09/03/2014

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Powhatan, Virginia

The hometown paper of Allen Perry

Vol. XXVII No. 35

September 3, 2014

Changes to give teachers School meal sales more time and resources By Laura McFarland News Editor

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week before the first little feet stepped onto campus this week, the teachers of the Powhatan County Public Schools had their own celebration to welcome the start of a new school year. The school system held a half-day professional development day on Tuesday, Aug. 26, designed to get teachers excited, informed and thinking about ways to “engage, ignite and inspire” students. The theme for this year’s school year was front and center throughout the morning’s activities. Powhatan County School Board chair Rick Cole, who represents District 1, lauded staff at every level, saying they work with students on a daily basis, which is the most important part of the schools.

PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND

Powhatan County Public Schools Superintendent Eric L. Jones talked about changes that will help teachers in the coming school year.

Nothing Americans do collectively as a society has a greater impact on their economy, general well-being and future as a country than public education, he said. “Never forget the importance of what you do or the power that you have in building and shaping stu-

dent learning and students themselves,” he said. “One little word of encouragement, one extra moment of attention, one smile can oftentimes make all the difference to a child.” Superintendent Eric L. Jones talked about changes that will help improve teachers’ ability to affect

their students. If teachers are truly expected to engage, ignite and inspire students, he said, they need more of two things: time and resources. Several changes will help provide extra time that teachers can spend in the classrooms with students, he said. This includes fewer state mandated Standards of Learning (SOL) tests, benchmark assessments and classroom assessments. “We all know that the pendulum for public education over the last 10 years has shifted to where the tests and preparing for the tests took way too much time,” Jones said. “By limiting the number of tests and by eliminating some of the assessments we did, we hope we can spend more time doing what all of us want to do as educators, and that is ignite a love of see CHANGES page 8A

seeing steady decline By Laura McFarland News Editor

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he Powhatan County Public Schools has seen a steady decline in school meal sales in the last few years, a trend largely attributed to student reaction to changes required by federal mandates, according to school officials. Larry Johns, assistant superintendent for finance and business operations, and Sada Hill, director of food services, gave a presentation to the Powhatan County School Board on Tuesday, Aug. 26, that encompassed declining trends in breakfast and lunch sales. Several factors have gone into the declining number of students choosing to buy their meals from the schools, including a drop in student enrollment, Johns said. But with the average daily membership of students enrolled as of March 31 only dropping 5.64 percent between the 2008-2009 school year and 2013-2014 and the food sales decreasing by 23.17 percent, there is a bigger issue, he said. see MEAL page 2A

Relationships, not tech, are key By Laura McFarland News Editor

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echnology is important to education, but only in so far as it actually furthers learning, Adam Garry told Powhatan County Public School Adam Garry teachers last week. Garry, Dell’s manager of global education strategy, was the keynote speaker during a halfday professional development day on Tuesday, Aug. 26. He spoke on subjects ranging from the importance of Twitter to preparing students today for tomorrow’s workforce, using everything from clips from “The Simpsons” to an altered Civil War era photograph to make his points. At the heart of the message was the acknowledgement that technology should simply be another means teachers use to help pass on information to their students. Teachers should avoid the extremes of being afraid of technology and utilizing it for the sake of using it, he said, and instead focus on how those resources can aid them in getting their message across. “Technology is changing so rapidly, so if we make this about technology, we are going to be in a really bad place. This always needs to be about learning and information,” he said. Superintendent Eric L. Jones agreed that if Powhatan schools are going to live out this year’s theme of engaging, igniting and inspiring students, it is important to meet them where they are. “It is not about the technology. It is about the teacher in the classroom, the relationship they see KEY page 8A

Inside A10 School district aims to help homeschoolers

PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND

Lyle Saxton of Powhatan is being honored by an international industry organization with a lifetime achievement award for his work to help improve the nation’s surface transportation system, including working on early precursors to the modern GPS system.

Powhatan man receives international award By Laura McFarland News Editor

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n industry Lyle Saxton of Powhatan said goodbye to almost two decades ago is showing him that he is gone but not forgotten. Saxton has been invited to Detroit, Michigan, next week to be inducted into the Intelligent Transportation Society World Congress Hall of Fame. He will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2014 ITS World Congress and Annual Meeting, an international conference being held from Sept. 7 to 11. The conference is held every year but is only in the United States every third year. Saxton is a recognized icon in the intelligent transportation community who gave 27 years of hard work to the industry and was there at the beginning and found-

Sports B1 Rising freshman softball player Tori Gilbert verbally commits to Longwood

ing of ITS America, Scott Belcher, president and CEO ITS America, said. The nonprofit is dedicated to the research, development and deployment of intelligent transportation systems. It is because of Saxton and pioneers like him that the transportation industry is where it is today, Belcher said, with cars that talk to one another, vehicles that drive themselves, smartphone apps that provide real-time travel information, and smart traffic technologies that help move people and goods safely and efficiently across the nation’s transportation network. “We are thrilled to honor Lyle with this award. He has truly helped pave the way for a generation of transportation innovators who will continue to make life betsee AWARD page 2A

Index Calendar Classified Crossword Horoscope Obituaries Opinion TV Listings

A7 B6-7 A9 A7 A5 A6 B4-5


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