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Virginia Beach school staff unveil 'Beacon' mobile resource truck, promote pre-K and mental-health resources at Celebrating Children event
Summary
At a Celebrating Children event hosted by Virginia Beach public libraries, a co-lead of the school system’s mental-health task force highlighted pre-K outreach gaps, promoted vendor mental-health supports and joined a ribbon-cutting for the new "Beacon" mobile resource truck.
A staff member from the Office of Student Support Services for Virginia Beach City Public Schools said the district used a Celebrating Children event hosted by Virginia Beach public libraries to promote pre-K enrollment and mental-health resources and to unveil a new mobile resource truck called the Beacon.
The event brought together vendors offering mental-health supports, pre-K information and family activities. "Just to celebrate children, we want every child in our community to have a healthy, happy childhood," the staff member said, framing the district’s participation as outreach and family support.
Why it matters: organizers and school staff said outreach remains essential to reach families who do not know about existing services. At the pre-K booth, staffers displayed books and activities and described district outreach via websites, social media and fliers; the speaker said, "we've had plenty of families come up to our booth today that had no idea that Virginia Beach even had a pre-K program," underscoring the event’s role in spreading enrollment information.
The session also featured a ribbon-cutting and a public introduction of the Beacon, described by the staff member as "our new mobile resource truck." The speaker said the truck will be deployed to community locations and that the district hopes to partner with city offices to ensure families have access to needed services. A mascot contest produced a winner, Shelly the sea turtle, who will serve as the Beacon’s mascot while the truck operates in the community.
The school staff distributed materials including drug-free Virginia Beach apparel and mental-health resource guides that the district said are available through Virginia Beach City Public Schools. The event did not record any formal votes or policy actions; it was described as outreach and public engagement.
The staff member identified themselves as part of the Office of Student Support Services and said they and Martha Crawford co-lead the Mental Health Task Force. The Beacon is scheduled to be out in the community to provide resources for families; specific deployment dates and locations were not specified.
