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Vol. 31, No. 49 | Richmond Suburban News | April 8, 2015
STOPS AT EVERY HOME IN TOWN
Gill: policy changes bring Fire-EMS: be prepared schools into 21st century in event of railroad issue By Melody Kinser Managing Editor
MECHANICSVILLE – “There’s nothing censored in Hanover County [public] schools, so that was one of the first things that we wanted to absolutely get clarified.” That’s what Dr. Michael Gill, assistant superintendent of Instructional Leadership for HCPS, said last week in regards to the recent controversy surrounding policies and procedures of materials used in the GILL system’s classrooms. The issue of censorship became such a hot topic in
the county’s four high schools – Atlee, Hanover, Lee-Davis and Patrick Henry — that students formed an organization
known as Hanover Students for Freedom of Information
see POLICY pg. 26
Submitted photo
Stephanie Mayle, left, Nathan Pal and Caroline Provost are among the students who organized Hanover Students for Freedom of Information and Learning.
By Jim Ridolphi for The Mechanicsville Local ASHLAND — Better safe than sorry. That’s the philosophy embraced by Hanover County Fire-EMS officials as they hosted an emergency preparedness training exercise last week at Station 1 in Ashland. Joined by agencies from across the region, the exercise recreated a scenario that could easily affect Hanover and the entire region. Teams reacted to an emergency situation where a train struck a bus in downtown Ashland. The imaginary emergency allows officials to gauge response times, reaction measures and resources necessary to address a potential disaster. Members of local emer-
Jim Ridolphi/The Local
Hanover Fire-EMS Chief Jethro Piland, right, talks with Chief of Planning Henri Moore in front of the county’s mobile command center.
gency management teams were joined by CSX and Amtrak officials who routinely conduct these types of emergency training exercises. “We work with local juris-
dictions to do training that is very specific to the federal code in the federal regulations,” said Steven Fruchtman, see RAILROAD, pg. 20
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