The Montgomery County School Board will vote Tuesday on tougher penalties for students who possess a weapon on campus or at a school event.
Meanwhile, newly hired schools Superintendent Kelly Guempel will continue a series of community listening sessions on Wednesday.
The Tuesday board meeting will take place at the county government center, 755 Roanoke St., Christiansburg. It will begin with a closed meeting at 6:30 p.m. to discuss personnel and a student matter. The regular session will begin at 7 p.m.
Students could be ‘expelled for a minimum of 365 days’ for firearms possession
The board will vote on approving a new policy that was first reviewed Feb. 3.
The existing policy states that the school board “shall expel students” for possessing any weapon or firearm unless the board “determines, based upon the facts of the particular situation that special circumstances exist and another disciplinary action is appropriate.”
That language would be replaced with language stating that under state code section 22.1-277.07, subsections A and E, a student bringing a firearm to school or a school-sponsored activity “must be expelled for a minimum of 365 days.” It includes a new statement that violations will be reported to law enforcement.
The proposed new policy also would add a knife with a blade of more than three inches to the list of prohibited weapons.
Spring break date the difference in two potential 2026-27 school calendars
The board will choose one of two options for the 2026-27 school year calendar.
In both versions, the year would begin with teacher workdays on Aug. 3-7 and Aug. 10, and the first day of classes on Aug. 11.
For major holiday breaks, both calendars would have schools closed Nov. 25-27 for Thanksgiving and Dec. 21-Jan. 1 for winter break. But one calendar schedules spring break for March 22-26, while another schedules it for March 29-April 2.
Both calendars schedule graduation weekend for May 21-23. However, one version puts the last day of school on May 27, while the other puts it on May 28.
Report: schools still have a (small) surplus of inclement weather days
The board will get a report stating that as of Feb. 9, schools have missed 68 instructional hours because of inclement weather and have used four of 10 allowable virtual instruction days.
This means the school division can get away with 3.4 additional inclement weather days and six virtual instruction days and still meet Virginia’s requirements to complete 180 instructional days or 990 instructional hours.
You can find meeting documents at https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/mcps/Board.nsf/Public.
New schools chief holding more listening sessions
New schools Superintendent Kelly Guempel began work Feb. 1. He is the former chief of schools in Spotsylvania County.
Guempel has held two community listening sessions on Feb. 11 and Feb. 12 at Auburn Middle School and Blacksburg High School.
He will continue listening sessions Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Eastern Montgomery Elementary, Thursday, Feb. 19, at Christiansburg Middle, Feb. 24 at Margaret Beers Elementary, Feb. 26 at Falling Branch Elementary, March 3 at Christiansburg High and March 5 at Price’s Fork Elementary. All sessions begin at 6 p.m.
According to Guempel’s plan for his first 90 days in office, the sessions allow him to hear from the school community on these questions: What do people most value about the school district? What are the biggest issues or challenges? What needs to be addressed immediately? What are some things the schools do extremely well? What important traditions does he need to know about?
