Henrico School Board chairwoman Beverly Cocke speaks at a graduation ceremony. (Photo courtesy Henrico County Public Schools)
Achieving full accreditation for all county schools is one big challenge facing Henrico’s School Board this year, says Chairwoman Beverly Cocke.
“We’re working on that and doing a new reading program using the ‘flood-in’ model [pulling in multiple instructors to work with small groups of students]. That is going to help bring the reading scores up.”
According to Henrico County Public Schools, 48 schools were fully accredited, 12 were partially accredited and seven were denied accreditation for 2016-2017, based on Standards of Learning test scores.
Redistricting the county’s middle schools will also be a major undertaking, Cocke says.
A graduate of Hermitage High School whose children also attended Henrico schools, Cocke is serving as School Board chairwoman for the second time. Before she began representing the Brookland District on the board in 2012, she was active in the community through volunteering as a Girl Scouts leader, PTA president and the Henrico Christmas Mother. She says her motivation for joining the board was having children who all attended Henrico County schools.
“I’m a little unique in that I’ve lived in the Brookland District for over 50 years,” she says. “So that gives a very different perspective. I attended these schools, and my kids attended these schools, so I really see the challenges and how Henrico County and Brookland specifically have changed through the years.”
A short excerpt of our recent interview with Cocke appears in Richmond magazine’s May issue. Here is the full Q&A, edited for length and clarity.
Richmond magazine: How has the $420 million bond referendum that was passed last fall affected the actions of your board so far this year? What improvements to Henrico schools are in the works because of it?
Cocke: It is such a blessing, and we thank the constituents for voting and having the confidence in our government and schools to do this. This is allowing us to do some much-needed renovations. We also will be having a new elementary school, which will alleviate the overcrowding here in the Brookland District. And we’re going to be able to have two new centers for career and technical education. That’s really going to help with the workforce development. It’s going to give students real-world skills so that they’re ready for jobs or college or whatever pathway they choose after they graduate.”
RM: With a rising number of English learners, particularly Hispanic students, entering schools throughout the region, what are Henrico schools doing to address this?
Cocke: We actually have a welcome center where students come in and we give them testing to see where their English language skills are. So we know whether they’re ready to go into the classroom right now or if they need to have a little more instruction first. Then we use the “push-in” model where they will come out [of the classroom] and get some additional lessons to get them up to speed so they are more proficient in the classroom. In my district, we have a large area [of non-native English speakers] along that Staples Mill corridor. They’re coming into our school system, and that’s also what’s driving that overcrowding in the area. That speaks to the [construction of the] new school. That’s a school that will be very diverse and have a lot of our English language learners in there, too. So we’ll get them up to speed with the language. We have wonderful instructional aids that do this throughout the county.
RM: What about your job as chairwoman keeps you up at night?
Cocke: It’s the things that I have no control over. When you’re responsible for over 50,000 students and all the teachers, it’s the things that drive the social media at school that then drive disruption [in the classroom]. It’d be the students that don’t know where they’re going to sleep that night. It’s the students that will be coming in the next day hungry or may have seen or been a part of some abuse. It’s the things that you can’t control that worry me the most and then keep me up. When they come into that school, we don’t really know what their situation was before they stepped onto that school bus, and it’s our responsibility to keep them safe and to educate them while they’re there. So it’s kind of the outside things that really worry me more than anything.
RM: What are you most hopeful for in 2017?
Cocke: It’s the new growth and construction that we’re doing because of the bond referendum. When the great recession hit, you had to defer your maintenance. So we weren’t able to really keep our buildings up to the level that we’re accustomed to in Henrico County. So with the meals tax and the bond referendum, we’re able to renovate the schools that need to be [renovated], including [J.R.] Tucker High School and Tuckahoe Middle, which are in much need of those renovations. We also get the addition to Glen Allen Elementary, which is super overcrowded and a new elementary school off of Staples Mill [Road]. And then we also get the two new technical centers. That’s what’s exciting and what’s helpful. These are really going to engage our students and help them to be prepared when they graduate.
Henrico County School Board chairwoman Beverly Cocke reads to a class of elementary school students. (Photo courtesy Beverly Cocke)
RM: With a change in leadership at the national level, particularly after the confirmation of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, how does that affect the School Board?
Cocke: So much of what we do is already mandated by the federal government and the state government. We’re kind of used to rolling along with what comes down from the top. We don’t lose focus, because our focus needs to be on the students in Henrico County and how we can keep them educated. We can help to close these gaps, build relationships and [ensure] their safety. What gets us really frustrated is the unfunded mandates that come from the federal government. They tell you that you have to do certain things, but the dollars aren’t attached to that. So you have limited funds anyway at a local level, and the localities are doing the best they can. Our teachers are doing so much more than ever before, and they’re innovative with things they’re mandated to do from the federal and state governments. So we just really want to help them and lift them up so that they do the best job they can in teaching kids and keeping them safe.
RM: What would you like to see happen in the Brookland District, particularly this year?
Cocke: I would like to see our overcrowding addressed for Hungary Creek Middle School. We’re working on some things to alleviate that. [I’m] excited about the new addition at Glen Allen Elementary School. That’s exciting that we’ll be breaking ground. We’re already working on the physical layout of it. So those are two things for this year. But I have to add the new elementary school because we’ve got to purchase that land and find a site for it so that we can start to help with the overcrowding at Holladay [Elementary School] and some of the schools in that area.
