Our regular Education Beat reporting is the result of a partnership with the nonprofit community news platform Charlottesville Tomorrow, which covers growth, development, public education, and local politics. Walton Middle School fills assistant principal vacancy The county school division has hired Rick Vrhovac as the new assistant principal at Walton Middle School. Vrhovac’s arrival, announced last […]
Education
The Education Beat: City could scrap teaching requirement for principals
Last week, the Charlottesville School Board discussed relaxing its requirements for principals in order to allow candidates without teaching experience to fill the top administrative positions at city schools. In a discussion at the board’s regular meeting on June 13, three of the five members present supported the change to the division’s policy manual, saying […]
Local group Sisters Conquering Cancer reaches out to underserved populations
When Anita Jacobson was diagnosed with breast cancer a year and a half ago after a routine mammogram, she said fear didn’t even cross her mind. Despite having lost family members and two close friends to different forms of the disease, she said she left the doctor’s office with a plan to face it head […]
The Education Beat: Price of lab projects up, students on the school board
C-VILLE is partnering with Charlottesville Tomorrow to bring you the latest local education news—briefs from school board meetings, updates from the classroom, and interviews with educators. Look for our first Education Beat in Tuesday’s paper. Price tag of Buford’s science labs doubles [...]
Owner of experiential forest preschool launches Kickstarter campaign
After a long day cooped up inside, Ruth Haske’s 4-year-old daughter was ecstatic to get outdoors when the thunder subsided last week. She bounded down the steps to help her dad take a bag of garbage to the compost pit, and stopped to check the status of her beet seedlings in the family’s garden [...]
As dome nears completion, a new chapter begins for Rotunda
Jody Lahendro has led a lot of curious locals up the 61′ of creaking scaffolding that has surrounded UVA’s Rotunda for a year. Most recently, it was a group that had won a private tour at an auction to raise money for the iconic structure’s ongoing renovation. Once the visitors emerged at [...]
Manslaughter charge, Coke building off the market again, and more on the Bypass: News briefs
Check c-ville.com daily and pick up a copy of the paper Tuesday to for the latest Charlottesville and Albemarle news briefs and stories. Here’s a quick look at some of what we’ve had an eye on for the past week. Manslaughter charge in Semester at Sea death Police in Dominica have arrested a man [...]
New library heralds era of growth in Western Albemarle
After years of discussion, planning, and vigorous fundraising, construction of the new Crozet Library, a big step in the effort to expand the town’s downtown area, is nearing completion. The two-story building on Crozet Avenue still smells like sawdust, but the power tools and paint cans will [...]
Eighth graders collaborate with UVA to establish stream buffers
Kathryn Durkee’s eighth graders at the Community Public Charter School got out of the classroom last Wednesday, and spent the morning splashing around the Rivanna River. The students were wrapping up a nine-week-long project, during which they collaborated with Youth-Nex, UVA’s Center to [...]
PVCC student from Kyrgyzstan named top Virginia community college scholar
When 26-year-old Anastasiya Hvaleva was growing up in Kyrgyzstan, she and her friends used to set up pretend businesses for their dolls and toys, complete with managers, employees, and customers. But the game became very real when, in grade school, Hvaleva watched both her parents lose their [...]
End of the road for Rooker, happenings at UVA, and disgruntled homeowners: News briefs
Check c-ville.com daily and pick up a copy of the paper Tuesday to for the latest Charlottesville and Albemarle news briefs and stories. Here’s a quick look at some of what we’ve had an eye on for the past week. Rooker announces retirement from Board of Supervisors During last week’s [...]
Grading education: How good are Charlottesville and Albemarle schools?
Virginia schools are about to get their grades. The state legislature passed a new measure at the end of its 2013 session last month instituting an A-through-F assessment system for public schools. Supporters of the new guidelines—particularly Governor Bob McDonnell, who was largely responsible [...]
iPad app created by eighth grade French students has already gone global
The use of tablets and laptops in middle and high schools has created controversy in Charlottesville city schools, but St. Anne’s-Belfield School French teacher Karine Boulle has reason to rave about iPads. After 17 sessions of intense writing, translating, and coding, Boulle’s class of eighth [...]
Literacy Volunteers embrace new home with an expanded mission
Maria Rodriguez, a 25-year-old au pair from Panama, found herself wondering what the heck she was doing here when she arrived in Charlottesville last spring. She knew nobody, and with an English language background limited to written words and no verbal skills, she had to constantly ask her [...]
News brief roundup
Every Monday, the C-VILLE team compiles a list of the previous week’s most important stories that didn’t make it into the news section. Be sure to check in each week for all the news you need, in full-length stories and briefs. Student shot with pellet gun on city school bus A [...]
Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards spread community awareness
Self-proclaimed tree hugger Martha Orton said she’s had an interest in learning about trees and forest health since her son told her, while on a reforestation trip to India, that “trees all look different when you know their names.” A retired social worker, Orton enrolled in the Charlottesville [...]
Jefferson School reopens as cultural community center
The new Jefferson School City Center officially opened its doors to the public on Monday, January 7, kicking off a costly and hopeful experiment to preserve local history and provide services for underserved communities close to Downtown. After a year-and-a-half of renovations, the center is [...]
UVA’s two-week January Term offers everything from sculpting to wine history
Most college students use the first half of January to hit the slopes or loaf around the house in sweatpants, blissfully unburdened by academia. But for about 900 UVA students, both on Grounds and abroad, the weeks leading up to spring semester are for intellectual experimentation. This is [...]
Young UVA researchers share their labs’ hidden treasures
Tucked away in a chilly corner room in Gilmer Hall are rows of plastic aquariums, each home to a rough-skinned newt with enough toxin in its skin to kill up to 12 grown men. The poisonous amphibians are just one example of research quietly moving forward on Grounds thanks to the work of young, [...]
Dragas criticized course on Gaga
During the weeks of turmoil following UVA President Teresa Sullivan’s ouster, Rector Helen Dragas promised the University of Virginia community that the Board of Visitors had not, and would not, play a role in directing academic courses to be eliminated or reduced. “These matters belong to the [...]
How to decide between schools in Charlottesville
Whether your little one is just starting school or is about to transition into a new grade, you want to make sure he gets the very best schools in Charlottesville have to offer. Here are a few things to consider. How do I get involved? With the start of the school year, you’re likely getting [...]
Globalization and the way Americans learn
I was always very nervous on the first day of school. I remember sitting on the front steps with my backpack, waiting for my carpool to pull up, and having butterflies in my stomach and a lump in my throat. I had the feeling that when I got to school, everything would be different, that […]
Albemarle residents fight against rural school closures
A recent cost study by a county schools committee has reignited an argument over the value of keeping small rural schools open, and parents are outraged that the Albemarle County School Board might consider closing Yancey and Red Hill elementary schools, forcing kids to commute to Scottsville. [...]