VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Monday is the first day of school for students in Virginia Beach City Public Schools, and for the first time, Dr. Donald Robertson will open the school year as superintendent of the department.

“We had a really good school year last year and I’m looking forward to a really good school year this year,” Robertson said.

Robertson served as interim superintendent last year and was hired for the official role in January.

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“When we start a new school year, there are always adjustments that need to be made,” Robertson said. “In elementary and middle school, we’ve seen the implementation of the Virginia Literacy Act. We’ve probably spent the last seven months preparing for the implementation of the Virginia Literacy Act.”

The bill, passed in 2022, aims to improve the literacy skills of Virginia students.

Robertson said that in terms of classrooms, 29 teaching positions, or about 5,000 teachers, were vacant in the school division as of Monday.

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“Last year we started our first day with 44 vacancies, compared to 49 the year before,” Robertson said.

He said if there is no qualified teacher in those 29 classrooms from day one, it will be a specialist teacher or a long-term substitute teacher.

John Hood

As the school year begins, the Virginia Department of Education is also working to finalize its policies on cell phones in schools.

Virginia Beach has already implemented a policy to this effect and that will not change on Monday.

Cell phones are largely banned for elementary school students, and middle school students are asked to leave them in their lockers during the day.

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“In high school, students are allowed to have a cell phone,” Robertson said. “They don’t have access to those cell phones during class, but they can use their cell phone during class change, they can use their cell phone during lunch and during the time from when they arrive in the morning until the first bell rings.”

As the school division awaits the final guidelines on September 16, there are concerns about how this policy differs from the school division’s current policy.

For example, the draft policy for secondary schools does not allow students to use phones during the school day.

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“One thing is clear: Whatever the state’s guidelines are, we will follow them. What is unclear right now is how we prepare our community for the new guidelines,” Robertson said. “Right now, there are some differences at the high school level that are concerning to us because our kids have been used to what we are doing now for years.”

The school board is urging teachers to stay the course in enforcing current policies.

In October and early November, the school division will talk to families about what those possible changes would look like, Robertson said.

John Hood

Over the summer, the school division also made progress in increasing training for student-athletes and coaches after a Kempsville High School baseball player was the victim of racism.

“There is no room for that,” Robertson said when asked about his reaction to the events of last spring.

The university baseball team had to cancel its season last year after a black student said he was called racist slurs, including the N-word.

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The school board’s investigation confirmed that these problems had existed for years.

“If you want to participate in extracurricular activities, there is an expectation of how you will interact with each other that is non-negotiable,” Robertson said.

At the end of the school year and in the summer, the trainers had to intensify their training and, among other things, complete a two-hour course.

“We’ve expanded the training to cover some of the areas we discovered last year and some of the things we’ve figured out to make sure our coaches understand what’s expected of them,” Robertson said.

Coaches must also discuss with student-athletes their team expectations during the season.

John Hood

In addition, a video presentation is shown to families at each school sports preseason meeting throughout the year.

“There will be a special part of this meeting where we will show them the video we created with our students about our Epic program, which will cover our plan to help them understand what is expected,” Robertson said.