County budget watchers have long noted that K-12 spending in Albemarle has outpaced student growth. Barney Breen-Portnoy tackles the topic in today’s Daily Progress, noting that since 2003 there’s been a 2% enrollment increase and a 31% spending increase. The schools point to ever increasing federal and state educational mandates (”No Child Left Behind” has gradually gone into effect during this period) and a desire to offer salaries that are competitive in the regional job market. (As the cost of living in Albemarle climbs, so too must teacher salaries.) The proposed 2009 budget would be a 2.2% increase over the current year’s budget.
Archive for the 'Education' Category
Charlottesville High School principal Kenneth Leatherwood is leaving for a job with the school’s central office, the Daily Progress reports today. He’s been CHS principal since 2003, and served as vice principal for the decade before that. Now he’ll be in charge of the HR department. Folks who think that the school system is a little too top-heavy will surely see this as further evidence that Superintendent Rosa Atkins’ priorities are off. On the other hand, maybe the guy was just ready to move on, but Atkins convinced him to stay within the school system in a different capacity. Thanks to Jennifer for the tip.
Former Western Albemarle High School teacher Neal Willetts has been given a ten year federal prison sentence for attempting to sexually entice a student over the internet. The 26-year-old taught social studies at WAHS two years ago. Shortly after then, while teaching in the United Arab Emirates, he sent graphic sexual e-mails to a 15-year-old male student. Ten years is the minimum allowed under federal guidelines.
Sending sexually explicit e-mails to a former student gets you ten years in a federal penitentiary. Actually having sex with students at school? That’ll get you just twenty one months. The law tells us that Willetts would have been better off molesting one of his students than talking dirty to him from 12,000 miles away. But the law, as Dickens wrote, is an ass.
Being told that your building plans are too ugly for Pantops is like being too drunk to fish: sure, it’s plausible in the abstract, but it’s not gonna happen. Or so you’d think. But the Montessori Community School’s building plans have been rejected by the Architectural Review Board for that very reason, Will Goldsmith reported in last week’s C-Ville Weekly. The LEED-compliant structure is designed to be low-energy and sustainable, employing such touches as passive solar heating and a rainwater-collecting gray water system. The ARB is put off by the shed roof, which is necessary to collect rainwater. One ARB member, apparently unfamiliar with passive solar design, suggests facing the building in the opposite direction, a hint akin to telling a farmer he should try harvesting his corn in February. As things stand, the school will have to substantially strip the structure of its sustainable features in order to more closely hew to the design standards of…uh…Giant.
School board chairman Alvin Edwards, superintendent Rosa Atkins and Mayor David Brown left for their trip to Tuscany today, following a tumultuous, unsettled debate over whether they should go at all. Councilor Kendra Hamilton canceled her involvement on Monday night, followed by Atkins yesterday evening. It was announced that an anonymous donor was covering the cost of school official Gertrude Ivory, who then pulled out, with the donor then covering the going-again Atkins. The purpose of the trip is to celebrate thirty years of Charlottesville and Poggio a Caiano, looking into a school exchange program, and talking about tourism.
After all of this fuss, the three of them are going to need this vacation.
City councilor Kendra Hamilton may not join the trip to Italy “if her presence would overshadow the cultural and educational goals of the visit,” Seth Rosen writes in today’s Daily Progress. She’s ruled out spending her own money. Presumably that means that she’s not going since, as Bob Gibson makes clear in the Progress today, the junket has been thoroughly overshadowed. On the other hand, lacking clear goals for this trip, there may be no “cultural or educational goals” to worry about. So far it’s been explained both that the purpose of the trip is to establish a student exchange and, as Hamilton told NBC-29 yesterday, that it’s to “help local restaurants by working with people in the Italian marketplace.” Hamilton was less committal in talking to Gibson, to whom she said “maybe I’ll go and maybe I won’t” if her attendance were damage the trip’s nebulous goals.
School board chairman Alvin Edwards said Thursday that he’d be paying his own way, though not because of fiscal concerns, but “so no one gets bent out of shape over it.” Mayor David Brown is “definitely going,” and sees the problem being a lack of transparency, since there was no discussion about the trip at a city council meeting or any other public setting.
The city hasn’t been clear on the total cost of the trip, but it’s estimated to run $1,300 per person. The city has a long history of visiting our sister cities (former mayor Blake Caravati visited Besançon eight times in as many years), but the trips have been paid for from private funds. Italian is not taught in any city schools.
Further to recent discussion on the topic here, Barney Breen-Portnoy writes in the Daily Progress about five city officials’ planned six-day trip to Tuscany at taxpayer expense. School superintendent Rosa Atkins, associate superintendent Gertrude Ivory, school board chairman Alvin Edwards, mayor David Brown and councilor Kendra Hamilton will all be visiting sister city Poggio a Caiano beginning next Wednesday, ostensibly “to explore the possibility of reestablishing a student exchange program.” The three school officials’ costs will be covered by the school system, and the two councilors’ costs will be covered by the city.
School board member Charlie Kollmansperger was the first school board member to criticize this use of public funds: “This is ridiculous. If I were a teacher, I would say, ‘Are you kidding me?’” This is probably going to be a common sentiment.
Brown and Edwards are both up for reelection on Tuesday — the day before the trip — and next month will be Hamilton’s last in office. Edwards has come under fire for his strong defense of a CHS teacher turned convicted pedophile, a pretty sketchy role for the school board chair, but his strong support among black voters makes it unlikely that the Democrat has anything to worry about next week. Brown was the lowest vote-getter at the Democratic convention in June, which is certainly unusual for an incumbent (and mayor, at that), so he may well have cause to move into damage control mode, given the two independent candidates in the council race. It will be interesting to see if this becomes a last-minute issue in either the school board or council races.
10:05pm Update: WINA reports on their utterly unlinkable website that Edwards has caved and agreed to pay his own way.
Y’all in the city are going to have to pick four school board candidates from the seven people running. Barney Breen-Portnoy provides a rundown of the school board candidates in the Progress to get you up to speed.
The city school system has fired the new principal for Greenbrier Elementary before she could even start her job, Dana Hackett reports for NBC 29. The reason, oddly, is that her husband was once a suspect in a San Antonio murder case eleven years ago. Maj. Robert Eric Duncan had been the boss of the father of the 11-year-old victim at Randolph AFB. A military grand jury had filed charges against him in the 1990 murder, under military law, but they ultimately concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence against him. The girl’s family recently requested that the case be reactivated, believing that an investigation into Duncan by a local TV station had provided the evidence necessary to convict him, and the Texas Rangers agreed to take on the case. Presumably this affects Duncan’s wife because the TV station’s investigation showed that she’d provided a pair of conflicting alibis for her husband. All of this leaves Greenbrier without a principal and the Duncans in the middle of moving to Charlottesville. The erstwhile principal is hinting at legal action, but Virginia employment law probably leaves her out of luck.
The Albemarle School Board has voted to tighten up their flier rules, Matt Deegan writes in today’s Daily Progress. This is in response to the pair of dust-ups in the schools after Christians objected to the distribution of pagan and then atheist fliers. The school board having decided that this is all just more trouble than it’s worth, they’ve decided that the only groups allowed to send home fliers with students are now school-sponsored and local government groups. As Deegan points out, that excludes groups like vacation Bible schools, SOCA, and Little League, among others, but it’s not clear that there’s any other reasonable path for the school board to take.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
Former CHS choir director Jonathan Spivey has pleaded guilty to indecent sexual liberties with a minor, Liesel Nowak writes for the Progress. Apparently, the sexual encounters were consensual, taking place in his office and in the choir robe chamber next to his office. The 47-year-old was first accused of sexual contact with his students last September, indicted in December, promptly committed to Martha Jefferson’s psychiatric ward, and then resigned his job. Spivey was also the minister of music at Mount Zion Baptist Church, though it looks like he may still hold that position, since he’s still listed as staff on the church’s website.
Five people have applied for an interim appointment to the school board, Matt Deegan reports in the Progress, a number one greater than the people who have filed to run for the four open seats. One of those applicant is Grant Brownrigg, who is simultaneously seeking election to the school board. That maneuver is not prohibited, but the five and a half month head start would seem to give an unfair advantage to an applicant who is also a candidate. Of the other four candidates, two (Susan Lewis and Charles Kollmansperger) have said they’re not interesting in running, and the other two (former board members Byron Brown and Muriel Wiggins) couldn’t be reached by the paper.
Llezelle Dugger and Sean McCord intend to announce their campaigns for the Charlottesville School Board, the Daily Progress reports today. Sean made his interest known in mid-May, but this is the first time that Llezelle’s name has come up. (I’m friends with both Sean and Llezelle, and should be considered utterly biased in their favor.) Llezelle is an assistant public defender for the city and a mother of two young kids. If both declare, that would finally mean that there are enough candidates to fill the four seats that are open. It would be better still to have some competition in the race, though. The filing deadline is June 12. (Via Democratic Central)
Charlottesville resident Grant Brownrigg has declared his candidacy for the school board, Matt Deegan reports for the Progress. Brownrigg is the creator of the Grantland business comic, has served on the school board’s discipline task force, and has three kids in city schools. He and Alvin Edwards are the two candidates to declare thus far, leaving the board two candidates short of the four required to fill the open seats. The filing deadline is June 12.
Normally it wouldn’t be news that somebody is thinking about running for the Charlottesville school board, but it’s not every day that a) Sean McCord runs or b) that somebody blogs about the decision process. Sean is a well-known local blogger, regular cvillenewser, head of the Local Support Partner Program at UVa, and has three kids in city schools. By way of introduction, the Johnson Village Democrat opens his blog with this post:
I am considering running for the Charlottesville School Board. What seemed a simple idea when it was first presented to me has become unexpectedly complicated. I have decided to document the process here. In this space, I will gather the information that one needs to run. If I run, I will write about my experience. If I win, I will maintain this blog as a School Board member. If I do not win, I will offer this blog site to a sitting member or members of the Board. Above all, I intend to conduct all of this business in an open and honest manner, and I expect all of you to call me to task if I stray from the pledge.
Sean is like City Councilor Dave Norris in that what would make him such a great candidate are precisely the qualities that he possesses that would make any reasonable person assume that he’d never run for an office. Whether or not he runs, though, I’ll enjoy following his decision process on his blog.
Only one candidate has declared for the Charlottesville school board election, Alyson Smith reports for NBC-29, leaving three seats without a candidate. Three of the incumbents have bowed out rather than run for their first election. Last year was the first school board election, and we had six candidate for three seats. It’s not clear whether disinterest this time around is a problem of it seeming so far off from November that would-be candidates aren’t even thinking about it, or if there just aren’t people willing to go through the rigors of an election for something as minor as school board.
The filing deadline is June 12. If there aren’t enough candidates, the seats will be filled by judicial appointment pending a special election to fill them properly.
Members of both the city and the county school boards, both elected, have announced that they won’t be seeking reelection.
In the city, three of the four incumbents up for reelection are bowing out, Matt Deegan writes in the Progress: Vice Chairwoman Peggy Van Yahres, Julie Gronlund and brand-new board member Louis Bograd. Alvin Edwards, also up for reelection, is running again. Notably, these folks were appointed to the school board by Council, the latter two most recently, so they’re not so much facing reelection as their first election.
In the county, school board chair Sue Friedman will be stepping down, as Deegan writes today. There are four seats up for reelection this November, though the other three members (Barbara Massie Mouly, Stephen Koleszar and Brian Wheeler) have all said that they’re seeking reelection.
Former Western Albemarle High School social studies teacher Neal Willetts has been indicted on federal charges of sexually exploiting children, Lisa Ferrari reports for CBS-19. The 26-year-old is accused of engaging in sexual acts with a total of eight students, including two at WAHS and one at Fluvanna. The most recent regional instance of similar charges came in the case of CHS’ Jonathan Spivey. Before that was Fork Union Military Academy’s Gregory Allen Moyer and, also in 2001, CHS teacher Jeffery Hutchinson.
Janitors discovered an envelope and a “cylinder” at Henley and Brownsville this morning, the middle school and elementary school separated by a parking lot in Crozet, across from the street from WAHS. (Which is confusing. Were they in the parking lot between the two? Was the envelope at one school and the cylinder at another?) They contacted police, who got the bomb squad and the FBI involved. Parents were asked to keep students at home, and those kids who had already showed up were ushered over to WAHS. Late this morning the bomb squad did what comes naturally to them: they blew up said envelope and cylinder.
No doubt Jim Camblos is preparing to press charges against some poor kid for the crime of leaving a thank you note and a tin of cookies at her principal’s door.
Charlottesville City Schools are conducting a web-based survey of community members about their perception of the school system. It’s open to residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. There are fifty questions, and it takes about ten minutes.
Jocelyn writes to describe a developing kerfuffle. You’ll recall that two Hollymead Elementary students tried to distribute fliers to their class to promote their church’s vacation bible school by way of the schools’ “backpack mail” process, used to send information home to kids’ parents. They weren’t allowed to, because of the schools’ prohibition on sending home “partisan, sectarian, religious, or political” fliers. The kids’ father got Jerry Falwell to go after the county, and the school board agreed to let religious groups distribute materials through the system. (See Lisa Provence’s September 28 coverage of this in The Hook for a more detailed recap.) It was at this point that I thought “oh, damn, no they didn’t.” How long until Satanists exercise their right to send literature home with the kiddies?
Americans United for Separation of Church and State writes about the inevitable result:
Some local Pagans who attend Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, a Unitarian-Universalist congregation in Charlottesville, decided to take advantage of the new forum as well. They created a one-page flier advertising a Dec. 9 event celebrating the December holidays with a Pagan twist and used the backpack system to invite the entire school community.
One local (Christian) blogger, Cathy, is upset — on the one hand, she says she wants the kids to learn more about Christmas in school, but on the other hand, she’s furious about the flier, believing that pagan rituals are inferior to her religion’s rituals and inappropriate for children. She vows that she “will not step aside.”
On the other hand, local blogger Jeff Riddle — the pastor of Jefferson Park Baptist Church — points out that this is simply what comes of breaking down the church and state wall…but then calls for Christians to leave public schools.
This is why we don’t mingle religion and government. It’s bad for government, yes, but it’s worse still for religion. Cathy doesn’t want her kids exposed to paganism, just as some parents don’t want their kids exposed to Christianity. Here’s hoping that the school board will rescind this policy. Or they could just wait for Falwell to demand that they rescind it, but why wait?
By the way, the event is at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church on Saturday from 1-3pm. It actually looks pretty interesting.
12/07: Lisa Provence writes about this in the current Hook.
CHS choral director Jonathan Spivey, indicted for child sexual abuse last Friday, has been committed to the psychiatric ward at Martha Jefferson, Lisa Ferrari reports for CBS 19. Given that his attorney says that “Spivey’s diagnosis will be crucial to his defense,” this seems like a precursor to a plea of guilty by reason of insanity. Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman, having checked into this, describes it only as “a legitimate medical condition.” Spivey was due in court today for his first appearance, but he didn’t show, because of his commitment. The court appearance will be rescheduled upon his release.
Also, WINA reports this evening that he has resigned his job effective December 21.
CHS choral director Jonathan Spivey was indicted today on seven felony charges of child sexual abuse, the Daily Progress reports this evening. That’s three counts of making indecent sexual propositions and four of sexual abuse, all involving minors. He was accused of “improper sexual contact” by a student in September, prompting his immediate suspension. Chief Longo says that there are multiple alleged victims, not just the one who came forward. Spivey is also the Minister of Music for the Mt. Zion Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir. He will appear in court for the first time on Tuesday.
A new regional library will be built in downtown Crozet, the County Board of Supervisors decided on Wednesday. They chose that site rather than the old school site, where Charlottesville Waldorf is now. The county has already set aside $6M to replace the tiny old railroad depot that they’re in now.
Spending $6M on a new building is nice, but how about the BoS ponies up a little extra cash so that the branches can be open reasonable hours? The county hasn’t increased spending on library operations to keep pace with inflation and cost-of-living increases, so the hours just have to keep getting cut back. The Crozet library doesn’t open until 1pm on Monday and Tuesday, closes at 5pm Wednesday through Saturday, and isn’t even open on Sunday. Northside opens at noon on Monday and Tuesday and is only open for four hours on Sunday. What’s the point of a $6M library if it’s locked and darkened? (Greene County, I’m looking at you.)
Man, “Waldorf” is a word that just freaks me out to write. I type “Waldo” and keep right on going…with an “rf.” Waldorf Waldorf Waldorf. Woah…dorf.
The Albemarle School Board is shocked — shocked — to find that Crozet Elementary has become overcrowded in just the past few years, Matt Deegan reports in today’s Progress. They’re at 125% of what the school can fit (428 kids in all), a result of the rapid growth in Crozet since the designated growth area started getting built up at a remarkable clip in the past decade. The bus rides are longer than ever, the roads are overcrowded, and the kids are learning in trailers. The solution? Building a new school in…2017. The band-aid is to expand the school’s capacity to 513 kids, at a cost of $5.3M, which should be ready in…2013. Raise your hand if you think that the whole of Crozet won’t have another 85 kids in seven years. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
This is why our current approaching to dealing with growth is stupid. We let the market dictate how fast and how much we’re going to grow, ignoring that it takes years for our infrastructure to catch up. So by the time we expand the schools (or roads, or water supply, or whatever), we’re right back where we were, treading water.
Cvilleyankee writes:
Daphne Keiser, principal of Burnley-Moran Elementary School, has won the 2006 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of working with Daphne knows how much she deserves this award. Though how she spends the $25,000 award is unrestricted, she will spend most of it on a broadcast studio and science lab for Burnley Moran.
For those who are wondering like I was, yes, it’s that Milken.
Well-known and well-liked CHS choral director Jonathan Spivey has been accused of improper sexual contact with a student, Lisa Ferrari reports for CBS 19. The accusation was reported to the school by the student, and then reported to police. The police searched the school for evidence a week ago, and he has not reported to work all week, presumably indicating a suspension during the investigation. Spivey also serves as minister of music at Mount Zion Baptist Church. No further details have been made public.
The September 4 issue of The New Yorker features a brief “Talk of the Town” piece by well-known author Malcolm Gladwell (known for “Blink” and “The Tipping Point”) entitled “No Mercy.” Gladwell argues against zero-tolerance (”ZT,” as it’s known) school rules, specifically citing a case of attempted murder, explaining that ZT does nothing to deter bad behavior. He believes that schools have an obligation to look at each student individually and make the decision that best serves that child’s interests, rather than treating each matter as a worst-case scenario.
I mention this because, of course, of the recent and ongoing smoke bomb case.
The 13-year-old acquitted of plotting to attack two local high schools was permitted to return to school today, Liesel Nowak wrote in Saturday’s Progress. He was expelled from Jack Jouett after being convicted in juvenile court, but after his acquittal in a proper trial last week he met with AHS principal Matt Haas to prepare to start school. That may well close this chapter in the boy’s life so that he can move on.
The students and their families will descend upon town this weekend, so if you want to go anywhere in town, don’t. Remember, too, that area schools start up on Monday, so expect to be stuck behind buses if you’ve got a morning commute.
My morning commute extends from my bedroom to my living room, so I figure I’ll be OK.
The Charlottesville School Board Election Task Force has recommended that we either modify our at-large election process for the school board or move to a mixed-ward system, John Yellig reports in today’s Progress. The group presented six options back in May, and has simply removed four of those options. The model most like our current at-large system would require that four of the seven seats represent four residential districts of the city. The mixed-ward system would elect three members at large and four by ward. It sounds the same, and that’s because it just about is: the only difference is that, apparently, residential districts would be drawn differently than wards.
Now it’s up to City Council to consider the task force’s recommendations and determine how future elections should work.
Courteney Stuart broke the story in last week’s Hook that the Pregnancy Center has received $645,000 in federal funding to teach Christian-premised, abstinence-only sex education in local schools. The small organization should be thrilled with the substantial allotment, but has attempted to keep things quiet, treating Stuart with a suspicion when she called to inquire. They intend to teach the “Why kNOw” curriculum, which is a scare-based program that teaches that sex outside of marriage will ruin your life and that homosexuals should remain forever abstinent.
The Pregnancy Center was the subject of an alarming investigative article by The Cavalier Daily’s Leah Nylen, in which it was revealed that the group provides information to women that is demonstrably false and damagingly so, including that the birth control pill can cause cervical cancer, breast cancer, increased risk of AIDS, and infertility; that emergency contraception causes an abortion, rather than preventing conception; and that abortifacient RU-486 causes heart attacks, birth defects, and infertility. The organization is fundamentally opposed to contraceptives. Worst of all, studies show that this approach to sex ed results in kids having sex without condoms, has no impact on STD rates, and doesn’t actually stop kids from having sex.
The Pregnancy Center has broken their press silence and conducted an interview with Bob Gibson for today’s Daily Progress, in which their executive director states that their goal is to get their program into city schools. In order to do so, they’ll have to be placed on a list of approved speakers by the school board. Won’t that be an adventure?
It wasn’t that long ago that I took the required “family life” classes at WAHS. Trying to teach an abstinence-only course to my class would have gotten the teacher heckled out of the classroom. I can’t imagine it’d go much better this time around.
The Albemarle County School Board is now providing the audio of their meetings as MP3s. The audio up there now seems to be limited to the Thursday-night board discussion about student conduct policies, a prelude to the plan of having an actual podcast of all meetings’ audio beginning in a few months. I’ll be happy to see that next step. Why can’t Charlottesville be this innovative? (Via Brian Wheeler)
After AHS lacrosse player Nolan Jenkins died in what appears to have been an alcohol-related car accident, some parents want to see kids punished by their schools for drinking, Sarah Berry reports in today’s Daily Progress. Student athletes are required to sign a pledge that they will abstain from drugs and alcohol throughout the season, and it’s suggested that all students should need to do so. The School Board is asking for input from the public, as well as the board’s attorney.
I think giving schools the authority to punishing kids for what they do when they’re not in school is asking for trouble. Underage drinking is already illegal, as evidenced by the tickets issued to 27 AHS and WAHS students for doing so a couple of weeks ago. If a teenager wants to consume wine with dinner under parental supervision, that’s a reasonable and responsible thing; they shouldn’t fear being suspended for doing so.
I’m often surprised at the sort of topics that get conversation going here. Every so often something off-the-wall does it, particular K-12 topics. So–what the heck?–here’s a letter I received from a parent who is concerned about Walker eliminating their aquatics program.
Hello! My name is Melissa Bibb-Harris. I am a C-ville local born and raised. I have two children who attend C-ville schools, Greenbrier and Buford. I just heard that the aquatics department at Walker School has been dropped. I spoke with Mr. Bill Byers the head of that department who has confirmed he has opted for retirement since his aquatics program has been dropped.
I would like to know why the City School system has dropped the aquatics division from the P.E. program at Walker school? Was there a poll for parents? How do the school board and new Superintendent, Rosa Adkins, explain this decision? Do the American Red Cross water safety standard not fit into the SOL’s? With such a concern on childhood obesity in America how does swimming not benefit the students. What happens now? Do the P.E. classes double or triple in size since a third no longer rotate out for the swimming classes? How can we, a school system, afford to dismiss the advantages of an aquatics program when other school localities such as Fluvanna, Greene and Albemarle would KILL to have an aquatics division as part of their P.E. program?
The amazing thing is that they ever had an aquatics program in the first place. I had no idea.
The City Council-appointed School Board Elections Study Task Force has presented six options for how future School Board elections could work, John Yellig reports in today’s Daily Progress. The first option is to do it the way that we just did — non-ward, at-large; a series of ward systems with anywhere from three to one members from each ward and anywhere from one to three at large; or a seven-ward system with no at-large members. Newly-elected School Board member Leah Puryear thinks that the current system works pretty well, but there’s a not-insignificant number of people who believe that a ward system would be best.
PVCC students have long been told that there’s an unofficial standard of UVa accepting all applicants who have completed the “transfer module,” the set of courses that UVa wants to see transfer students have under their belts. Now the schools have made it official—UVa will guarantee admission to any Virginia Community College System student that meets a basic set of requirements, Melanie Mayhew reports in today’s Progress. Those requirements include a 3.4 GPA, a grade of C or better in every course, and 54 transferrable credits distributed among seven types of courses.
This is a part of a statewide restructuring of higher education, so that more students can start off at a less-expensive community college before moving on to a four-year university. It saves students money, it saves colleges money, and it saves the state money. One likely effect will be students that would otherwise have started at a state university choosing to spend their first two years at their local community college, and those community colleges will need to have their capacity increased accordingly.
A year after submitting their proposal to the Charlottesville School Board, backers of a character school have withdrawn their proposal, Sarah Barry writes in today’s Progress. Bobbi Snow and Sandy Richardson had planned for a grade 5-8 arts-based school for at-risk kids. Twice the Charter School Review Committee rejected the proposal (wanting to see a curriculum defined and a proper budget), leading the school board to ask the pair to enhance their plans and resubmit the proposal. Citing frustration, they’re looking to propose the school to the Albemarle school system.
This story from the Waynesboro News Virginian is awesome:
A student who defecated in a lunchroom bowl triggered a series of events that culminated in the recent walkout by four workers in the Fort Defiance High School cafeteria, The News Virginian has learned.
[…]
It all began Feb. 9 when two Fort students — including a guidance counselor’s son — bet a third student $15 he would not defecate in a bowl.
You can see where this is going, but you’ve got to read it anyway.
If this were in Charlottesville, I’d be outraged. But the fact that it’s in Augusta renders it merely hilarious. Extra bonus points to the News Virginian for the title (”Poop prank leads to uproar” — I love the alliteration) and the great word substitution in this quote:
“This is the first I’ve heard of the [feces] incident,” Shiflett said. “I hope you have your facts straight.”
Who can come up with some alternate headlines?
Increased safety concerns at Buford Middle School, from students behaving violently, and the school board beginning to address the matter led a reader to send me some data about crime rates there. Police incident reports for 2005 for both Buford and CHS (544k PDF), which are public data, indicate visits to CHS every couple of weeks, with incidents ranging from runaways to bomb threats, “suspicious circumstances” to traffic accidents. Buford received less frequent visits, but offenses include assaults, drug possession, robbery and “fires not arson.” I count twelve assaults (simple and intimidation) for the year at Buford but, having nothing to compare that to, I don’t know how that compares to the average for Buford or for comparable schools.
The six candidates for the two open seats on the Charlottesville School Board participated in a candidate forum held by the Charlottesville Democrats yesterday morning. Vance High, Sue Lewis, Juandiego Wade, Leah Puryear, Charlie Kollmansperger and Ned Michie answered three initial questions before taking half an hour’s worth of questions from the audience. The hour and a half recording is available on the Charlottesville Podcasting Network.
Sean McCord writes: “PVCC President Frank Friedman penned an editorial last week in the Daily Progress endorsing a Senate’s proposal (over a House plan) to divert money from the general fund into transportation. State Del. Vincent Callahan, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, thought this looked suspiciously like a smilar editorial written by Glenn DuBois, Chancellor of the Virginia community-college system, so he called DuBois to a closed-door meeting with House budget negotiators. According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, ’shortly afterward, Mr. Callahan, a Republican from Fairfax, filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding Mr. DuBois’s records of telephone and e-mail communications with Virginia’s 23 community-college presidents.’
“Charlottesvillian and freshman Delegate David Toscano is quoted in the article expressing concerns about ‘bringing in a college president to suggest that he should not be saying what he thinks about the budget or anything else.’ Indeed!”
Those of us lacking subscriptions to The Chronicle of Higher Education can get the skinny from Bob Gibson.
11:00pm Update: Friedman’s editorial is now available.
The filing deadline having come and gone, we’ve got six candidates running for three school board seats in this, our first school board election. The Hook rounds ‘em up:
Sue Lewis, a retired financial advisor, who has been applying for a seat on the board for the last 20 years; Newcomer Charlie Kollmansperger, an ex-teacher, entrepreneur, and strong critic of ex-supe Scottie Griffin. (who famously told the board, “I resent being labeled a racist because me and my colleagues oppose cuts to P.E. and guidance.”); current board member, Ned Michie; former teacher, Vance High; director of UVA’s Upward Bound Program, Leah Puryear; and Albemarle transportation planner, and student tutor, (and former jury foreman in the Alston murder trial) Juandiego Wade.
Any endorsements or predictions of victory?
Melanie Mayhew has a great piece in today’s Progress about the importance of not overreacting to threats of violence in high schools, as in the case of the alleged planning of attacks on local high schools by three students. It’s tempting for news outlets to hype such stories, because it gets readers and viewers, but the fact is that idle declarations of violent intent are common among unhappy middle- and high-school students, while actual incidents are very rare. Lisa Provence has an article that touches on some of the same themes in this week’s Hook. It’s nice to see some rationality emerging from the discussion of this incident.
Ron writes: “For the second time in less than a year, Dr. Laura Purnell has been advised that her job is being eliminated. Unlike last time, she has decided not to fight the decision. In a letter issued today by the acting superintendent, Bobby Thompson,sent to all central office staff and principals, Dr. Purnell stated that she will be placing her home on the market and looking for opportunities elsewhere.”
I can’t find anything about this in the way of news coverage. Can anybody confirm this?
02/15 Update: Sarah Barry confirms this in today’s Progress.
There are a pair of interesting articles that provide further insight into the attack alleged planned on local schools by three teenagers. The first is Carlos Santos’ interview with the 15-year-old’s father, which appeared in yesterday’s Times-Dispatch. The man expresses complete bafflement at his son’s arrest, saying that he can’t imagine what evidence that there could be against him. The second is Liesel Nowak and Kate Andrews’ discovery of the same kid’s MySpace page, in which he describes himself as “obsessed with guns” and lists his hobbies as “playing with fire and “SHOOTING!!!!” His fellow students have posted positive comments to the site in the past few days, offering their support and assurances that he did nothing wrong.
Three teenagers have been arrested for planning a violent attack on a pair of area high schools, NBC 29 reports. Three students from WAHS, AHS, and Jack Jouett are being held at Blue Ridge Juvenile Detention Center, a result of a tip.
The question will be whether these kids were both serious and capable of such an attack, or if they were just venting. If such cases around the country in the past few years are any indicator, the latter is certainly more likely.
The Charlottesville school board is shooting to announce the new superintendent come next week, Bob Gibson reports in today’s Progress. Gibson has also managed to ID the second candidate as Donald Carlisle, the superintendent of Long Island’s Miller Place school district.
Some quick googling reveals that Carlisle dropped out of the running fo