CHARLOTTESVILLE (WINA) – As Charlottesville United for Public Education prepares to host a public listening session tonight at 6 at the Charlottesville High School’s Martin Luther King Center for the Performing Arts, city schools have named former CHS principal Kenneth Leatherwood as interim principal. Rashaad Pitt was supposed to serve until Tuesday, but he is not participating in the teacher workdays. Leatherwood — who has been interim principal in a number of city school since his 2012 retirement — begins “immediately following the Thanksgiving break”.

He’s got his work cut out for him as CHS counselor and wrestling coach David Wilkerson told Charlottesville Right Now a small group of 9th graders who’ve not been engaged in school since 4th grade — pulling in a few others — are choosing social media over education with small fights. He says dropping them “into a high school of 1400 and be expected to go to Algebra 1 and English 9 when some are reading at a 4th-grade level and not managing addition and subtraction” is too much for them.

Wilkerson says an email last week from one teacher to others foreshadowing last Friday’s sick-out that resulted in classes canceled was from a strong feeling teachers of late voices were not being heard, and felt everybody realized kids were walking the halls not respecting each other or staff members. He feels it’s something they can get a handle on, and a city schools release says Leatherwood “is deeply connected to many of our staff, students, and families” and the likeliest scenario is he serve through July until a new principal is brought in.