As the closure of schools in Virginia due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has extended swiftly from 2 weeks to the end of the academic school year, VBCPS has released more information concerning student learning. 

The School Board met on March 25, 2020, to extend the 3rd quarter until April 24th. The 4th quarter will begin on April 27th and go until the end of the school year. Continuity of learning will continue until then, and a virtual learning model will begin April 27th. Spring Break  – April 11 through 19 – will still be honored. 

“Instruction must continue,” said Dr. Aaron Spence, superintendent, in a Deskside Chat on March 26. “According to the guidelines that we’ve gotten from the federal government and from the state government we have to continue with instruction and in order to ensure that our students are able to be promoted to the next grade level, or to receive the…credits that they need in their high school courses that are required for graduation we must document and they must demonstrate that they are learning the objectives that we were not able to teach prior to March the 13th.”

“To be clear, all students need to continue to complete and submit coursework assigned by their teachers in order to be able to move on to the next grade level and, for high school students, to get the credits required to graduate,” said Spence in an email to families on March 26.  

Grades for the 3rd quarter will be calculated solely based on the students grade on March 13, however, missing assignments can be completed and submitted. Seniors that were on track to graduate are encouraged to work with their teachers, and those who were not, to complete assignments to get back on the path for graduation. 

“I want all our seniors to know that we are going to do everything we can do to make sure that they will still receive their diploma,” said Spence in the email. Events such as prom and graduation are still up in the air, with Spence expressing a hopeful intent to do something “both memorable and safe.”  

For more information, COVID-19 updates regarding the school division are available here.