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Volume 40, Number 24
Page 8 POSTAL CUSTOMER
King George
Wednesday, June 15, 2016 50 Cents
helping you relate to your community
Vote postponed on King George water and sewer increase Board reacts to comments for tax money to fund Service Authority capital debt Phyllis Cook
Photo by Richard Leggitt
Fiery Festival
The Colonial Beach Chamber of Commerce sposored the 65th annual Riverfest over the weekend, with fireworks, parades, a carnival, vendors and more.
The King George Service Authority voted to postpone action for a planned water/sewer rate increase of 7 percent at its June 7 meeting. Service Authority Vice Chairman Cedell Brooks, who presided at the meeting in the absence of Ruby Brabo, said the vote would take place its next meeting, which is 6:30 p.m. June 21 in the board room of the Revercomb building, behind the courthouse. The reason for the delay was stated by Brooks. “We will not take any action tonight,” Brooks said. “There will be no vote tonight without the at-large
member for the whole county present.” Brooks said Brabo was out of town. A handful of residents commented on the proposed increase, with some speaking twice on the same topic, including Yvonne Richard and Steve Tarrell, in opposition to the increase, saying water in their Eden Estates subdivision is discolored. Service Authority General Manager Chris Thomas disputed those claims in a lengthy report, but added additional expanded testing will be done to confirm clean testing results already received in response to those customer’s previous complaints. Other residents said they had no problem with the nominal rate increase, including Jim Lynch, Glen Holiday, Dennis Ridgeway and Howard Yarus. Lynch expressed concern about the complaints of discolored water in Eden Estates, where he also lives. “I have never had a problem with the Eden estates water,” Lynch said. Ridgeway and Yarus both com-
plained about the size of the Service Authority’s debt. And resident Mike Ryan asked if his county taxes had gone up to help pay for Service Authority debt. The amount Service Authority customers pay for debt service is not proposed to go up, with only consumption fees affected by the planned increase. The planned 7 percent increase would add $5.35 per two-month billing for those who have water and sewer service and use up to 5,000 gallons. For average-usage customers of about 9,000 gallons for the two-month billing period, their bills would go up by $9.63 per two-month billing cycle. The increase would take effect July 1. Despite no increase in debt service charges, the topic sparked responses from some board members. Service Authority member Richard Granger said some new capital projects are being paid by the county See Vote, page 8
KGSB approves technology purchases for $436,000 Phyllis Cook
The King George County School Board approved the purchase of 276 Chromebooks instead of laptops this year. The Chromebooks purchase is one of three sets of technology purchases approved at the June 6 meeting, adding up to $436,710. The approval actions took place with Dan Hopper on hand to provide details. He’s the division supervisor of technology. The division makes its large technology purchases at the end of each school year to get the latest technology and to prepare for the upcoming school year.
Hopper verified all purchases are consistent with the division’s Technology Plan. Superintendent Rob Benson introduced the tech purchases, with exciting news of the planned purchase of 276 Chromebooks to be distributed among the schools, instead of purchasing more laptops this year. Benson said the state has proven the compatibility of the use of the Chromebooks for annual online standardized testing. “We’re safe to purchase and utilize these Chromebooks and get a bigger bang for our buck. We have confidence this will suit our needs fully,” Benson said. School Board member Gayle Hock commented.
“I think this is wonderful,” Hock said. But she wanted to know if additional technology staff would be needed to support the use of the new devices. Hopper responded. “It’s huge for us and for our department. It takes a lot of burden off of us. The job has been a huge issue with having to touch every single laptop that we test on, and Java getting updated four times a year,” Hopper said. “The nice thing about Chromebooks is they’re pretty hands off. When they get delivered to us, they’re going to be in the cart, already configured, already managed by the management software Google has.”
Hopper said Chromebooks also automatically update themselves. “We don’t have to touch these things. Whenever Google comes out with something new, it gets downloaded and it’s there without the kids and the staff even knowing. It has its own antivirus built into it, so it’s constantly up to date.” School Board member Tammy Indseth asked about durability. “These are not like you would buy in the store. These have a four-year warranty. They are what they call ‘rugged,’ with rubber edges around it,” Hopper said, adding he’s seen the vendors demonstrate somewhat rough treatment with them during presentations.
Fast boot up is another advantage. “One of the real nice things about these, too, is they boot up in about 10 seconds. Basically you open it up and it’s almost ready for the kids to use,” Hopper said. “We’re at four minutes for a laptop to be ready and we’re cutting that back to two minutes, and we feel that’s an advancement. But, compared to 10 to 15 seconds to boot up, that’s hard to beat.” Hopper noted Chromebooks do not use Windows products. “It is not a laptop. It’s a Chromebook, a different concept,” Hopper said. He said See tech, page 8
School Board honors teachers of the year King George man charged with causing multiple accidents in Maryland, Virginia Richard Leggitt Christopher S. Spadaro, 49, of King George was arrested last week and charged with driving under the influence, possession of a controlled substance, felony hit and run and reckless driving after a wild driving spree during which, officers said, he crashed into a number of vehicles on U.S. 301 in Maryland and Virginia. Correction Elena De La Rosa requested a clarification regarding her father's employment mentioned in last week's article, saying he served in the US Air Force as an aircraft mechanic and is currently a federal employee who works in quality assurance.
The King George Sheriff ’s Office received a call around midday on June 6 from police at the Harry Nice Bridge on U.S. 301. The bridge police reported that there was a crash on the Maryland side of the span and that the suspect had crossed into Virginia. Spadaro"s car struck at least five vehicles in Virginia before crashing in the area of U.S. 301 and Windsor Drive in King George, state police reported. Virginia State Trooper R.A. Ramirez arrested Spadaro at the scene and charged him with being under the influence and causing the multiple accidents. Spadaro is facing charges in both Maryland and Virginia. Law enforcement officers in both states said they were continuing their investigations into the individual traffic crashes.
Photo courtesy of King George School Board
Individual school recipients of Teacher of the Year awards are pictured, except for Laura Thomas, who was unable to attend the school board meeting. Picturedare School Board Chairman T.C. Collins, left, Michele Tritt, Tracy Martin, Sandra Duff, Alison Daughtridge, Evie Pulkownik and Superintendent Rob Benson. Phyllis Cook The King George County School Board recognized its 2016 teachers
of the year from each school and particularly Tracy Martin, a first grade teacher at Sealston Elementary School, named King George
school division Teacher of the Year. Martin was selected from the field of six nominees from the
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schools. She now represents the division as a candidate for the Virginia Region 3 Teacher of the Year award. The eight regional winners are then considered for the Virginia Teacher of the Year. In addition to Martin, the King George teachers honored by the School Board on June 7 are Early Childhood Special Education speech pathologist Michele Tritt, Potomac Elementary School sixth grade teacher Sandra Duff, King George Elementary School special education teacher Laura Thomas, King George Middle School guidance counselor Alison Daughtridge, and King George High School math teacher Evie Pulkownik. Due to a schedule conflict, Thomas was unable to attend the meeting. The announcement of the teachers of the year were first announced at the King George Education Foundation’s second annual Evening of Excellence on May 16, which celebrated the best of the school division.