Whether the Williamsburg-James City County joint school division will decouple into independent districts is still undecided.
But James City County officials want to have a better understanding of the city’s preference on the matter by October.
In a statement, the county said the board wrote to Mayor Doug Pons in August asking that the city “indicate a decision or at least a preference” on the possible separation by the beginning of October.
Ruth Larson, chair of the county’s board of supervisors, told WHRO that date is well ahead of when the General Assembly would meet, which would be able to get involved in the decoupling process if it moved forward.
She acknowledged that the timing may be tight, though wanted to keep the lines of communication open and positive.
“What I hope is, in the next week or two, we hear from the city manager or I talk to the mayor and he says … ‘This is where we are,’” Larson said. “Then I can go back to my board and say ‘Okay, here’s an update.’”
“We may not know by October 1, but hopefully by October 15 we’ll know something.”
Larson said there was no malicious intent from the board behind the request, noting the two localities partner in multiple areas, but added it’s time to resolve the issue.
“I don’t want to have it lingering over us,” she said. “We just want to work towards getting this settled and … we are hopeful that we are going to know that sooner rather than later.”
“We have a lot to work out, logistically,” Larson told WHRO. “We hope that we will be able to work out a new contract and we will stay together, but if that is not what happens we are going to work together towards doing as best as we can on a (seamless) separation.”
Williamsburg city council shared an update on the situation at a recent meeting, followed by a public release the next day. In it, council members “noted that they anticipate both localities will keep planning for what individual school districts could look like, while also working to potentially remain united.”
“We are currently meeting with James City County to talk about what a future contract would look like moving forward,” Mayor Doug Pons said during the meeting. “But we’re also … continuing to talk and investigate what an independent school district would look like – and I think one helps inform the other.”
The question of breaking up the division, which has been run jointly by the city and county since 1955, first arose in the summer of 2023 as Williamsburg announced intent to study the feasibility of going solo. The study found city students lagged behind those from the county in every testing category, something city officials are investigating if an independent district can improve.
“At the end of the day, we are trying very hard to do what is best for the students and the families and the educators in … our community,” council member Stacy Kern-Sheerer said.
James City County followed that up by voting to terminate the joint service agreement that governs the district that same summer. The two localities have concurred that, should a split be finalized, it would not happen before the 2028 school year at the earliest.
Breaking up would be costly, requiring $18.9 million in the first year, according to the city’s feasibility study. Both localities would have to construct new school facilities as well, according to a county report detailing what steps are necessary to officially separate the joint division.
As talks continue, Williamsburg city council members urged residents to stay engaged and continue to share their perspectives on the future of the division with the council.
“Regardless of what the next steps are … no one is going to be left in the lurch,” said council member Barbara Ramsey. “We are not going to do something that would harm anyone’s education process.”
In response to the city’s update, James City County supervisors said in a statement they are “open to renegotiating the contract so that it more fairly distributes cost, representation and provides an excellent educational system for our students.”
The board noted surprise at hearing about the city’s plans to conduct its feasibility study in 2023, adding that the county voted to terminate the agreement in order to not be caught unprepared should the city lean in to decoupling the division.
“(T)he contract allows either the county or the city to terminate the contract at any point by notifying the other locality,” according to the release. “At that point, termination of the joint school system can take effect as early as the end of the following school year.”
Larson told WHRO that James City County would need to replace a division administration building in addition to finding space in the county for some 600 middle school students if the decoupling was finalized.
“We’ve been talking about a new government center,” Larson said. “Would we need a spot for our school admin in our new government center? There’s just so many things that are riding on this.”
