now doing part-time work for the city, gets quietly disinvited from a ceremony at a school he helped lead. Not through a conversation, but through a bureaucratic boilerplate email invoking process. It’s the same energy that opposed a vice chair nomination without explanation, that excluded city officials from a $75 million planning process, that issued a press release with numbers everyone knew to be false.

At some point, a pattern of behavior stops requiring explanation of individual motives. It simply describes the situation.

The students who graduated Tuesday night didn’t need to hear from Oskar Scheikl to have a meaningful ceremony. But they deserved leaders who could put their pettiness aside long enough not to make the night about themselves.