Buford Middle School

Meet your Administrators

Principal Rodney Jordan came to Buford in 2021 after serving as an assistant principal of Dranesville Elementary in Fairfax County since 2017. Prior to that, he taught in positions ranging from STEM to Language Arts and Mathematics in Northern Virginia and New York schools, primarily in middle-school grades. He has received a number of recognitions for teaching excellence in Fairfax and Manassas. Mr. Jordan has earned certifications and degrees from James Madison University (School Administration and Supervision K-12 certificate), George Mason University (M. Ed.), and Norfolk State University (B.S.).

History of Buford

Named in honor of Florence Buford, who served as principal of Clark Elementary for 33 years, Buford Middle School opened in August 1966 as one of two junior high schools in the City. (Walker School was the other.) In 1988, Buford became the City‘s only middle school, housing grades 7 and 8, while Walker became an upper elementary school, serving grades 5 and 6.

Ready for Greatness

Student working on laptop

Buford Middle School serves Charlottesville students in grades 7 and 8. We offer a wide variety of classes — many for high-school credit — but we recognize that our students are still young adolescents. Our mascot is the Trojans, and our motto is “Be at the Right Place, at the Right Time, doing the Right Thing, with the Right Materials.”

Here are four programs that make Buford unique:

The Buford Engineering Design Academy works in partnership with the the University of Virginia, the Smithsonian Institute, and other area public schools. Made possible by the renovation of our science labs in 2013, the program is rethinking how we teach science, incorporating not only engineering principals but history-science connections. All students benefit from this program in their science classes; some students choose to take an engineering exploratory class or even Engineering 1 for high-school credit.

The City Schoolyard Garden at Buford is a unique learning partnership, exploring connections between food, health, the environment, and more throughhands-on activities. In addition to hosting classes in the garden, CSG also has a team of students who garden to satisfy their physical education credit. The Buford garden takes advantage of rainwater harvesting and storage (collecting water from the roof of the school’s gym), solar power, a hoop house, and more. Each spring, students raise and give away more than 1000 seedlings to establish the vegetable gardens of area nonprofits.
College readiness is an strong emphasis at Buford. Charlottesville City Schools teaches students whose families have attended college for generations as well as students who will be the trail-blazers for their families. Buford prepares all our students by offering high-school credit classes, by hosting U.Va. deans and professors to offer workshops, and by planning field trips to area colleges. In addition to our accelerated and honors courses, we also have a strong AVID program to serve students, especially those typically underrepresented on university campuses.

As at all Charlottesville Schools, Buford values the fine arts. Our band has earned superior ratings every year since 1983! Our band and orchestra earned Grand Champion state-wide competitions this spring. Our choir sang at Monticello, and our art students regularly win awards. Come see this excellence for yourself by attending one of our many concerts and events.