Virginia Beach Education Association

10/13/2026

VBEA BUILDING REPRESENTATIVES:
Our first Rep. Assembly Meeting will be Wednesday, October 21st!
Location: Green Run HS Library
This is an important meeting- building reps will be voting on the new budget & board leadership!
The meeting is open to all members, but only reps are eligible to vote on items. If you missed our first All Member meeting, this is a good opportunity to get caught up! We’ll see you there, at 5:30 pm!

10/13/2026

After the Workshop Session for City Council last week, we were unfortunately left with more questions than answers. However, a few things did come up so we thought we'd share our updated Q& A sheet with you!
Some big things to note right now: The presentation for the reversion funds is NOT on the school board meeting agenda for today like it was originally thought to be. Instead, it seems like the presentation will be moved to the October 27th meeting, as this is what was mentioned at the Tuesday workshop.
October 27th is going to be a pretty important meeting! We're gonna take this time to again plug the grade in we have scheduled for then, if you haven't RSVP'd via our Action Network, take a minute to do so now! We have a chance to make some serious waves at this meeting🌊
https://actionnetwork.org/events/vbcps-grade-in?source=direct_link&

Additionally, if you haven't seen our most important takes from the city council workshop, we'll have it 🔗 in the comments for you. Too many council members tried to play this issue off as being "blown out of proportion" and we think that's pretty disrespectful, because you guys all have some genuinely valid concerns. It was repeated many times that this is "just an ask" and not a requirement for the time being, but we know this is all just getting started. Our questions now are:

🔵From the reactions on the dais at the Sept. 22 SB meeting, there was no "ask"; it was presented as this is what is being done. Why was there not a presentation already given to the SB on the project as part of this so-called "ask"?
🔵Barbara Henley mentioned both Regent University and Batten University (formerly Virginia Wesleyan) as the higher education groups that have asked for this - where is the request for them to "cost participate"? The estimated cost is $6 million, so the $3 million "ask" of VBCPS is 50%!
🔵There was mention of this being a great place for our military community to use. In the presentation about the Law Enforcement Training Academy (LETA), the recommendation for putting the new building at the ITA area noted it would be great because the cadets can use the track. Where is the request for those groups to "cost participate"?
🔵Does the city intend to allow other groups to hold events like 5K, half-marathons and marathons on the course?

There is a major lack of transparency regarding this whole situation and a lot of conflicting statements have been made. We just can't make sense as to why VBCPS was "asked" to cost share for this project yet none of the other organizations, who apparently requested the track, were.

Make sure you tell the school board to reject the proposal when it comes their way on October 27th! We can find so many better options for utilizing these reversion funds! 👇

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/vbcps-reversion-funds?source=direct_link&

And perhaps it's time to demand actual answers from the city council? 🤔 Because that workshop included anything but.

https://clerk.virginiabeach.gov/city.../city-council-members

10/11/2026

Monday, Oct. 12, 2026 is the last day for Open Enrollment. If you’re a VBCPS employee and you haven’t seen information, check your junk folder in your work email.

Attention, Benefits Eligible VBCPS Employees: Open Enrollment is here!
The Open Enrollment window closes Monday, October 12, 2026.

This year is a passive enrollment, which means the following coverages will roll over in 2027 unless you change them:
✅ Health Plan
✅ Dental Plan
✅ Legal Plan
✅ Identity Theft Protections

You are required to take action on the following coverages if you wish to have them for 2027:
🟡 Health Savings Account (HSA)
🟡 Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
🟡 Dependent Care Reimbursement Account (DCRA)

You can enroll in the following at any time:
➡️ Long Term Disability (VRS Plan 1 and 2 members only)
➡️ Optional Life Insurance
➡️ 457 Deferred Compensation Plan
➡️ VBCPS 403(b) Retirement Savings Plan

Visit www.BenefitsAtTheBeach.com for more information, or contact the Consolidated Benefits office at 757-263-1060

📢 Check your life insurance beneficiaries yearly! Life changes, and the named beneficiary on a policy overrides a will. 📢

10/10/2026

A few weeks ago we sent out our own calendar survey with what we felt were more nuanced questions than the district's. Ours were created from the feedback we have received from members, discourse we have seen online, and a few comments made by some SB members at the School Board Retreat this past summer. We promised we'd share this data with you all so we're taking a break from all the other chaos happening right now to do that!
We had 400 participants and a there are a few key results we would like to highlight:

97.99% of participants responded YES to support for adding the phrase "or 900 Instructional Hours" into VBCPS Policy! Currently, the district policy is that we go to school for 180 days. The state of Virginia allows us to adopt either 990 instructional hours, 180 instructional days, or both. Doing this could help us avoid situations like adding 10 minutes to the school day at the end of the year, which happened this past spring. The Policy Review Committee is meeting next Wednesday, 10/14, and they will be discussing this topic! Thanks to SB member Melinda Rodgers for pushing this so hard.

98% of participants said they absolutely want spring break to stay a full week, and 80% want 2 weeks to stay for WinterBreak! There was talk about changing some of these dates so that 2 additional days can be added to our calendar without taking away staff days. We don't even need the conversation about the extra days, if we just adopt the statement mentioned above in our policy. 👀

Reminder that the new calendar is set to be presented at the October 27th school board meeting, where we are hosting our Grade In! This is a very important meeting to keep an eye on, so whether or not you're participating in our collective action, make sure you're at this one!
RSVP for more updates about the grade in here👇
https://actionnetwork.org/events/vbcps-grade-in?source=direct_link&

The questions we asked in our survey:
🔵When do you prefer to start the school year?
🔵Would you support having up to two weeks for in-service if 2-3 of those days were specifically designated for PD and meetings and the rest of the time was to remain unencumbered?
🔵Would you like to have the second quarter end before the holiday break?
🔵How important is three days off for Thanksgiving?
🔵How important is a two week holiday break in December?
🔵How many work days should there be between grading periods?
🔵Do you support adding "or 990 instructional hours" to the VBCPS policy to allow flexibility in the calendar?
🔵Anything else you would like to share about the calendar? If you teach a class, please share with us needs for your grade level that might not currently be acknowledged in decision making.

You can find an interactive 🔗 to our data charts here, except for our free response section. We have pages of responses from that one, so we took some of the ones we felt needed highlighting the most and included them for you in a graphic!
*some answers were slightly altered for anonymity*

https://forms.veanea.net/report.php?key=1063292xd9341fbdd4

We know that 400 participants aren't even a majority of all district staff, but when everyone is echoing the same sentiments, it's very clear that there are serious issues here that need to be addressed. We hope that this new calendar brings with it some much deserved change.

More than that, we hope you recognize that the majority of our current leadership is not putting us first, and we have to change that. There are SIX seats up for election in this year's school board race- make sure you get to the polls by November 3rd!

10/09/2026

VBCPS families, if your student is not at one of the listed CEP schools and your student should qualify for free/reduced lunch, please make sure you have completed the paperwork for this year. Oct. 7 was the rollover cutoff for last year's applications, and new applications must be submitted to continue receiving assistance.
You can submit your application through https://www.schoolcafe.com/virginiabeachcps
Additionally, if your student is in high school, you should complete the form even if your student attends a CEP school because there are other school related fee waivers your student will qualify for.
When in doubt, fill it out.

10/08/2026

🙌🙌🙌

I have viewed the video from the Virginia Beach City Council's recent workshop discussing the proposed cross country trail.

First and foremost, "working together" requires a seat at the table. So far, I've not been extended an invitation from anyone on city council to even weigh in on this matter. This effectively silences the voices of the constituents I represent.

Second, I understand many other entities have asked for this trail. However, I don't see city council asking for their funds to pay for this endeavor.

The bottom line: funds are given to the school division for school needs. The school division's needs do not disappear simply because of the school division's budgeting practices to ensure solvency.

In July of 2023, the state conducted a study and audit of their funding formula for k-12 education, and found that across the Commonwealth, schools were being woefully underfunded (see https://jlarc.virginia.gov/landing-2023-virginias-k-12-funding-formula.asp).

If city council believes that the school division has been given plenty of money, where is their study? If they have questions as to why our HVAC costs so much or why our teachers are so underpaid, why not conduct a study and obtain a full understanding, with recommendations on how to best meet the needs of staff and students?

Informed decision making means getting the facts. Take the time to see what our schools provide to the community with the funds we've been given and why reversion funds are necessary to cover needs that have been left unmet.

If you really want to "work together", then let's actually do the work- Together.

10/08/2026

The October 13 School Board Agenda is out.
https://www2.vbschools.com/schoolboard/agenda.pdf
There are 2 items on the Consent Agenda that have not been on Information:
➡️ 2025-2026 Annual Field Trip Report
➡️ HRT Bus Shelter Easement - N. Witchduck Road - Renaissance Academy
‼️ At the time of this post, supporting documents had not been uploaded with the agenda ‼️

The FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26 Reversion Funds are NOT on this agenda. At the City Council meeting, a presentation to the School Board was mentioned for the October 27 meeting.
We urge all VBCPS staff to continue to email the SB with your thoughts on how these one-time funds should be used (raises and hiring more staff are unfortunately not options)
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/vbcps-reversion-funds?source=direct_link&

You can also come out to the October 27 SB meeting for either the 4:00 Workshop or the 6:00 Formal Session, whichever fits best in your schedule. Our School Board members need to see you!

10/07/2026

We've got A LOT on our radar right now, and we know, keeping up with it all can be really exhausting. But we're coming to you all with an opportunity to take action on some of the issues currently happening in our district!
As most of you know, Superintendent Dr. Robertson rolled out a new professional development requirement for staff days this year. The mandatory 2-3 hours of PD on every staff day has left many of us overwhelmed, underprepared, and spending hours outside of work trying to catch up.
To top it all off, several school board members have suggested making ridiculous changes to the calendar for the next two years that include shortening Christmas & spring break and adding another 2 days onto the year. Oh! And the board majority refuses to update language that would allow us to follow state requirements of either 180 instructional days or 990 instructional hours, which could help us avoid a repeat of last spring.
At the October 27 meeting, the school board will be discussing this new calendar presented to them from the Calendar Committee. We’re asking you to join us and your fellow members for a GRADE IN at this meeting! Bring all the work that you’re drawing in due to the new PD requirements and make a statement to the board: enough is enough. No added calendar days, no shortened breaks, and no more micromanaging! Let. Us. Teach.
Spread the word amongst your colleagues- you do not have to be a member to participate in collective action! The school board will not officially vote on the new calendar until after the November 3rd election. We have to make sure our voices are heard before then.
We’ll be taking 2 shifts: the 4-5:30 pm workshop session and the 6-8:30 pm formal session. Come and stay for whatever length of time you can; if you’re a member, wear your teal shirt! Let us know you’re coming & need follow up information by using the link below. These are our meetings with elected officials who represent us- it’s time that we demand our best interests are put first.

Share with your friends!!

10/06/2026

Now is a great time to ask some important questions to your potential new school board members!

We're excited to host an endorsed candidate meet & greet for our membership and friends of education!

Meet the faces who are going to see to it that our profession is honored, respected, and most importantly, fairly compensated. Join us at Voodoo Brewing, have a drink, meet some amazing folks, and learn about volunteer opportunities to help get them elected!
This event is open to all, but we especially encourage our fellow VBCPS staff to come by and learn more about these candidates and their campaign promises to educators.

Come & go as you please at Voodoo Brewing, 12-2 pm on Saturday, October 10th! RSVP on Action Network for event updates and reminders:
https://actionnetwork.org/events/vbea-pace-endorsed-candidate-meet-and-greet?source=direct_link&

Chris Lewis - District 2
Dr. Alveta Green - District 4
Antionette Kahan - District 6
Natalie Bray - District 8
Suzanne Berman - District 9
Dr. Betty Spencer - District 10

10/06/2026

Oof. That presentation left us with WAY more questions than answers. Some key things to note:

It was immediately stated that city council has not sat down and discussed this as a group and apparently it was city staff that went to our school district with this idea. City council would take control of maintaining the facility and offer VBCPS an MOU for use of it.

-It was repeated multiple times that "this was just an ask, not a requirement right now"

-We heard a lot of "we needed additional funding for this project, so we just talked to the schools and asked if they would be interested" but who exactly are they referring to when they say "the schools"? Because our school board members seemed to know next to nothing about this whole idea at their last meeting. And many council members said they got calls from SB asking for information about all of this after.

-They mentioned at this meeting that there will be a presentation to SB on October 27th, but we were told it would be the 13th so we'll try to get some clarification about that.

-It was mentioned in the presentation that this track would be used on the collegiate and potentially NCAA level, and that's why it would need extensive curating to meet those standards. Barbara Henley mentioned that the track was being pushed for by the higher education facilities in this city because they feel their programs are lacking- so we're going to ask again why are WE being asked to fund this?

-Several people mentioned that we don't have a cross country facility and made it seem like VBCPS students don't get any kind of rigorous training because of it. That not having a cross country track "diminishes our track program." However, our students train at first landing and other facilities and there is a large diversity of landscape there. Again, no one is arguing that this wouldn't be nice to have, but there are SO many other unattended needs in this district. We have broken ACs, poor air quality, a lack of equipment, an so much more in MANY of our worksite. These things should take priority and city council should know about them.

-It was asked to be clarified by council member Jennifer Rouse that the city has apparently not mandated to the schools where the funds have to come from for this project. She said that "there was talk of pulling from the healthcare fund and we don't want to touch that" but that's not what happened and not what our concern is. It was said at the last SB meeting that city council rejected the original proposal to use the reversion funds towards our healthcare reserve funds because it is a reoccurring expense. We're not sure if that's a law about how reversion funds can be spent or where that came from. But obviously, we can think of plenty of expenses, that are not reoccurring, to use the funds on.
ALSO- where else does she think we're going to pull $3 million from?? It may not be mandated that our portion of this project comes from the reversion funds, but what other actual money does she think we could put towards it? lol

-Council member Amelia-Ross Hammond stated that "sometimes we just have to work together" and gave examples of other times which the city has help the schools fund a project. And yeah, that's how it works. Because the city funds the school division. So while we want to talk about working together, lets bring up the fact that Virginia Beach is the largest city in Virginia and yet funds their school system at one of the lowest rates!

-Council member Rosemary Wilson reiterated that there will be multiple levels of people who benefit from this project, but most of the examples she gave were at the higher education level. Soooooo....

-Mayor Dwyer ended this talk in a way that we feel is pretty tone deaf. "Let's talk to the schools, let's get it done" sounded to us like he was saying "this is going to be done, one way or another." He then walked out of the room immediately after saying that. But let us know what you felt about that part.

The vibes in this discussion were really "this was just a casual ask and we should all just work together" and that kind of sucks because a lot of us are genuinely concerned about this being a misuse of funds at the current moment in time. Thanks to council members Worth and Jackson-Green for at least bringing up the other more pressing matters that need intervention in our district. However, the response was basically "oh yeah we're looking into more information about that."
A lot of council members feel that this whole situation just got blown out of proportion, but we think it's more likely that this is an instance where their constituents caught wind of something early on and can see the writing on the walls. And they just don't like people calling them out on that.

Our opinion, if the colleges are really pushing this then they should be talking about funding from sources other than VBCPS. We'll give a more updated fact sheet after we take a bit to review the meeting again and take all this new information in.

You can watch the meeting for yourself here:
https://www.facebook.com/CityofVaBeach/videos/2246303059636067/