You might say LaTonya Waller is on a winning streak. After earning an R.E.B. Award for Teaching Excellence this month—an honor that comes with a $10,000 reward she’ll use toward a research trip to Hawaii and Iceland—Waller was chosen Thursday night as Richmond Public Schools’ 2010 Teacher of the Year. Waller teaches earth and life sciences at Lucille Brown Middle School, coaches the Mind Games team, and sponsors the school’s science, engineering and forensic clubs.

You might say LaTonya Waller is on a winning streak. After earning an R.E.B. Award for Teaching Excellence this month—an honor that comes with a $10,000 reward she’ll use toward a research trip to Hawaii and Iceland—Waller was chosen Thursday night as Richmond Public Schools’ 2010 Teacher of the Year. Waller teaches earth and life sciences at Lucille Brown Middle School, coaches the Mind Games team, and sponsors the school’s science, engineering and forensic clubs.

Latonya Waller, a science teacher at Lucille Brown Middle School, is the Richmond Public Schools’  2010 Teacher of the Year.

A lot has been made in pop culture about what’s going to happen in 2012, Richmond School Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon said yesterday to an auditorium packed with school officials, community business partners and students. What is she hoping for that year, which could be an apocalyptic one, if you believe the ancient Mayans and modern filmmakers?

Hurdles remain as the opening of Richmond’s first public charter school nears. Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, set to open in July, still needs to reach compliance with the American with Disabilities Act and solve transportation problems, Richmond School Board members pointed out last night. “It seems to me, this is late in the process to be talking about how to transport the students,“ said Kimberly B. Gray, vice chairwoman of the School Board. “It is critical to make sure all of our programs . . . are accessible to all children.“

Will a new Huguenot High School be built by the end of 2013? The School Board will meet Thursday for the first of two scheduled work sessions to discuss building new schools in the city for the first time in a decade.

Richmond School Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon unveiled yesterday a plan she hopes will further decrease the school system’s dropout rate, which most recently went from 16.2 percent to 14.8 percent. The school system’s Dropout Prevention Initiative aims to get dropouts back into the classroom to graduate. “We are looking at why students are dropping out and developing ways to re-engage those students who have become disengaged,“ she said. “The plan is not just about getting them in, but getting them to become motivated to stay in.“

A day after Richmond Public Schools saw a nearly 3 percent decrease in its dropout rate, Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon unveiled a plan designed to further decrease the system’s dropout rate. Despite the dropout rate being lowered from 16.2 percent to 14.8 percent, Brandon described dropping out of high school a national crisis, not just a problem in Richmond.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones unveiled an aggressive plan to build four schools in the city by 2014 and start construction on the first in a little over a year. Jones identified replacing Huguenot High School as a priority during a meeting last night with the Richmond School Board. “I really have a desire, or want to suggest, building a high school in the first phase,“ Jones said. “We have not built a high school in about 40 years. I can say without fear, Huguenot definitely needs to be replaced.“

An 8-year-old Westover Hills Elementary School pupil brought an unloaded .22-caliber pistol to school in his backpack today. The third-grader apparently brought the weapon to school from home, and it was discovered by his teacher after two other students reported it. The boy apparently mentioned the gun to his classmates, said Richmond schools spokeswoman Felicia Cosby.

The driver of a Richmond school system bus fled the scene yesterday after hitting a bicycle that was ridden moments earlier by a 12-year-old boy, police said. The boy suffered minor injuries when he jumped off the bike to avoid being struck, said Dionne Waugh, a spokeswoman for the Richmond Police Department. He was taken to VCU Medical Center for treatment.

You never know what you’ll hear if you listen. “There are so many different dimensions to a conversation,“ conflict-resolution specialist Iman Shabazz said late last month during a break in a class he was helping lead for new Richmond teachers. “Hopefully, this will teach them to be mindful of all that’s involved.“ Shabazz and Santa Sorenson, both of the Richmond Peace Education Center, were helping the city’s newest crop of middle school teachers learn good ways to defuse tense moments. Along the same second-floor hallway at Armstrong High School, three other groups of mediators from the center were leading similar sessions for incoming elementary and high school teachers.

It’ll be a homecoming of sorts tonight when the Richmond Concert Band gets together for its 10th annual Old Instruments for Young Hands concert at Linwood Holton Elementary School. The fundraiser for city schools’ music programs is being hosted by Holton’s principal, David Hudson. When the band kicks into gear with its mix of classical, jazz and other big-band standards, Hudson will be playing along on the clarinet.

Most of Central Virginia’s high school football teams got back to work yesterrday A few schools with Aug. 28 games— Benedictine, Goochland, Petersburg and Blessed Sacrament Huguenot — had already started practice.

Richmond City Councilman Douglas G. Conner Jr. said he’s tired of retraining students from the Richmond Technical Center when they’re hired to work at his auto-body shop. He said his experiences—combined with Richmond Public Schools’ 66 percent graduation rate—show the need to overhaul career and technical education. He’s pursuing ideas for an overhaul through a set of city-sponsored trips, traveling last month to Pittsburgh and next month to Lexington, Mass., to tour their successful tech centers.