Inside A3 Christmas Mother, Father announce theme
Powhatan, Virginia
“A Caring Community
Christmas”
B1 Powhatan youth 14u football teams to play each other Saturday
Vol. XXXIV No. o. 17
October 28, 2020
Full virtual sees ups and downs in first 9 weeks By Laura McFarland Editor
P
OWHATAN – Almost everything about having 20 percent of Powhatan County Public Schools students receiving their education virtually has been a learning experience on all fronts. As the division ended its first nine weeks of the 2020-2021 school year last week, administrators are realistic but also optimistic about how the experience is going, said Dr. Cheryl Thomas, director of elementary education. Everyone in the schools wishes there wasn’t a need to have the virtual option and acknowledges how much of a challenge it has been to offer a viable route in a county where reliable internet access is such an issue. As of Oct. 21, Powhatan County schools had 352 elementary, 238 middle, and 317 high school students enrolled in the fully virtual pathway for the first semester, Thomas said. Of those, about 70 students in kindergarten through 12th grade transferred into the virtual model after the school year began.
Peyton Kerns is a full-time virtual student attending sixth grade at Powhatan Middle School. See the Kerns family story on page 3A. Facing the reality of the situation all school divisions find themselves in and realizing that they must play the hand they have been dealt isn’t easy, Thomas said. Staff acknowledges there are kinks that need to be worked out, but she also points to the monumental strides they have made. “It was an adjustment in the beginning, and anybody who says other than
that, they probably aren’t being forthright,” she said. “It definitely was an adjustment, but we have worked out many of the kinks. We are at the end of the first marking period. While I am getting phone calls and emails about ‘how can my child get support,’ I am equally getting feedback about how things are working.” The school division wants the feed-
ready for Halloween fun Five Powhatan cousins gathered together to take a fun photo in front of family friend Linda Estes’ Halloween decorations. Top row, from left, are Naomi Means, 5, and Maryanne Ryder, 3. Bottom row, from left, are Lydia Means, 2, Claire Marie Smithson, 1.5, and Micah Ryder, 1.5. See more photos page 8A.
Prsrt. Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Powhatan, VA Permit No.19
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Second precinct change letter mistake causes more voter confusion By Laura McFarland Editor
DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Powhatan, VA 23139
More photos page 8
POWHATAN – The Powhatan Office of Elections had to correct a correction letter after a wrong address was accidentally put into a notice about a polling precinct change. The issue plaguing the office’s attempt to notify voters about three precinct changes on Election Day started two weeks ago. An error with direct mailing letters sent to almost 7,000 Powhatan voters being notified of their polling precinct change resulted in a large percentage of them being told to go to the wrong precinct. In that case, BMS Direct, a direct mailing company hired by the county, not only sent out the letters, which were dated Oct. 2, a good three weeks late but also believes it stuffed many of the letters into envelopes out of order and mailed them without realizing the mistake, said Karen Alexander, director of elections. People started receiving the letters on Oct. 13, which was originally the final day for Virginia residents to register to vote or update voter information before it was extended two days because of technical difficulties. BMS Direct offered to fix the mistake and send out the correct letters at its own expense by later in the week along with a letter of apology, Alexander said. However, the letter, which now would arrive
after the voter registration cutoff, had to be significantly updated. In the rush to get the letters proofed and approved before they were sent out, the address for the new Precinct #301, the “Bethesda” precinct, at Red Lane Baptist Church was actually incorrect and gave the address for the old precinct location at Blessed Sacrament Huguenot Catholic School. The new polling precinct, Red Lane Baptist Church, is located at 2095 Red Lane Road. “I take full responsibility for not catching the error. I saw Red Lane Baptist Church, which is the message I needed to get out, and didn’t catch that the address had been listed incorrectly,” Alexander said. The Office of Elections and the Powhatan Electoral Board decided on Tuesday, Oct. 20 to send a new corrected letter to the affected registered voters in Precinct 301 who have not already voted, Alexander said. The letter will be done inhouse and has already been proofread and approved by six individuals of various political affiliations, she added. As an extra precaution, the office will also have a designated election official stationed at Blessed Sacrament Huguenot on Election Day to make sure anyone who goes there by mistake would be directed to the correct location, Alexander said. There will also be see VOTER, pg. 2
back about both the challenges and the successes in the hope that they can continue to improve the learning environment for youths and their families, Thomas said. She added that the level of grace so many Powhatan families have given educators as they worked through issues has been phenomenal. “As a result, because we came together as a community to make this work, I feel like we are getting a better result,” Thomas said. “I can’t say enough about our parents, the community, and the support we have felt from them as we have tried to embark on this completely different journey.” Every challenge that teachers normally face trying to get students engaged and excited about their subjects is made even see VIRTUAL, pg. 4
Several local families agreed to share their experiences on the PCPS full virtual learning pathway. This is a small sampling of families and can’t begin to cover the full scope of all families’ experiences. To read their stories, look on pages 3A, 5A, and 6A.
Local officials work to clarify vision for comprehensive plan By Laura McFarland Editor
POWHATAN – The Powhatan County Planning Commission was tasked last week with taking an initial pass on changes to the 2019 LongRange Comprehensive Plan. During a joint meeting with the board of supervisors on Monday, Oct. 19, the commissioners were tasked with starting work on the Future Land Use Map, which has generally been agreed upon by board members as the part of the comprehensive plan they all find most problematic. This was the second joint meeting the board and commission held to discuss the comprehensive plan to work out the approach they want to take to re-opening the issue of the document, which is the county’s long-term visionary document, and associated zoning and subdivision ordinances. The current document was adopted 3-1 by the thenboard of supervisors on June 24, 2019, after almost three years of work and review. After the Sept. 22 joint meeting, staff used the discussion and directions to work on changes to the Future Land Use Map and accompanying land use designations and descriptions. Planning director Andrew Pompei presented the first draft of the map to the two groups last week to foster discussion and see if they are on the right track. Chairman David Williams, who represents District 1, said he thought it was a good idea to let the planning commission “cut their teeth” on the first part of the map staff presented,
which focuses on the growth areas in the 60 East Corridor.
Land use designations Based on the feedback from the first joint meeting, staff came back with a map of this area that had some significant changes to land use designations and the boundary of the growth area. Gone are the controversial Village Center (VC) and Village Residential (VR) land use designations, which several board members said were not realistic or desired densities or makeups for Powhatan County, even in a growth area. Taking the place of Village Residential in several places was a new designation called Neighborhood Residential, which is defined as walkable neighborhoods with different housing options and integrated parks/public uses. However, several large areas of VR were taken out of the growth area altogether and designated as rural areas, which would no longer be divided up into Rural Preservation and Rural Residential designations. Also gone is the Commerce Center designation, replaced with Gateway Business, which is described as employmentgenerating commercial and light industrial uses that support local economic development goals. This area was reduced in several areas and only saw a few small increases in others. The other two main growth land designations in this area are Industrial, which is for industrial uses within a planned development, and Economic Opsee BOARD, pg. 4