Dear Charlottesville City Schools staff and families,

I am excited to let you know that the new, permanent home of the Charlottesville Early Learning Center (CELC) will be built on the Walker campus. 

This fall, the CELC will open as planned in a temporary location within the main academic building at Walker. We look forward to constructing the new Early Childhood Center on this same campus. The City has budgeted over $30 million for the new home of our public preschool, and we will share more details for this exciting project in the months ahead.

As I have written in the past, we were considering the Oak Lawn property (5 acres next to Charlottesville Middle School, recently offered to the City from UVA) as a site for the CELC. However, the City was unable to resolve various preservation covenants on that property in the time frame needed to advance the CELC project at that location. That said, the Oak Lawn site continues to offer exciting opportunities for our schools, such as the potential to open a welcome center for families. 

If you have a child who will be 3 or 4 by September 30 this year, take a look at all our CELC has to offer. We are accepting preschool applications for fall now.

Thank you for your continued partnership,

Dr. Royal Gurley

Superintendent