A new agreement to operate the joint Williamsburg-James City County school division could be coming soon, the school board’s chairwoman said.
Chairwoman Sarah Ortego updated the rest of the school board during its work session Tuesday, saying that the new agreement could come “in the next few weeks.”
The work session followed an Aug. 29 committee meeting held to discuss the contract. The committee includes Ortego, School Board Vice Chair Andrea Donnor, Superintendent Daniel Keever, James City County Supervisor Ruth Larson and Vice Chair John McGlennon, County Administrator Scott Stevens as well as Williamsburg Councilor Stacy Kern-Scheerer, Vice Mayor Pat Dent and City Manager Andrew Trivette.
The school division’s two funding partners — the city and the county — have been meeting for the past year to negotiate a new contract for the joint school system.
The issue goes back to June 2023, when the Williamsburg City Council launched a feasibility study on whether the city could operate as an independent public school system. James City County leaders reacted by voting to terminate the joint contract, which has existed since 1955 but expired in June. The two sides later agreed to work on a new contract.
Progress has been made, Ortego said Tuesday.
“They’ve spent many hours working through various scenarios in order to find the most fair solution that will ensure that various needs of both county students and city students are met,” Ortego said.
Ortego said the parties are working through “some final details,” but noted they each have stated their goal to produce a joint agreement. “We are hopeful that that will in fact occur soon,” she said.
There are about 11,000 students enrolled in the division, with 10,000 from James City County and about 1,000 from Williamsburg. Icenhour has previously said that both sides were working toward a solution for “an equitable sharing of the cost” to running the division.
James W. Robinson, 757-799-0621, james.robinson@virginiamedia.com
