Charlottesville School Board to start meetings later in early 2026

When the Charlottesville School Board meets for the first time in 2026, they’ll begin an hour later than usual. The meeting will begin January 8, 2026 at 6 p.m. rather than 5 p.m. in an attempt to try to encourage more public comment.

“Hearing public feedback is foundational to the work we do,” said Board Chair Emily Dooley in an information release. “Our hope is that by shifting the meeting to a later time, we can encourage more community members to participate either in person or via Zoom.”

The School Board meets at Charlottesville High School in the the Booker T. Reaves Media Center. The Board will try this for meetings in January, February, and March before deciding whether to revert back to 5 p.m. The decision was made to begin this experiment at the September meeting.

The meeting’s agenda can be found here.

The information release has a full list of ways that people can participate which I’m printing verbatim below.

Watch:

• In-person: The community is invited to attend meetings in person at Charlottesville High School, in the Booker T. Reaves Media Center
• Via Zoom: The registration link is sent monthly to all Charlottesville City Schools staff, families, and CHS students, as well as to subscribers of School Board notices. In addition, the notice is posted to the division’s website.
• On Facebook: The Cville Schools Facebook page shows meetings live (and the recordings are available later).
• On YouTube: The meetings stream live and are later available for viewing on the Charlottesville City Schools YouTube channel.
• On TV: Meetings are simulcast live on Education Channel 14 (Comcast Channel 14 in Charlottesville); they are also later broadcast on Thursday & Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday & Sunday at 12 and 7 p.m. of the same week as the meeting, and throughout the following month.

Give Public Comment at Meetings:

• In-person: Attend the meeting in person at CHS and sign up to speak at the dais.
• Via Zoom: The registration link is sent monthly to all Charlottesville City Schools staff, families, and CHS students, as well as to subscribers of School Board notices. In addition, the notice is posted to the division’s website. Use the Zoom “raise your hand” feature to speak during public comment sections.
• The community can also email the School Board at schoolboard@charlottesvilleschools.org.

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