Cashwell: 'Smooth start' to new Henrico school year despite staffing shortages

Despite staffing shortages and HVAC issues in some schools, Henrico Schools Superintendent Amy Cashwell praised the “smooth start” to the school year at the Sept. 8 Henrico School Board meeting.

“We’ve had a really smooth start,” Cashwell said. “The positive energy was absolutely contagious, and I think it really reflects a welcome to some favorite school-day routines.”

Videos taken on the first week of school, which were shown at the meeting, showed students and staff being welcomed back to campuses countywide.

According to Henrico Schools Chief of Operations Lenny Pritchard, the only issues with facilities during the first week of school were problems with the HVAC systems in some schools.

“With some of the things that we did to protect students during COVID – flushings of inside air – it did put a strain on our HVAC system, and we’re starting to see the consequences of that,” Pritchard said.

According to Pritchard, all these issues are being fixed, though some fixes are still in progress.

While more teachers have been hired since the school year began, staffing shortages continue to be a problem. There are currently 172 open positions throughout the school system, down from 176 two weeks ago.

Cashwell said that part of the reason there are so many vacancies is that more teachers are needed this year.

“We did add 80 new instructional positions this year,” Cashwell said, “So we’re actually recruiting more teachers from this year to last.”

Some of the empty teaching positions are being filled by retirees, who are being given both a regular salary and their retirement benefits, according to Cashwell.

The school system also has 30 fewer bus drivers than before the pandemic but has hired 14 new drivers and 2 assistants recently, according to Pritchard.

HCPS has increased class sizes in some third, fourth and fifth grade classes to compensate for the lack of teachers – which Tuckahoe District representative Marcie Shea said is particularly concerning for some of the parents in her district.

Although class sizes have been increased somewhat, Cashwell said that they are still well below regulations. Schools also will place teaching assistants into particularly large classes.

Another change taking place this year is that (in most cases) parents once again have to apply for free and reduced lunch in order for their students to become eligible to receive them. Though meals had been provided free to everyone during the pandemic, thanks to federal funding, that’s no longer the case.

However, Pritchard said that some families do not have to complete applications, due to the Community Eligibility Provision, which provides free meals to all students in certain schools that meet low-income threshold levels. That list of schools can be found here.

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Anya Sczerzenie is the Henrico Citizen’s education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar. Sign up here for her free weekly education newsletter.