On the first day of the 2024-2025 school year this Monday, Henrico students will be faced with several new initiatives, including new student ID cards, cell phone bins and gun scanners at elementary schools.

Henrico school administrators have worked hard this summer to prepare staff for new policies and procedures, HCPS Superintendent Amy Cashwell said at a Henrico School Board meeting on Aug. 8.

HCPS officials have also been working over the past few months to hire more staff to fill much-needed bus driver positions and to hire more mental health professionals.

Cellphone-free classrooms

Starting this school year, HCPS is updating its policies to prevent students from using cell phones in class. Previously, Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order in July requiring Virginia schools to implement “cell phone-free instruction.”

While cell phones will not be banned from school premises entirely, new measures will be implemented to put the devices away during class. The department will provide each teacher with cell phone storage containers, which will either be cell phone bags or lockers with individual compartments for cell phones, depending on the school.

According to an Aug. 9 HCPS press release, the devices will be stored in the bins “when they are not in students’ backpacks.” School principals will have discretion as to whether teachers must use the storage bins or whether students can continue to keep their phones in their backpacks.

As in years past, middle and high school students must stow and silence their phones during class and after-school activities, but may continue to use their devices between classes and during lunch. However, students who temporarily leave the classroom to go to the restroom, clinic or school counseling center must keep their phones stowed in the classroom.

New this year is that elementary school students must put their cell phones away for the entire school day, rather than just during class time. In June, the student code of conduct was updated, which also includes stricter consequences for students who violate cell phone policies.

Exceptions could be made for students who are dependent on a device during class for medical reasons or “other individual circumstances,” the press release states.

So far, HCPS has not adopted the Virginia Department of Education’s “Bell-to-Bell” model in its draft policy released on August 15. It calls on the school system to ask students to turn off and put away their phones from the first bell to the final bell, including during lunch and between classes.

No more late buses

By hiring additional bus drivers, HCPS has effectively eliminated scheduled double trips and bus routes that do not let students off until after classes begin in the morning.

In recent years, a shortage of bus drivers has forced some drivers to make double runs — taking one load of students to or from school and then driving back to pick up another load. This caused some students to be late for class every day. In March, the department calculated that it would need to hire at least 60 new drivers to eliminate double runs.

School board members attributed the “tremendous” success to a pay raise HCPS implemented for all bus drivers in March, which raised drivers’ minimum hourly wage to $22.98 – nearly $4 more than the previous hourly rate.

“If you pay people a great wage, I don’t think we should be surprised if the positions suddenly become vacant,” said Madison Irving, a member of the Three Chopt District School Board.

At the suggestion of bus drivers, HCPS will also ensure that each driver has multilingual flashcards or signs to help them communicate with students.

New student ID cards

Starting this school year, all HCPS students must wear their student ID on a lanyard throughout the school day.

The cards serve as a security measure and allow students to ride the bus, borrow books from the library, buy lunch, use school vending machines and access technology services with one card. The cards, which have the student’s name and a code but no picture of the student, are encrypted and accessible only to the school system.

Students will receive their cards and lanyards for free on the first day of school, but there is a $5 replacement fee if the card is lost. Students must wear their ID on the lanyard all day, but there are no consequences for the IDs, Cashwell said.

“As it is not a punitive measure at the moment, there would be no real consequences associated with it, but we hope to implement it in daily practice,” she said. “Both for safety reasons and to facilitate access to daily school operations.”

As the school year progresses, ID cards will also be required for admission to extracurricular activities such as sporting events and concerts. Starting this fall, ID cards will be required for high school and college football games.

Weapon scanners at elementary schools

On the first day of school, all elementary school students will now go through weapons scanners when entering their buildings

Weapon scanners were introduced in high schools at the beginning of last school year and in middle schools in fall 2023. With the installation of scanners in elementary schools, HCPS will now secure all school campuses with scanners at the main entrances to the buildings.

Although scanners detected items such as pepper spray and stun guns last school year, no firearms were found on any school premises.

“This means that the safety measures put in place are working and keeping our community safe,” said Ryan Young, a member of the Fairfield District School Board.

According to Lenny Pritchard, HCPS director of operations, HCPS will also deploy 46 new school security officers (SSOs) to elementary schools to “provide an additional layer of security” and “assist with gun screening of incoming students.”

Last year, high schools experienced significant delays in rolling out the new gun scanners during the first week of school, and middle schools also experienced delays. This time around, it will likely go more smoothly now that the department is more accustomed to the process, said Marcie Shea, vice chair of the school board and a member of the Tuckahoe District, but families should still expect some trial and error.

“The adjustment in middle school was smoother than in high school, so we hope the adjustment in elementary school will be even smoother,” she said. “But be patient in the first few weeks while you adjust.”

StudentSquare app coming soon

After introducing the new ParentSquare app last school year, HCPS now plans to release a student version called “StudentSquare” for middle and high school students in late September.

While ParentSquare is used by teachers and parents to communicate with each other, StudentSquare is used for communication between teachers and students. Like ParentSquare, StudentSquare allows direct messaging without revealing private cell phone numbers.

Parents can choose to prevent their child from downloading the new platform, said Eileen Cox, HCPS communications director.

The app also provides students with news from their department, school, and teachers. Like ParentSquare, direct messages and news on StudentSquare can be automatically translated into different languages.

Through ParentSquare, HCPS can now reach 99.6% of the department’s families, Cox said, either through the mobile app, text message or email.

More support for literacy and mental health

The 2024–2025 school year is the first year that HCPS will be required to implement the Virginia Literacy Act, which requires a new literacy curriculum for elementary students and an additional reading remediation course for middle school students with reading and writing difficulties.

The VLA also requires additional reading specialists for elementary and middle schools. This school year, HCPS will have a reading specialist at every elementary and middle school, officials said.

HCPS will also hire more staff for its new Henrico CARES mental health program. In March, HCPS and district leaders announced the new partnership and plan to invest $17.8 million in the new program over the next five years to hire more school-based mental health professionals and provide families with access to after-school providers.

Starting this school year, all high school students will have access to free in-home teletherapy through Hazel Health, a third-party mental health care provider. All staff, students and families will also have access to Care Solace, a free service that helps people find and connect with mental health care providers.

HCPS will also hire five new intervention school counselors to assist with substance abuse and violence prevention, as well as eleven Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Interface trainers.

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Liana Hardy is a member of the Citizen’s Report for America Corps and an education reporter. Her position relies on reader support. You can make a tax-deductible donation to the Citizen through RFA here.