Petersburg schools seek community input on five-year strategic plan

PETERSBURG, Va. (WWBT) - Petersburg Public Schools division, in partnership with Hazard Young Attea Associates, hosted a town hall meeting on Monday night to gather community input for the district’s five-year strategic plan.

“Our families and our parents, they sent their kids to Petersburg Public Schools everyday. They should have a voice in what our plan is for the next five years,” Petersburg Superintendent Yolanda Brown said.

Parents and community members outlined their priorities for the district, including active parent participation, a 95 percent graduation rate, and full accreditation for all schools within the next five to ten years.

Parent Lakeshia Tinsley said she wants to see improvements in the transition from elementary to middle school.

“Just the ease of the transition from elementary to middle school, it would be great if there were smaller classroom sizes, and/or if they had aides in the classes with the teachers,” Tinsley said.

Community members also said they want students to have better written and verbal communication skills.

Brown, who is less than a year into her role as Petersburg superintendent, said she is leading efforts to develop a plan for student success beyond the classroom.

She wants students to graduate with choices for higher education, military service, or entrepreneurship.

Newly released SOL scores show 41 percent of students passed their reading exam, slightly down from last year.

Math test results showed students improved by two points, with a passing rate of 36 percent.

“Disappointed but I understand we had a teacher shortage,” Tinsley said about the scores.

Brown said her team is “never satisfied” with the current data and is working to identify needed changes.

“What I ask parents to continue to walk this journey with us and I want to assure them that the leadership team of Petersburg, working with the school board, working with parents and families working, with school based employees and our entire team to figure out what needs to change,” Brown said.

Brown says the division purchased approximately $1.5 million in high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and resources, aligned to State standards, for K-12 math and 6-12 reading.

Promoting teacher prep programs is among the several big points from the community tonight. The school division partners with several Universities like the H.E.R.O. residency program at Virginia State University to help students who are interested in pursuing a career in education get their degree. Students can get a tuition-free Master’s degree if they commit to working in PCPS for three years post graduation.

Superintendent Brown tells 12 On Your Side tonight the school division is seeing more students taking advantage of that opportunity.

Their are some strengths community members pointed out, they include:

• Family Engagement
• Cultural Awareness
• Entrepreneurship program
• Dual Enrollment
• Social emotional check-ins
• Giving former students the opportunity to speak at commencement ceremonies

The school division is now approaching phase III in the 5-year-strategic planning process, which includes evaluating the feedback presented in Monday night’s meeting. The school division will adopt the strategic plan in December.