Podcasts about chesterfield county public schools

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney held a press conference Wednesday, in part, to address ongoing questions about purchase card policies. Also: GOP ex-Rep. Denver Riggleman endorses two Democrats, Chesterfield County Public Schools have a new interim superintendent — and more Central Virginia news.

Ryan Marable stood five feet nine and 165 pounds and made the Longwood basketball team as a non-recruited walk-on.  By playing stingy defense and limiting turnovers, he earned substantial minutes at point guard and competed with the best in NCAA Division II.  He passes on his love as a middle and high school coach and founded Local Legends Sports in Chesterfield County.     

Among the critical functions of K-12 schools, they are positioned to support the mental health needs of their students, faculty, staff, and families. To discuss how the research on this topic relates to everyday practice, we spoke with Patrice Beard(Mental Health Liaison for the Center for Family Involvement at Virginia Commonwealth University's Partnership For People with Disabilities), Laura Early (Coordinator of Psychological and Diagnostic Services in Chesterfield County Public Schools), Amy Johnson (Student Support and Wellness Specialist in Henrico County Public Schools), Matt Shenker (Head of Experience for Pathly, Inc), Erica Daniels (School Counselor at Vernon Johns Middle School in Petersburg City Public Schools), and Felicia Friend-Harris (School Psychologist and Lead Educational Diagnostician for Richmond Public Schools). Hosted by David Naff (MERC Associate Director and former High School Counselor).

Authors of a recent systematic literature review discuss their findings related to the mental health impacts of COVID-19 on PK-12 students. Guests include David Naff (MERC Associate Director at Virginia Commonwealth University), Jenna Darby (Research and Evaluation Specialist in Chesterfield County Public Schools), Shenita Williams (Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University), and Melissa Yeung (Student Services Coordinator for the School of Physical Therapy at Bowling Green State University). Click below to access the full article from AERA Open: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23328584221084722

Tony Yonta and Tasha West joined Jeff last week to talk about being fired for not wearing a mask. This week, they joined to uncover even more unsettling practices going on in Chesterfield County Public Schools.

Mike Mason, former FBI agent and member of the marine corps, and now a school bus driver for Chesterfield County Public Schools in Virginia, joins Ryan to discuss why he wanted to join this workforce to make an impact. He looks at driver training, assigned duties, on-the-job safety and the driver shortage from a law enforcement perspective. Additionally, he lends insight into specifically transporting students with special needs. Read more about Mason at stnonline.com/go/wisdom.

This episode features a conversation with Christine Bae of Virginia Commonwealth University, Tracyee Hogans Foster of Richmond Public Schools, and Michael Stange of Chesterfield County Public Schools. The three are engaged in a 5-year-long initiative funded by the National Science Foundation to examine student engagement in science instruction in the middle grades through a method called "authentic science discourse." Christine, Tracyee, Mike and Jason talk about the research base around student motivation in learning, why science is a particularly good subject in which to study student motivation, what educators are experiencing this year in terms of student motivation in general after a year of long-term remote learning, and the practice of science discourse as a way to inspire and compel students to engage more with the content. They also talk about what science discourse looks like in virtual and in-person learning settings, how the practice can be sustained over time, and the value of research-practice partnerships - like the one they are participating in - to educators and to the field as a whole. Additional Readings and Resources:Discourse and Learning LabNational Science FoundationBuilding on diverse students' funds of knowledge to promote scientific discourse and strengthen connections to science learning in urban classroomsFaculty Early Career Development ProgramVirginia Commonwealth UniversityRichmond Public SchoolsChesterfield County Public SchoolsFlipgrid

Good morning, RVA! It's 58 °F, and it rained! The storms have moved through, though, and now we've got a pleasant fall day ahead of us. Expect highs in the mid 60s, some clouds, and dry weather for at least the next couple of days. Water cooler One quick coronaupdate this morning for iPhone users: iOS 15.1 came out yesterday, and that means you can now store your vaccination card in the Wallet app. Just fill out this form on vaccinate.virginia.gov, and you'll end up with a QR code and a link that'll automatically load up your information as a fun card in Wallet.app. I think once you get boosted, you can even update it with that information, too. Neat! The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Chris Suarez has the update from last night's final City Council meeting on the Mayor's proposed ARPA spending plan, and it sounds like Council approved the whole shebang. You can find more details on the City's ARPA page, but the big-ticket investments are parks, trails, and community centers; the Affordable Housing Trust Fund; stormwater infrastructure; and a new Healthy Equity Trust Fund. While the full spending plan is approved, this huge bucket of money will be allocated over two years. Someone should definitely set up a spreadsheet or a Trello or something to track progress on all these rad projects. In particular, I can't wait for some of the new trails! Whoa there is a lot in this piece from Jessica Nocera in the RTD about how Chesterfield County Public Schools' unnecessary and mostly imaginary battle against Critical Race Theory does in fact have a chilling effect on folks in the County working against systemic racism. It's not hard to see how a policy banning CRT-related professional development has already led to the District rejecting a principal's request to take diversity, equity, and inclusion training from VCU. Not great—both scary and embarrassing. Side note: I really love the way Nocera reports this story without a lot of both-sidesism (or as NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen calls it, The View From Nowhere). Tonight at 5:00 PM, Council's Public Safety Committee will meet and hear recommendations presented by the Civilian Review Board Task Force. As a fun pregame to tonight's meeting, you can read the Task Force's recommendations yourself, one of which is "that the CRB will have its own department to avoid conflicts of interest; this is aligned with the recommendations of the City Attorney's Office. As such, we recommend creating a department or office of 'Community Oversight and Police Accountability' independent from other City departments or offices." I don't know a ton about how CRBs should work, but that is exactly why we tasked a taskforce to come up with recommendations! If you'd like to holler at your councilmember in support of the Task Force's recommendations—including the creation of an Office of Community Oversight and Police Accountability—you can find the big list of councilmember contact information here. One final note, and I'll assume that it was not intentional, but it does not seem particularly even-handed to schedule the Richmond Police Department to present on "Police Staffing and Morale" immediately before the CRB Task Force gives their presentation on police accountability. Well, I guess it's official. VPM's Ben Paviour reports that "The Virginia Redistricting Commission has missed a final deadline to draw new state legislative maps, kicking the process to the Virginia Supreme Court." Paviour helpfully lays out the next steps and timeline for the judges to get these maps drawn. This coming Thursday, October 28th, the Community Foundation will host a free, online panel focused on Everyday Nonprofit Advocacy. We've got a lot of issues to tackle in Richmond, and a ton of them are systemic issues requiring big-time policy changes to make our city a better place to live. Nonprofit advocacy (and regular-person advocacy!) plays a big role in that, and I deeply agree with this bit from the event description: "the community needs leaders who engage decisions makers well." Maybe systems-change work is too daunting or exhausting to think about—that's fine! How about this, then: Richmond Public Schools needs volunteers to provide no-contact grocery delivery to RPS families. That's about as finite and concrete of a task as you can get. This morning's longread Could removing parking requirements help revitalize Virginia's cities? I thought I'd move this extensive piece from Wyatt Gordon at the Virginia Mercury down to the longread section—it's packed with the impacts of free parking on a city like Richmond. Luckily, at least one of our councilmembers wants to make some incremental changes to the currently broken system. “People see the language of the resolution and worry I'm getting rid of parking,” said Addison, “But eliminating parking minimums just means we're not putting a burden on business owners and developers to provide and build more parking than they actually need. Parking minimums are a big barrier to housing affordability and people choosing other modes of mobility. Eliminating those outdated calculations on how much parking establishments need gets us closer to a market for shared parking that works better for everybody.” If you'd like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol' Patreon.

As the country prepares for a new influx of immigrants, we pause to consider the impact on schools and teachers around the nation. Join us for a practical discussion about teaching new immigrant students and what we'll need to know (and do) to successfully manage their transition into our classrooms. Follow on Twitter: @JorgeDoesPBL @Larryferlazzo @bamradionetwork @jonharper70bd Larry Ferlazzo teaches English, Social Studies and International Baccalaureate classes to English Language Learners and mainstream students at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. This is his 18th year at Burbank! He has written 12 books: The ELL Teacher's Toolbox (with co-author Katie Hull Sypnieski) Navigating The Common Core With English Language Learners (with co-author Katie Hull Sypnieski); Building A Community Of Self-Motivated Learners: Strategies To Help Students Thrive In School and Beyond; Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching; Self-Driven Learning: Teaching Strategies For Student Motivation; The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide (with co-author Katie Hull Sypnieski); Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Challenges; English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work; and Building Parent Engagement In Schools (with co-author Lorie Hammond). Morsal Sayar is an elementary school teacher at Chesterfield County Public Schools in Virginia. She attended VCU, where she completed her undergraduate degree in Early and Elementary Education and a Master's of Teaching. Part of her goal as an educator is to ignite a passion for learning in young minds so that they can grow to be lifelong learners both inside and outside of the classroom.

If you want to legally buy marijuana in Virginia, medical dispensaries are your only option, but a product called Delta-8 has many of the same effects and it's flying off the shelves at local stores; While Virginia once again won the title as the top state for business by CNBC this year, the commonwealth still has room to grow as a place for workers according to Oxfam's new rankings; In the same week that Chesterfield County Public Schools announced pay raises for its school bus drivers, Henrico schools announced a similar hourly rate increase; and other local news stories.

The families of seven Black men who were executed in 1951 are scheduled to meet with Governor Ralph Northam today to discuss a posthumous pardon; Republican Glenn Youngkin proposed a series of tax cuts in a campaign announcement yesterday. He says the plans won't cause any cuts in state services if he's elected governor, but it's not clear how he will pay for it; Chesterfield County Public Schools announced yesterday that new and existing bus drivers will see an increase in pay and incentives; and other local news stories.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 48 °F, and this morning looks rainy. Keep an eye on the sky until about 2:00 PM when things should start to clear up.Water coolerAli Rockett and Reed Williams in the Richmond Times-Dispatch report on the eight people killed in Richmond last week—including two teenagers and three young adults. I’m thankful for Rockett and Williams’s coverage, because, over the years, it’s gotten harder and harder to understand who in our City is getting killed. I’m often confused by the press releases I get from the Richmond Police department when someone has been killed. Some deaths are labeled as homicides, some are labeled as death investigations, and I haven’t put together a good system to track those death investigations to see if they end up classified as homicides. I’ll often get a release announcing arrests of suspects for homicides that I hadn’t previously heard about. So, with all of that in mind, I’m going stop covering Richmond’s murders in the top section of this email. I don’t believe that what I’m doing now paints an accurate picture of murders (or violence) in the city. You can always find the RPD’s list of homicide victims here. For what it’s worth, what I think would be really useful would be regular data analysis on all gun violence in Richmond.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,305 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 17 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 156 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 46, Henrico: 81, and Richmond: 29). Since this pandemic began, 1,259 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 1,512. We’ve had a seven-day average of new cases over 1,500 for the last seven days. Is the seven-day average of seven-day averages a thing (1,536)?Despite the disruptions in the supply of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Virginia—and our region—continues to vaccinate more and more folks each week. Here’s the graph of weekly doses administered in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield, and you can see we’ve blown past the governor’s second goal of around 37,000 doses per week—almost doubling it. And here’s the graph of our region’s steady march toward the mostly-made-up goal of having 75% of the population vaccinated. We’re still early on in the vaccine campaign, but what will be really interesting/telling is to watch the hospitalization and death numbers if we areheaded into another peak of cases. If the vaccines can keep vulnerable folks out of the hospital while case counts increase, then I think we could quietly pump our fists in the air a bit. Over two million Virginians (24.6%) are full vaccinated and almost 40% have received at least one dose. We’re getting there!Tonight, the RPS School Board meets at 6:00 PM and you may want to tune in. Check out these Capital Plan Recommendations that Superintendent Kamras will present tonight, specifically pages six and seven. Remember last week when the School Board voted to take over school building procurement and construction from the City? Well, after a bit of research, Kamras’s administration found that Chesterfield County Public Schools, Henrico County Public Schools, and Norfolk Public Schools do not handle their own procurement of new buildings. Chesterfield and Norfolk don’t do construction either. The admin estimates RPS will need to hire 15 new folks at a cost of $3 million. Gasp! Additionally, as a result of the Board’s resolution, the City has stopped working on the RFP for a new building to replace George Wythe—but RPS doesn’t have staff yet to pick up that work. So the project sits in limbo. Not great. With the budget out of the Mayor’s hands, I think Council would need to submit a budget amendment to fund these new spots—or RPS would have to go through some process unknown to me to cut funding from elsewhere in their own budget. I hate this whole situation, and don’t see a great way out of it given all of the egos and personalities involved. Tune in tonight, I guess.Speaking of budget amendments, City Council will have their fifth budget work session today, and they’ll focus on an analysis of the CIP. Perhaps more exciting, their budget amendments, which they’ll discuss on Wednesday, have dropped! This document lays out each proposed amendment (both increases and decreases) by councilmember. While it’ll give you an idea for what’s out there, it doesn’t do a great job at telling the broader story of which amendments have larger support among Council. Basically, don’t take a given member’s lack of amendment as a lack of support for a program or department—they’ll often collaborate on these things. A couple takeaways: Funding for the Civilian Review Board looks like it will happen, but it’s unclear how much (it won’t be the more than $1 million requested, that’s for sure); some folks want police and fire to get a raise, and it’s unclear to me whether that’s inline or out of line with the existing compensation stuff that the mayor’s budget made a priority; increasing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund contribution has a lot of support; and the public defenders office might could see an increase. Over on the cuts side, you’ve got suggested cuts to police, tax relief for seniors, fleet funding, and the non-departmental budget (aka when the City funds non-profits and other organizations). Also of note, Councilmember Jones proposed cutting every line item in the budget that received an increase by 34% of that increase. I’m not a fan of across the board cuts like this because I don’t think they’re equitable. We’ll learn more about how all of these things fit together and what has councilwide support on Wednesday. Exciting!I’ve got two more Council/legislative updates (but they’re quick!). First, the Ms. Bee’s parklet did need to go to the Planning Commission for approval. It’s on their Consent Agenda today, so, fingers crossed, that shouldn’t be a big deal. Second, Planning Commission will also consider these changes to the City’s parklet programwhich, I assume, will make it easier and cheaper for businesses to install parklets.You’re going to want to budget some time this week to work your way through all of the RTD’s The JXN Project: Contextualizing the origins of Jackson Ward. The JXN Project celebrates the 150th anniversary of Jackson Ward (this past weekend!), and the folks behind that work—Enjoli Moon and Sesha Joi Pritchett-Moon—partnered with the RTD to put together a handful of really nice stories about the painful and resilient history of the neighborhood.Richmond BizSense’s Michael Schwartz reports that Dominion will not build a second office tower downtown. I forget how the second Dominion tower was wrapped up into the eventual success of Navy Hill, but I’m glad it’s not something we were counting on in the immediate future.This morning’s patron longreadHow Lil Nas X Flipped Conservatives’ Culture-War PlaybookI love Lil Nas X.That doesn’t mean that Lil Nas X is a sorry pop star — he’s quite an outstanding one by the genre’s own standards, displaying the same easy charm, sharp aesthetic eye and knowledge of the cultural moment that fueled icons from Jimi Hendrix to Madonna to Beyoncé. The rap world has not been historically friendly to LGBTQ people, to say the very least, making it even more impressive that he managed to somehow leap in a single bound the barriers of acceptance both there and in the world of country music. Pop needs figures like him as catalysts, if for nothing else than to keep its world from becoming stale, self-reflexive, decadent.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayDoes a more charming Little Free Library exist?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 25 °F, and it snowed! It’s cold, the roads look a mess, and you can expect more winter precipitation—probably in the form of freezing rain—tomorrow. It’s going to be an actual winter weekend! Please, if you’ve got to leave your house and get in a car, be careful and take it slow.Because it’s Richmond, area schools are closed: Richmond Public Schools, Henrico County Public Schools, and Chesterfield County Public Schools.Also of note: City and County offices are closed, and GRTC is (at this moment) operating on snow routes.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 3,699 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 26 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 565 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 338, Henrico: 136, and Richmond: 91). Since this pandemic began, 717 people have died in the Richmond region.As you can see from the stacked graph, cases have dropped and leveled out a bit but hospitalizations are doing something entirely different. I don’t know what that means, but I’ve got my eye on that percentage of hospital beds occupied graph, though. With all of the vaccine news, I haven’t written about percent positive in a long time, and guess what? It’s still really bad (although rapidly improving). Across the Commonwealth just over 10% of tests are coming back positive, with similar numbers locally (Richmond: 7.4%, Henrico: 9.3%, and Chesterfield: 11.8%). This is boring to write about, but we know what works to contain this virus—masks, distance, working from home—but it’s such a hard message to communicate after folks have been doing the same dang thing for almost an entire year. Hope is on the horizon, but don’t lose focus with the finish line in sight (aka don’t get lazy and catch the 'rona right before your opportunity to get vaccinated).Just a bit of vaccine news today, although I expect to have a bunch more for you on Tuesday. From RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras’s email it sounds like this weekend’s inclement weather has pushed an RPS vaccination event to next weekend. I mention it just to connect the dots between local vaccination efforts and the Governor’s recent request that all schools offer some sort of in-person learning by March 15th.Yesterday, the Mayor gave his State of the City address in a pre-recorded format that you can watch at your leisure over on the City’s YouTube channel. The State of the City is a time for the Mayor to celebrate the past year’s accomplishments and outline priorities for the next year (usually priorities illustrated in the impending budget). Despite a pandemic, recession, and general uncertainty all around, the Mayor still managed to squeeze in some exciting things which we can look forward to. Most exciting to me: The City has secured a grant from DRPT to paint the Pulse’s bus-only lanes red! I felt real and deep sadness a bunch of years ago when I learned our brand new BRT would not have red lanes. It’s a best practice, and such a cheap and easy way to keep cars out of transit-only lanes and keep buses moving faster. I’m very happy to see that on the agenda, and it sounds like the administration will submit an ordinance to accept the money from DRPT later this month. Also up my alley is “a new bikeshare program,” which I will believe when and only when I see it. But I like the language the mayor’s using here: “We plan to pilot the program with bike share stations near the most populous public housing communities after robust community engagement.” The City’s Office of Sustainability has a good Instagram post up detailing some of the high-level prioritiesand Chris Suarez at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a more in-depth recap.Rezoning news! Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports that the City wants to rezone “Greater Scott’s Addition,” which is what they call the area around the Diamond. As you might have guessed, Richmond 300 (our newly-adopted master plan) recommends this rezoning. As you might have also guessed, in order for VCU, the City, and the State to begin building the “VCU Athletic Village” out that way, they need to rezone the area. This will help speed up the process by allowing developers to build denser, mixeder-use projects without needing to get a trillion SUPs (Special Use Permits). Sounds like the City’s Planning Commission will take a look at this next week.Episode three of Black Space Matters, the video series hosted by Duron Chavis and the ICA, is out and available for your enqueueing. This week Chavis talks with Daryl Fraser, a licensed clinical social worker, professor at the VCU School of Social Work, and the former president of the Richmond Association of Black Social Workers. Make some time and check it out.I guess I will just link to impeachment.fyieach morning until this whole thing is over (which should be soon!). The trial is fascinatingly depressing, and this email coverage of it is just deep enough to make me feel informed yet not overwhelmed with despair remembering the events of January 6th. Yesterday, the House Managers wrapped up their arguments, and today at noon the remnants of Trump’s legal team begin their defense. Should be a spectacle.Logistical note! Monday is a State holiday, and, as such, I’ll take the morning to get some much needed rest. I hope you have a wonderful and warm weekend. Until Tuesday!This morning’s longreadThe Curse of the Buried TreasureBuried treasure and just deserts!But some detectorists make discoveries that are immensely valuable, both to collectors of antiquities and to historians, for whom a single buried coin can help illuminate the past. Scanning the environs of King’s Hall Hill, the men suddenly picked up a signal on their devices. They dug into the red-brown soil, and three feet down they started to uncover a thrilling cache of objects: a gold arm bangle in the shape of a snake consuming its own tail; a pendant made from a crystal sphere banded by delicately wrought gold; a gold ring patterned with octagonal facets; a silver ingot measuring close to three inches in length; and, stuck together in a solid clod of earth, what appeared to be hundreds of fragile silver coins.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayAn empty, idyllic lot at 53 Rodman Road.

The General Assembly will reconvene on Wednesday for a special session to finish work on passing laws and the state budget; Richmond says it may be March before they can finish vaccinating those currently eligible in phase 1B; Chesterfield County Public Schools is holding a meeting to determine the budget and when middle and high school students could return to class; and other local news stories.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 28 °F, and today it looks like you should expect rain or freezing rain or icy rain. No snow unfortunately. If you’ve got to leave your house for some reason, please be careful! Sidewalks and streets are bound to be slippery with the temperature hovering around freezing for the entire day. In fact, we’ve got a Winter Weather Advisory until 10:00 AM.Richmond Public Schools has their first virtual snow day today—you can’t have school, even virtual school, if you can’t deliver meals. Chesterfield Public Schools has cancelled both in person and virtual learning. Henrico will continue with their virtual learning, but teachers who had taught from school buildings will now teach form their homes.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 2,558 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 15 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 372 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 181, Henrico: 92, and Richmond: 99). Since this pandemic began, 679 people have died in the Richmond region. What’s this? A statewide total of new cases in the 2,000s! Haven’t seen that in a while. But, before you get too excited, VDH has the following notice up on their data dashboard: “Surveillance system upgrades occurring on Saturday, January 30, 2021, will affect the data on the COVID-19 Cases & Testing Dashboards on January 31 and February 1, 2021. A decrease in the number of cases and tests reported on January 31, and an increase in the number of cases and tests reported on February 1 is anticipated because of these upgrades.”Related to big numbers, on Saturday almost 5,000 seniors were given their first dose of vaccine at a regional vaccination event at the Raceway. That’s a lot of folks in a single day—especially folks who may have some mobility challenges or may just move a little slower. It should definitely give everyone a little hope that massive events like this are already possible in our region without any additional support from the Virginia National Guard or federal government. Our state and federal leaders have talked about both of those things, so adding them to our mix would only increase (and stabilize) our vaccination capacity. However, no one—local, state, or federal—can run massive vaccination events like this without massive amounts of vaccine. Unless something changes in the immediate future we may just have to sit on this infrastructure, waiting for the shots to show up.The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Jessica Nocera reports that after today’s snow day, Chesterfield County Public Schools will return elementary students to in-person learning. 14,000 students will return, while 13,000 have decided to stay virtual. Interestingly, the District’s superintendent originally pitched reopening on April 1st, but, after a meeting with the School Board, that date shifted to February 1st. It’s not clear to me whether the original plan was to return all students on April 1st or just elementary students on April 1st—a big difference. Of course, the context to this entire discussion is that most of Chesterfield’s teachers have not received their first round of vaccine but are still headed back to the classrooms.Richmond’s School Board meets tonight and will further discuss the Superintendent’s proposed budget (full agenda here). Boardmembers have already asked a bunch of questions about the budget, which the administration has already answered, and that means you get this really fascinating Q&A PDF. For example: “How will we address air conditioning concerns with a year-round calendar? The HVAC investments we are hoping to make this spring and summer (using the federal stimulus) should address these concerns.” or “Will we have a nurse at every school? Yes. The FY22 proposed budget will finally help us achieve our goal of having at least one licensed nurse at every school!” I love this kind of stuff. The first two pages of the aforelinked PDF focus on year-round school, if you’re interested in learning more about the specifics of how that would work. Oh! Also! It’s always a good time to email the entire School Boardand let them know you support extending Superintendent Kamras’s contract for four years (so we can continue to get fascinating PDFs like this).Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense has a quick update on Henrico’s GreenCity project (formerly Richmond’s Navy Hill project). The County has officially transferred the Best Products site to their Economic Development Authority, which is the first step in getting the property into the hands of developers. Expect a bunch of slow-trickle, done-deal sounding news about this project for the next, I dunno, year?Over on /r/rva, Creative Dog Media has put together 14 drone photos from yesterday’s snow day that you should flip through. The overheads of the train station and the Manchester climbing wall! Ack! So good.Holly Rodriguez, writing for Richmond Magazine, has a profile of Roscoe Burnems—who you may remember as Richmond’s first poet laureate. I like this quote from Burnems, “Richmond is getting known for these beautiful murals on display across the city, and I want to add a literary component to that.”This morning’s longreadThe Pandemic Has Erased Entire Categories of FriendshipI think a lot about how just before the pandemic I’d finally become a regular at a coffee shop—to the point where they made my coffee when they saw me come in. I miss those people!Understandably, much of the energy directed toward the problems of pandemic social life has been spent on keeping people tied to their families and closest friends. These other relationships have withered largely unremarked on after the places that hosted them closed. The pandemic has evaporated entire categories of friendship, and by doing so, depleted the joys that make up a human life—and buoy human health. But that does present an opportunity. In the coming months, as we begin to add people back into our lives, we’ll now know what it’s like to be without them.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Episode Seven features the coordinator of the Center for Leadership and International Relations at James River High School, Mrs. Hewlett. She speaks on her experience of being a black, female educator in Chesterfield County Public Schools. To reach her: ashley_hewlett@ccpsnet.net

Good morning, RVA! It’s 52 °F and rainy. It’s gonna keep raining, too, so keep an eye out for potentially severe storms later this morning and into the early afternoon. Temperatures will hangout in the mid 60s which seems totally fine for the last day of November.Water coolerThe Richmond Police Department is reporting that last Monday, Chae’Meshia Simms, a woman in her 30s, was shot to death. Police were called to the 800 block of Cheatwood Avenue for a report of a vehicle colliding into a structure and found Simms dead in the vehicle.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 2,325↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 4↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 212↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 74, Henrico: 75, and Richmond: 63). Since this pandemic began, 464 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new statewide cases passed 2,500 over the long weekend and sits at 2,592—the tenth consecutive day over 2,000. Locally, our seven day average of combined new cases in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield is 222 and has topped 200 for the last eight days. Because it’s been a while, here’s the stacked graph of new statewide cases, hospitalizations, and deaths and the graph of new cases in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield. Please keep in mind that reporting is weird over weekends and holidays, and that could mean either days with unusually big numbers or days with unusually small numbers. We should know more about if our troubling hockey-stick trends will continue in a couple of days.Right before the long weekend, Chesterfield County Public Schools announced they will reverse course and put the brakes on in-person learning as case counts increase across the region. Jessica Nocera at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the details. The County’s decision puts the entire region’s public schools—other than Hanover County—virtual until at least the early parts of 2021. Chesterfield’s administrators focused on the seven-day average of new cases per 100,000 people and planned on changing course once that metric crossed a threshold of 25. Honestly, I don’t know much about their decision to use that particular metric and threshold, but you can find that specific number for a given locality here (Richmond: 21.1, Henrico: 25.1, Chesterfield: 26.1). Bizarrely, some winter sports will still (for now) take place? You can read the Virginia High School League’s guidance document here (PDF), but some of it seem a lot like coronatheatre. For example, basketball will eliminate the jump ball? I guess because players are too close to each other? But, like, wait until they hear about rebounding? To its credit, the document does say on every single page “During times of significantly increasing disease spread, organizers of such events should consider cancelling or postponing competition in favor of lesser risk activities such as low‐contact drills or practices.” I guess we’ll have to wait for schools and school districts to make their own sports decisions moving into the winter.I don’t have a picture of it yet, but the City put down part of a new bike lane on 1st Street! This is part of the planned north-south connection from 95/64 all the way to the Downtown Expressway (PDF)—a regular Tour de Urban Renewal. The 1st Street section will head from Duval to Franklin, then you’ll take the Franklin Street Bike Lane to 3rd which will take you down to Byrd Street. It’s a bit of a jiggity-jog but does provide a safe, nice, and needed way to move perpendicular to Franklin Street.I’ve written a bunch about the new pot of transportation money the Central Virginia Transportation Authority will start to provide any minute now. It’s important to remember that while the money is divided up into three buckets, other than the bucket allocated to public transit, the money can be used for almost anything transportation-related that your urbanism brain can dream up. That’s why pieces like this one from Chris Suarez in the RTD are important to remind us (really, to remind our elected leadership) that transportation money does not have to mean widening highways or paving streets. It can mean filling needed sidewalk gaps, building ADA-compliant ramps, and making accessible bus stops!Speaking of, via /r/rva, look at all of these fun urbanist issues on the front page of yesterday’s newspaper!Will Manchester get a grocery store? Maybe, says Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense. That neighborhood’s going to need a massive improvement in pedestrian infrastructure to make crossing Commerce Road something you can safely do without taking your life in your own hands. See above for potential funding sources.I don’t know what to make of this other than “seems bad”: the RTD’s Mark Robinson says that the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board voted back in 2019 to transfer a bunch of vacant land to nonprofits so they could build some affordable housing. Here we are, a year and a half later, and that transfer has yet to happen. Apparently, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development needs to sign off on a thing, but HUD says they need more info from RRHA. I dunno who’s to blame here, but the end result is property has sat vacant for months and months and months, and fewer affordable homes exist in Richmond.This morning’s longreadHousebound.Over the weekend I watched Run on Hulu and was pretty impressed by actress Kiera Allen. Here’s a no-spoilers interview with director Aneesh Chaganty about how he thought through making a moving centered around someone with a disability while not being disabled himself.Chaganty was conscious of the fact that “[he’s] not disabled, [but] telling this story of somebody who is”. Once Allen was on board, he consulted with her constantly. “I gave her the script and the production design layout of the house and asked her to please note it up—tell us what is wrong, what you wouldn’t do. So much changed because she told us that this is not how she lives. Her costume, her room, bits of her motion, her dialogue and her backstory changed. We were very open to that. I’d ask her about the title—is the title Run offensive? We’re doing a double-play on it, but is it mean? I made sure that was okay with her.”If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 63 °F, and today looks like the warmest, nicest day of the week. Expect a pleasant afternoon with highs in the mid 70s. Tomorrow, though, the rain moves in, temperatures start dropping, and by Friday I’m wearing overalls.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,134↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 19↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 109↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 29, Henrico: 45, and Richmond: 35). Since this pandemic began, 415 people have died in the Richmond region. We are one week away from the 2020 election—a date that’s seemed both infinitely far away and right around the corner for four years. It’s ultra important that you vote, but there is a pandemic on. I think by now, y’all know the basics for safe coronavoting—masks, distance, hand washing, and giving yourself plenty of time to deal with lines and delays—but do you know what to do if you end up in isolation or quarantined between now and Election Day? Lucky for you (well, not so lucky as you either have COVID-19 or were exposed to someone who does), the Virginia Department of Health has some helpful information on casting an emergency absentee ballot (PDF). The dates are important here, so don’t screw it up: You must request to vote emergency absentee before 2:00 PM on the day preceding the election and the completed form must be turned in by 5:00 PM. You can find some more information on the Department of Elections website, too. Don’t let a virus keep you from exercising your right to vote!On Monday, police in Philadelphia shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old Black man who was experiencing a mental health crisis. Since then, protestors have filled the streets of Philly, and the Philadelphia Inquirer has an intense set of photos from the last couple of days. This is horrible, well-worn territory that we seem unable or unwilling to stop repeating. Last night, a couple dozen Richmonders marched in solidarity with the folks in Philly and in remembrance of Marcus David-Peters, who, while experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot and killed by Richmond Police. I can’t really tell from the news or the Twitter this morning if folks were arrested, but here’s at least one video of Police man-marching down a street in the Fan and rushing after someone. I’m still waiting for, maybe stupidly, a dramatic shift in tone from the RPD—a shift both in their language and their physical response to what appear to be generally peaceful protests. This shift could be implemented by the Chief of Police or, of course, by the Chief’s boss, the Mayor.Yesterday, Attorney General Mark Herring made some progress in the ongoing legal battle to take down the state-owned Robert E. Lee monument. From his Twitter: “We WON the Lee statue case after a judge found that it was raised against a backdrop of white supremacy and that it is against public policy to keep it up. The ruling is stayed pending appeal, but this is a HUGE win and we’re on the path to bringing down this relic.” Governor Northam released a short statement, too, saying “The Lee monument was built to celebrate the Confederacy and uphold white supremacy. This victory moves Virginia forward in removing this relic of the past—one that was erected for all the wrong reasons.” Sounds like the people that want to keep this particular monument to white supremacy up have 30 days to appeal, which I’m sure they will. I just don’t see a world in which the man-and-horse portion of the Lee monument sticks around, but it may be well into 2021 before the State sweeps away any remaining legal issues preventing its removal. In the meantime, Richmond City should kickstart a public planning process to figure out how best to move forward with the now very-sacred space. I shouldn’t be the one to decide, but removing the stone plinth at this point, which I think is the State’s current plan, doesn’t seem appropriate.In the RTD, Jessica Nocera has a stressful story about Chesterfield County Public Schools’s reopening process. Yesterday, the District’s health panel decided—in a split decision—to send the final, older cohort of students back to in-person instruction on November 9th. From the article (and from having read a bunch of PDFs), it sounds like the County’s panel is using the newish CDC School Metrics and maybe the associated Virginia Department of Health’s guidance(PDF) on those metrics to make their decisions. As with most things in our country’s / state’s / city’s response to the pandemic, these documents are mostly just that: Guidance, not requirements. Disease is complicated, turns out. I definitely do not envy the panel who must make these very important, very public decisions.Candidate questionnaires are important—not just to inform voters (which, there’s a good chance you’ve already voted) but to keep candidates accountable after they win their elections and start in on the business of running our town. Richmond Mayorathon has posted most of the responses to their policy-heavy questions so you can hear from candidates on things like bikes, buses, combined sewer overflow, police, and all kinds of other topics you most likely care about. Print these bad boys to PDF, file them away, and let’s check back in 2022 on promises kept and promises broken.The RTD’s Mark Robinson has a ton of mayoral fundraising details for you to wade through. Most interesting to me: Alexsis Rodgers has outraised Kim Gray.Style Weekly has released their annual Top 40 Under 40 list—a list of 40 rad people doing rad things all under the age of 40. You’ll recognize some of these names! That makes sense, though, because of all the rad stuff these folks get into.This morning’s patron longreadParenting Is a Job. During the Pandemic, It’s Impossible.Submitted by Patron Jeff. Parenting is a lot of work under normal circumstances, and right now, under the most bizarre of circumstances, it can feel hopelessly overwhelming. If you work with folks responsible in some way for a tiny human, give them a little extra grace.The most impossible of situations falls to single parents, most of whom are single moms. A quarter of US families are single-parent households (and four out of five of those households are headed by single mothers). A single mom must somehow manage to parent all day and all night, while also working and being the sole provider of income. In the cases where schools and daycare centers are closed, single parents are not able to work. Without a job, they are left with little to no unemployment benefits to feed and shelter their children, and with no other parent in the house to take over while they apply for jobs or run basic errands to get groceries. During the pandemic, the lack of social supports for single parents is heightened, because social-distancing measures make it nearly impossible to get outside help. There is, as one economist bluntly put it, “no escape.”If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

What was it like to graduate from high school during COVID-19? We spoke with three members of the class of 2020 to find out: Emma Rice (Midlothian High School in Chesterfield County Public Schools), Paige Lake (Lee Davis High School in Hanover County Public Schools), and Sofia Alcaine (Freeman High School in Henrico County Public Schools). This is part two of a two part series.

We spoke with (left to right) Merv Daugherty (Superintendent), Isabelle Battle (Class of 2019 Graduate of Academy 360), Michelle Wilder (Assistant Principal at Carver College and Career Academy), Laura Faulcon (Assistant Principal of Alternative Programs), and Sharonda Smith (English Teacher at Academy 360) about alternative education in Chesterfield County Public Schools. CCPS offers a variety of alternative education programs to meet the needs of their large and diverse student body. Listen to learn more about the mission of alternative education, who benefits from these programs, and how they fit into the broader vision of equity for the division. Hosted by David Naff (MERC Assistant Director).

In this episode of Abstract we discussed the final report from our Achieving Racial Equity in School Disciplinary Policies and Practices MERC study, titled "Understanding Racial Inequity in School Discipline Across the Richmond Region." The episode featured (left to right) Brian Maltby (Disciplinary Hearing Review Officer for Hanover County Public Schools), David Naff (Assistant Director of Research and Evaluation for MERC), Marcie Terry (Principal from Chesterfield County Public Schools), and Ashlee Lester (research assistant and PhD candidate from the VCU School of Education). We discussed the findings of the study, what we learned along the way as a research and study team, and how we hope this report will help inform research, policy, and practice in school discipline. The full report is available at merc.soe.vcu.edu/reports.

How many times a month is your child missing school? How many times a year? It is something to take note of because without you even realizing it those days can add up quick! Did you know that missing just 2 days a month or 10% of the school year for any reason is defined as chronic absenteeism in Virginia? Chronic absenteeism can cause big gaps in learning at all levels and it is also a sign of drop out risk. Chesterfield County Public Schools has supports and resources in place to help parents and students with this problem.In this edition of the Engage Chesterfield podcast, we will:Note the consequences of chronic absenteeismLearn ways to help start a positive pattern of attendance Hear what Chesterfield has in place to promote and support attendance Introduce you to Communities in Schools and the services that they provide Chesterfield studentsLearn ways to become involved in helping Communities in SchoolsThe end goal of this podcast is to start the conversation making it easier for schools, teachers, and parents to talk about absences. Relationship building can help remove the barriers to attendance issues.This edition's special guests are Lindsay Mottley, CCPS Principal, Amanda Simons, CCPS School Social Worker, and Ashley Hall and Jennifer Hilliard of Communities in Schools.

October is Dyslexia Awareness month. On this Engage Chesterfield podcast, Dr. Zenia Burnett, Coordinator of Special Education and Dr. Samantha Hollins, Director of the Department of Special Education for Chesterfield County Public Schools talk about the signs and impacts of dyslexia. Emily Stains, Literacy Specialist for Chesterfield County Public Schools shares ways parents can support literacy learning at home. In addition, Caitlin Wynings, CCPS graduate, provides her personal perspective of living with dyslexia.

9/25/18 show - Books have been a part of my life from way before I could read. I love reading so much I even walked out of school in first grade because I thought they weren't going to teach me how to read.  You'll have to read my book for the details though. Today I want to focus on my guest and how she is helping increase literacy around the world. Without literacy you would not be reading this episode summary nor would I be able to do my show each week. Smartphones would not exist nor would most of the resources we take for granted today. Yet a large portion of the world cannot read at even a basic grade level and in some countries women are still not allowed to go to school. Enter Kathryn Starke, Global Literacy advocate. Her goal is to help schools achieve literacy success while making it fun for their students of all ages. Take a listen as we discuss how you can be a literacy advocate, how Kathryn has built a global business around literacy and how anyone can "Tackle Reading" in their community or around the world. Kathryn Starke is an urban literacy specialist, reading consultant, author, and the founder of Creative Minds Publications, LLC, a global literacy based educational company.  She has been featured on multiple media platforms including Fox Small Business News, Inspire Me Today, Virginia This Morning, and Conversations Live.   She currently serves on the board of Reach Out and Read Virginia.  She previously served on the Chris Baker 92 Foundation, and is the children’s author and literacy advocate for the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation reading program.  She served as a panelist on educational forums for University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University and was the keynote speaker for the PBS Kids Writing Contest Awards Ceremony.   A native of Richmond Virginia, Kathryn graduated from Longwood University with a BS degree in elementary education and a Master's degree in Literacy and Culture.  She has taught first, second, and third grade and served as a literacy specialist for over a decade in inner city/Title I schools in Richmond Public Schools and Chesterfield County Public Schools in Richmond, Virginia.  She is the author of Amy’s Travels, a multicultural children’s book used in schools on over twenty countries on six continents.  The book was recently turned into a musical by the Latin Ballet of Virginia.   Kathryn was named one of the 50 Great Writers You Should be Reading by The Author’s Show.  She has provided in depth literacy consulting in over 80 schools, has presented at both state and national reading conferences, and has served as a consultant in some of the top 100 largest school districts in the country, working primarily in 5 states (Virginia, California, New York, Massachusetts, and South Carolina).  

Listen to Adrian Martin from Chesterfield County Public Schools discuss her action research project: The Effects of Specific Vocabulary Instruction in the Mathematics Classroom.

When is the best time to talk to your child about underage drinking? It may be now! Learn about "Talk. They Hear you" SAMHSA's underage drinking prevention campaign that helps parents and caregivers start talking to their children early about the dangers of alcohol. Special guests are Ginger Dotter of Chesterfield County Prevention Services and Ann Tierney of Chesterfield County Public Schools.

When you think about K-12 education, you might think about academics, homework, athletics, and other education-related topics. But in many respects, public schools and public school districts are much like companies and businesses. Chesterfield County Public Schools, located just outside Richmond, Virginia, is a large school district with over 7,000 employees serving almost 60,000 students. In order to be successful it employs a business-like approach to education management. Thomas Taylor is Chesterfield’s Chief Academic Officer. Earlier in his career he was an award-winning teacher and principal. As he climbed the ladder and became a superintendent, he realized he needed more training in business and leadership. So he went back to school and earned his Executive MBA at William & Mary. He joins us today to discuss the business of public school education and how school districts can win when they adopt business practices. Learn how the William and Mary Center for Corporate Education can help you and your organization develop your top talent through customized executive education and professional development programs. Visit us at www.wmleadership.com. Thank you for listening.

Liza Collins, a teacher from Clover Hill High School in Chesterfield County Public Schools, discusses her action research project, "The Evolution of Cavalier Morning"

As the Director of Equity and Student Support Services for Chesterfield County Public Schools, Tameshia Grimes supervises CCPS leaders in the areas of school counseling, school psychology, school social work, student health, Title III, Early Childhood Special Education, Head Start, Virginia Preschool Initiative and the Virginia Preschool Initiative Expansion, and alternative education. We talked with her about “building strong children,” and what it takes to promote equity in a large school division.

As the Superintendent of Chesterfield County Public Schools, Dr. James Lane is responsible for overseeing the education of 60,000 students in 63 schools. We talked with him about the work that he does for students and educators in Chesterfield and how shifting policies have impacted those efforts.