After-school activities at Henrico and Chesterfield public schools are cancelled for this afternoon and evening because of the weather.

The county is hosting public hearings on the 2009-10 Technology Master Plan and revisions to the School Board’s policy manual.
  When: tomorrow at 7 p.m.
  Where: Public Meeting Room, 10001 Iron Bridge Road
  Info: http://www.chesterfield.k12.va.us

The Chesterfield County School Board will hold public hearings tomorrow night on the proposed $13 million technology plan and major revisions to the board’s policy manual. The current technology plan was about laying the infrastructure and getting computers into schools, said Lynda Gillespie, director of technology, while the 2009-14 plan focuses on expanding technology access to students and teachers and making technology part of the daily instruction.

A 16-year-old Meadowbrook High School student faces a felony charge after a prank involving a wooden rifle prop, Chesterfield County police said. Shortly before 1 p.m. yesterday, the male student entered a classroom while class was in session, pointed the fake rifle at students and yelled something, said Chesterfield police Maj. Karl Leonard.

Manchester Middle School student Michael Turner thinks he would like to apply for the International Baccalaureate program at Meadowbrook High School for next fall, when he’ll start as a freshman. “I’m open to a lot of ideas and opportunities,“ he said Thursday evening while he waited with his parents for an IB presentation at Meadowbrook High.

In a proposed five-year technology master plan for Chesterfield County schools, all teachers and administrators would receive netbooks, smaller and inexpensive laptop computers. Teachers would be required to integrate technology—already in the curriculum—into their lessons. They would have the opportunity to create blogs to ask questions to elicit staff discussions about school-related issues. Wireless services would be installed in all schools.

Last school year, five Chesterfield County middle schools piloted an online essay-grading tool and saw as much as 21 percent gains on eighth-graders’ Standards of Learning writing test scores. Last week, the School Board authorized the school system to spend about $45,000 to buy licenses for all eighth-graders to use the MyAccess online writing tool to supplement writing instruction, and an additional $5,000 to train teachers. The funds to purchase 3,000 licenses will come from the county schools’ instructional operating funds and federal grants.

For the past eight years, students and parents who called or visited Matoaca High School’s guidance department have met the friendly and knowledgeable Anabel Newton. But this summer, students looking for transcripts or parents registering their children for the fall won’t find her anymore. The guidance technician retired last week after 31 years with the Chesterfield County school system.

The Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to appropriate $51.4 million to county schools for capital projects in fiscal 2010, but not without expressing reservations. The money had been left undesignated last month when the Board of Supervisors approved an $858.8 million, six-year capital improvement program. The appropriation was held back to allow supervisors and School Board members to discuss capital funding issues. Supervisors had specifically raised concerns about the amount requested for middle school expansions.

Music proves valuable teaching tool Chesterfield celebrating program that helped student move ahead At 2 years old, Tory Shelton had the cognitive ability of a 10-month-old. She did not speak or understand when spoken to. “We tried a lot of ways to get through to her, and sign language helped some,“ said her mother, Lynn Shelton. “It wasn’t until she started going to the art and music classes at Alberta Smith Elementary . . . that she really started opening up.“

The Chesterfield County School Board unanimously adopted an operating budget last night that restores 427 positions slated to be cut, eliminates employee furlough days and keeps current class sizes. Initially, the proposed budget had a $52 million shortfall and 525 jobs were to be cut. A reallocation of funds and an infusion of $20.1 million in federal stimulus money reduced the deficit to $32.5 million. With the federal money, the operating budget for the next fiscal year is $571.6 million.

Lekeia Johnson was eager to find out what she was going to do with a sheet of paper, three straws and four Life Savers candies on a table in front of her. “You’re going to make ‘puff cars,‘“ Pamela Johnson, a volunteer with DuPont, said. “And you’re going to race them.“ DuPont engineers worked yesterday with fourthand fifth-graders at Bensley, Falling Creek, Bellwood and Ecoff elementary schools in Chesterfield County as part of the Science in the School Day.

Bullying has always been a problem in schools, but it has risen to a new level, Chesterfield County Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome said in a recent presentation. “They have the Internet now,“ he said. Bullies also have other communications devices, such as phones for texting and sharing pictures. “Cyber-bullying presents unique challenges to schools because once something is put out on the Internet, it has the power to become available to the entire school and more,“ said Martha Turner, a counselor at Robious Middle School. “Before the Internet, bullying took the form of gossip, verbal or physical harassment.“

Bullying has always been a problem in schools, but it has risen to a new level, Chesterfield County Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome said in a recent presentation. “They have the Internet now,“ he said. Bullies also have other communications devices, such as phones for texting and sharing pictures. “Cyber-bullying presents unique challenges to schools because once something is put out on the Internet, it has the power to become available to the entire school and more,“ said Martha Turner, a counselor at Robious Middle School. “Before the Internet, bullying took the form of gossip, verbal or physical harassment.“

The Chesterfield County school system is proposing to eliminate more than 500 positions, funding for Advanced Placement testing and its elementary International Baccalaureate program to make up for a $52 million budget shortfall. “To say that this is the most difficult budget process I have overseen as a superintendent would be a dramatic understatement,“ Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome said yesterday at a news conference.