COMMENTARY: School Split Saga Stretches Nearly Two Years

WJCC joint school contract remains unresolved

At this point, there’s little doubt the Williamsburg City Council stepped into unexpected trouble when it voted in 2023 to explore creating its own independent school system. Ultimately, the City announced over a year later that they would continue to support the joint school system with James City County. But in between those announcements, there was little public communication — and perhaps even less since.

Now, the public is left wondering why a contract with four years remaining devolved into a contentious issue in the first place. Questions remain about the City’s choice to act in isolation, rather than pursue a collaborative approach from the start. What is known is that the contract negotiations are still unresolved and the outcome unclear.

It’s hard to see how the uncertainty created by a series of cascading decisions and reactions by local leadership could do anything but hinder outcomes for students. Until the contract is settled, the lack of a new joint school contract make…