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risk culpability for those who might become infected in their place of business.

“It’s about making sure there are reasonable limitations on liability,” he said.

Wittman supports extending that liability protection to schools as they attempt to reopen and could face legal challenges related to COVID.

Regarding the ongoing budget process, Wittman said legislators continue to opt for a “kick the can down the road” approach by passing continuing resolutions to fund government operations.

“Unfortunately, this year we find ourselves operating under another continuing resolution ... so instead of getting all of these appropriation bills done by the end of the fiscal year, there’s a bill that says we are going to keep operating under the current conditions,” Wittman explained, noting that local and state governments do not have that option and must present balanced budgets annually.

The current resolution expires in mid-November, but Wittman predicts another continuing resolution will be introduced to fund government through January.

He told supervisors that a program begun with COVID relief funds that provides free lunches for all students will continue in the upcoming year. “We want to make sure those things continue,” he said.

Wittman has worked closely with local governments regarding the lack of broadband in many rural areas in the Commonwealth and across the nation.

He said COVID relief funds have enabled the emergence of tele-health efforts and provided devices for millions of school children, as well as funding for wifi hotspots for better access.

A recent spectrum auction by the FCC could result in 200,000 new connections in Virginia. Internet providers awarded these spectrums will be required to supply service equally in rural and residential areas, according to Wittman.

Legislation also has passed that requires more accurate mapping regarding internet coverage, a process that Wittman said will help officials better identify underserved areas.

Vice chair Sean Davis said those improved maps will enable Hanover to be more competitive in the broadband acquisition process.

“I think your leadership was instrumental in getting those coverage maps updated with Secretary [Sonny] Perdue and the USDA because not only was it coverage but what type of access you had. Those updates put us in a much more competitive position to be able to apply for grants and those types of things,” Davis said.

Wittman also is sponsoring legislation that will provide $500 million for localities that partner with internet providers to enhance coverage.

Wittman also has suggested that $138 billion remaining from the initial CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act be allocated for broadband improvements.

“I think that’s incredibly important for all the things we see today, whether it’s schools, whether it’s tele-health to get patients access to doctors, whether it’s businesses operating,” Wittman said. “I believe there will be more progress getting broadband to all the different corners of the First Congressional District and the State of Virginia in the next two years than we’ve seen in the past 10 years.”

In other matters, county attorney Dennis Walter presented the board’s legislative agenda for the upcoming year and requested the panel’s approval.

Many of the times contained in the agenda represent reoccurring concerns expressed in past agendas, but the item receiving the most attention made its first appearance on the list.

The proposal expressed the board’s desire for the General Assembly to consider placing safety and architectural regulations on farm buildings where more than 50 people gather.

Currently, farm buildings are exempt from building codes or safety regulations. In recent years, some farms have been used as wedding venues or other gatherings, while hunt

see BROADBAND, pg. 18

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more than 800 families with limited internet access.

“We completed all of the infrastructure upgrades, including new wiring switches and wifi devices and infrastructure in all of our schools a year ahead of schedule,” Hechler said. “We have a new internet server provider so we have increased reliability and more sustained bandwidth during the day and gone from a 4 GB circuit to a 10 GB circuit.“

In addition, servers are being updated to increase efficiency in order to take full advantage of the upgrades.

Since there is increased demand for devices such as Chromebooks, Hechler said old devices were retooled to serve as Chromebooks and distributed and updated for virtual and face to face students. “That really improved our student to computer ratios so our faceto-face students have access to more devices and we still have more Chromebooks coming.”

Adjusting from face-to-face to virtual and then offering both options presented its own set of challenges for Castle.

“As you can imagine, we did have a very quick transition to move from a face-toface world to a virtual world,” Castle said. “I’m happy to report we were able to make some of those changes, but it was a really quick turnaround for us,” he added, comparing the feat to turning an aircraft carrier on a dime.

Castle said professional training for all teachers made the transition easier and other summer training programs expanded resources for teachers and distance learning and a digital environment.

Classes were offered to teachers on digital curriculum planning and classroom planning. Additional funding from grants also allowed more training for staff members as the system ramped up efforts for a fall opening.

“All of that took place in a very short amount of time,” Castle said. “All of these were goals that we would normally try to accomplish over a couple of years and we did it over the course of several months.”

Castle said we are living in a Zoom and Google Meet world that six months ago would have seemed foreign. “We have this connection that we’ve never before had in our county,” he added.

Castle described the numerous innovations in virtual learning as ‘the blessing and the curse of COVID.”

“We’ve had some really positive change happening despite the challenging circumstances,” Castle said. “The blessing and the curse of COVID is that we’ve expanded and accelerated and are reaching more students than ever before with our technological opportunities.”

Sarah Butler has five children who are enrolled in the new online school, and her assessment of the first few weeks of school was not as optimistic as she addressed the board of supervisors regarding online learning last week.

“I moved here 10 years ago because of the schools,” Butler said. “I am highly disappointed this year with the lack of involvement for our virtual students.”

Butler said some virtual classes have up to 40 students enrolled compared to 15 in face-to-face classes due to social distancing. “I need to know why we are not getting equal treatment in the choice that we made,” she said.

Butler said she’s not alone in her complaints regarding virtual learning and many other parents have concerns but are scared to express them.

“I want to bring to your attention that the reason parents don’t speak out is because we are ruled by bullies and we don’t want to be bullied,” Butler said.

Butler said technological issues have been the prime concern. Regarding those reconditioned laptops, Butler said two of her children’s devices have needed to be returned and replaced.

“Last night at the school board meeting they spoke of how proud they were of establishing this school in two weeks,” Butler said. She also noted a lack of resource teachers for online students in areas like art and music. “Our virtual school has pre-recorded YouTube videos.”

Butler said online parents have not been allowed to form a PTA, so she has requested school officials to poll parents regarding their online experiences.

“They continue to say we are only five weeks in and this will change,” Butler said. “I have kids waking up in the morning with so much anxiety they don’t want to even open the computer.”

Butler said officials need to admit that the online plan was not entirely ready for prime time and “our leader take acknowledgement for the fact that this may not have been ready and instead of continuing to toot his horn about how exciting and incredible this is, stand up and say we could do better.”

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This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse.

Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows year after year that the majority of misused and abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including someone else’s medication being stolen from the home medicine cabinet.

In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines — flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash — both pose potential safety and health hazards.

For more information about the disposal of prescription drugs or about the Oct. 24 Take-Back Day event, go to www.TakeBackDay.gov. Information submitted by Sgt. Steve DiLoreto, public information officer, Hanover County Sheriff’s Office. The Mechanicsville Local October 21, 2020 15