Inside A6 Division spelling bee winners
Powhatan, Virginia B1 McMillin becomes a state champion
Vol. XXXII No.. 35
February 20, 2019
School board gets first look at budget challenges By Laura McFarland News Editor
P
OWHATAN – The Powhatan County School Board received its first introduction to its fiscal year 2020 operating budget and the issues they will face in meeting the divisions needs. During its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 12, the board got an early look at the fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget, which staff said still has a long way to go. It is currently proposed at $48.4 million. At this point, staff has gotten some insight as to what proposed revenue changes they will see and
how that stacks up against the proposed expenditure charges, said Larry Johns, assistant superintendent for finance and business operations. Currently, local tax revenue projections put an early estimate of the county’s contribution to the budget increasing by $301,674, Johns said. A bigger unknown is the state contribution. State revenues are projected to increase by $1,018,305 based upon the governor’s proposed budget, but that document is still subject to adoption by the General Assembly, Johns said. On the opposite side of the spread sheet, proposed expenditure changes are
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Larry Johns, assistant superintendent for finance and business operations, talks to the school board about early budget developments. Above, a slide shows how the school district’s budget is divided up.
projected at $$1.482 million, which puts this draft of the budget $135,245 out of balance. Staff will be working in the coming weeks as they get more information to bring the revenues and expenditures to a balanced budget, he said. Adding to that, Johns said he had learned a few days earlier that under the House of Delegates’ proposed budget, PCPS would receive about $37,000 less than the governor’s pro-
posed budget, and under the Senate’s budget, the revenue would be $131,000 less than the governor’s budget. “We have a little bit more work to do and the staff will be working to bring a balanced budget back to the board at the next meeting on Feb. 26,” Johns said.
Salary raises A large majority of the projected increase on the expenditures side is tied to a 3 percent step increase for all staff coming in at $993,240, Johns said. This uptick is tied to a 5 percent salary increase proposed see BUDGET, pg. 3
Middle school embraces flexible seating PHS hires new head football coach
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Mike Henderson speaks to current and potential Powhatan Football players as Powhatan’s new head football coach. Powhatan on Feb. 13 announced Henderson’s arrival to the program. See the full story on page 1B
By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – To anyone walking into Becky Brown’s sixth-grade English class, the first impression could easily read organized chaos. In the center of the room, many of the students sit at clusters of desks focused on their Chromebooks or papers. Nothing looks out of the ordinary until you look down and see a few perched on stools that slightly wobble beneath them. Along one wall, several students stand and work at desks elevated to suit their height. In a nearby corner, two students sit on a brightly colored orange couch and work on rolling desks in front of them. Brown loves her classroom setup and has since Powhatan Middle School opened in the fall. Flexible seating was an important part of the design of the
new school from the beginning, and Brown said it has been great this school year to get away from the traditional classroom filled with rows of desks. “I feel with the modern seating they are a little more active and want to be engaged. They need to be moving around because that is how they best learn,” she said. “I think this type of flexible seating is more conducive to that because they can sit at tables and collaborate and spread out. They can move around with the hokki stools. They can stand up at the sit-stand desks, because some of them get a little fidgety if they have to sit down for an hour-and-a-half-long block.” Flexible seating is not new to Powhatan County Public Schools and has been embraced by teachers across the district in varying levels over the years. But while Powhatan’s elementary see SEATING, pg. 7
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Sixth-graders at Powhatan Middle School use sitstand desks, one of several kinds of flexible seating employed by the school.
MLK Celebration rescheduled Preacher indicted in
Jamaican telemarketing scheme targeting seniors By Laura McFarland
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News Editor
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Performances highlighting the talents of local youth will be a big part of the MLK Jr. Youth Day Community Celebration.
By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – The annual celebration of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Powhatan youth will be coming a little late this year, but it is still happening. The eighth annual MLK Jr. Youth Day Community Celebration has been rescheduled to Sunday, Feb. 24 at Powhatan High School, 1800 Judes Ferry Road, Powhatan. Instead of the annual tradition of a breakfast, the event will feature a light reception with food at 2 p.m. in the PHS Commons area and then a main program starting at 3:30 p.m. in the auditorium, said April Gray, one of the coordinators. The keynote speaker for the event will now be PHS sophomore Iyana Palmore in keeping with the
coordinators’ efforts to showcase local youth, Gray said. The purpose of the annual celebration is not only to keep the legacy and memory of King and his dream alive but to let Powhatan’s youth know that as long as they have a dream, that dream can be developed into reality, she said. New performances that have been added to the program schedule are a PHS group called One Voice and the Mt. Zion Baptist Church praise dance and mime ministry, G.U.I.Dance. The schedule will also include performances by Powhatan Middle School’s Jazz Ensemble, the Community Young Male Chorus, and the Little Zion Baptist Church Praise Dancers. As always, the program will include the presentation of three youth scholarships. Tickets are $12 for adults and see MLK, pg. 4
POWHATAN – A Powhatan County preacher who authorities suspect of being part of Jamaican Sweepstakes telemarketing scheme responsible for swindling senior citizens across the nation out of at least $153,000 has been indicted on charges of stealing $51,000 from a Portsmouth woman. The telemarketing scam was used to convince the 86-year-old woman she had won $2.5 million in cash and a 2017 Mercedes GL that she would receive if she paid the taxes and fees in advance, according to court records. The records show she was told to send checks for various amounts to Frederick Shmidt at his address on Huguenot Trail in Powhatan County. On Tuesday, Feb. 12, a Powhatan grand jury indicted Shmidt, 81, of Powhatan on four felony counts of obtaining money by false pretenses between April and August 2018. While all four of the charges Shmidt was indicted on are related to the Portsmouth woman’s case, a search warrant affidavit identifies four more individuals who reported being victims of similar crimes involving sending money to cover fees and taxes to Shmidt’s address for winnings they did not receive. The affidavit describes the pattern used in the lottery fraud schemes. As with the Virginia woman’s case, the victim receives a phone call from a Jamaican “fraudster” about winning a large amount of money in a lottery or sweepstakes. They are told to pay taxes or fees to a middleman in the United States by either sending cash, checks or money orders by U.S. Postal Service express mail, FedEx or UPS or wiring the money through Western Union or MoneyGram. After taking a cut, see PREACHER, pg. 8