This report covers recent accomplishments in Chesterfield schools.

Henrico schools won’t expand international baccalaureate program to western middle school In response to overwhelming input from western Henrico County parents, the popular International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program won’t expand as much as planned.

Last week recorded several items of interest regarding the schools.

Audit: Richmond Schools can’t account for 42 percent of computer equipment Forty-two percent of computer equipment identified in Richmond school records cannot be accounted for, according to an audit released yesterday by the city auditor’s office. The operational audit of the Richmond Public Schools’ department of information technology said 13,455 pieces of equipment identified through the district’s fixed-asset system could be missing or not correctly documented.

Four Richmond middle school students earned Gold Keys in the 2009 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition coordinated by the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. Gold Key art winners from Richmond are: Ben Youngstone, Binford Middle, acrylic painting; Jasmyne Banks, Henderson Middle, mixed media; Madeline Mcintyre, Brown Middle, drawing; and Rabiah Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr. Middle, mixed media.

A lot of storm and strive has surrounded the saga of Chandler Middle School, an underperforming part of the Richmond Public School system. But the drama doesn’t change the fundamental facts on the ground. Academically, Chandler can’t cut it. That might be the fault of the administration. Or the school’s administrative revolving door. Or the teachers. Or the students themselves. Probably all of the above share in the blame, to varying degrees.

Henrico County will open a new middle school off Nuckols Road and a new high school on Staples Mill Road in 2010. New boundary lines will affect nearly every high school and many elementary and middle schools. The School Board approved several scenarios at a work session last week:

Twenty Chesterfield Community High School students were celebrated Feb. 12 for being students of the month. The students are: Ashley Broughton, Courtney Brown, Jake Gray, Chris Jackson, Juhahn Robinson, Janie Mack, Jasmine Smith, Jeysel Garcia, Joseph Epps, Julio Rendon, Lauren Nightingale, Lawrence Taylor, Michael Campbell, Nancy Hernandez, Omar Bencomo, Patrick Mehfoud, Priti Patel, Shawn’Nae White, and Trey Banks.

These events and awards were recently announced by the Chesterfield County school division. Two teams of practical law students from Matoaca High School won mock trials Jan. 26 in Chesterfield Circuit Court and will argue cases in the appeals court in Richmond at 1 p.m. Feb. 24. The Matoaca defense team—Chris Langguth, Amber Wright and Kayla Coleman—won against prosecutors from St. Gertrude High School. The Matoaca prosecutors—Dalyn Dessaure, Darrell Britt and Zach Reeves—won against a defense team from Collegiate School. At the appellate level on Feb. 24, two students from each side will participate.

Henrico County school officials today named Hampton School Superintendent Patrick Russo as superintendent of the 48,000-student Henrico system.

As part of Chesterfield County’s celebration of Black History Month, eight high school seniors will be awarded Leaders of the 21st Century scholarships. Winners of the $1,000 scholarships to a Virginia college were chosen based on grades, extracurricular activities and response to this essay question: What are you currently doing to promote racial and cultural understandings in your school and community?

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.

The long-running search for a new superintendent for Richmond Public Schools ended today where it officially began in August: with Yvonne W. Brandon. The School Board removed the “interim” from her title, approved her selection as the system’s new chief on a 9-0 vote and awarded her a 3½-year contract. Details of the contract were not immediately available.

We believe it was Albert Jay Nock who set the ideal class size at two—one teacher and one student sitting on opposite ends of a log. The class likely would be studying Plutarch. Virginia’s budget crunch has dramatic implications for education. Although governors and legislators typically strive to shield them from drastic cuts, this time schools will not emerge unscathed. Gov. Tim Kaine says he wants to minimize the classroom effects of spending cuts. Local officials say the consequences for instruction will be negative and profound.

On a normal day in an eighth-grade classroom, there’s no shortage of fidgeting, whispering and giggling. But yesterday, it was silent in Mrs. Wilcox’s Algebra I class at Tuckahoe Middle School. All eyes were on the television.