Inside A3 Church to host Thanksgiving meal
Powhatan, Virginia B1 Powhatan’s Greenhow signs to South Carolina for track and field
Vol. XXXIV No. o. 20
November 18, 2020
Schools gather data on student return decision By Laura McFarland Editor
P
OWHATAN – The Powhatan County School Board is looking for input from families ahead of a likely decision they will make in December about how many more students, if any, to bring back to in-person instruction in the near future. During the school board’s meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 10, Dr. Eric Jones, superintendent, gave a presentation on the steps the school division has made in its efforts to keep safe those students and staff participating in in-person instruction and the decisions that will need to be made in the near future to keep moving forward. Based on previous discussions and recommendations from staff, having any additional students returning to full or part-time in-person instruction is only likely to happen after the start of the sec-
ond semester in January 2021, not before. The school board is likely to vote at its meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 8 on what that return may look like. The biggest question the school board members will need to have answered ahead of their decision is how many students actually want to return to in-person instruction. Currently, 882 students (21 percent) are on the all-virtual pathway. When families decided to go all virtual – whether that happened before school started or they switched mid-semester – they agreed that the decision would be good through the end of the semester on Dec. 18, Jones said. As of Nov. 4, all hybrid elementary students are now in the classroom five days a week. There were already some concerns when hybrid fourth- and fifthgraders all returned to full in-person instruction about being able to maintain good social distancing in classrooms. At the time, because of some class sizes, the school division told families that it
couldn’t maintain social distancing at 6 feet in all classrooms, but it would maintain a minimum of 3 feet with masks. Now, if some families of virtual students feel more comfortable sending their children back to school, that could increase the numbers even more, Jones said. At the secondary level, hybrid middle and high school students currently attend in-person instruction two to three days a week. Not only does the board have to consider whether it could take those existing hybrid students back to five days a week in the schools, it also has to consider the virtual students who may want to return to face-to-face next semester. A survey was sent out to families on Nov. 11 to get a better idea of the number of parents who want their children to stay all virtual and those who may want to return. Parents are asked to fill out that survey by Friday, Nov. 20. It can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.
com/r/PCPSreturntolearnupdate. “Part of the information we need to know is are the virtual students going to come back, because that would add additional students. And, if we did come back to more full return, would you keep your child in face-to-face or would you move to virtual? That will give us a better idea what our numbers could actually be,” Jones said. “This isn’t a binding survey, but it is the same thing we did this summer to get some information for planning purposes. Then we would need to make a decision of whether we could do it within 3 feet or somewhere outside of 3 feet.” School staff members know how many students can fit into each room. Now, they needs to know how many students will want to return. Central office staff also scheduled days at the middle and high schools on Nov. 11 and 18 to speak with staff and see RETURN, pg. 4
Teachers push back against online negativity By Laura McFarland Editor
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Will Bates, left, Harmony Branch, and other students in Kelin Flowers’ class at Powhatan Middle School make cards on Nov. 9 that would be distributed to veterans at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in time for Veterans Day.
DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Powhatan, VA 23139
Prsrt. Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Powhatan, VA Permit No.19
Students show respect to veterans By Laura McFarland Editor
POWHATAN – Powhatan Middle School students recently participated in a simple but meaningful show of support for veterans with an annual card making project. The school recognized Veterans Day with a special video highlighting staff members who have served in the military and by having students create special cards to give to veterans they know or to donate them. The Student Council Association (SCA) at Powhatan Middle School – and Pocahontas Middle School before it – has spearheaded the program for more than nine years, said club sponsor Lynn
Stephens. It was started as a way to show gratitude and support. Red, white, and blue pieces of paper were distributed on Nov. 6 and 9 to teachers so students could make cards during the Academic and Community Connection Time (ACCT). Afterward, she took the cards to a friend at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center to be given to veterans hospitalized there and posted on the walls of the lobby in time for Veterans Day. “The cards are extremely uplifting for the vets to know their sacrifices have been worthwhile. Many of the veterans do not have family and receive no recognition for their service,” Stephens said. see VETERANS, pg. 6
POWHATAN – A group of educators and community members pushed back in the name of supporting diversity last week after a rumored change to the Powhatan High School mascot led to a negative online environment surrounding the issue. During the school board’s meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 10, Dr. Eric Jones, superintendent, updated the members on a situation where rumors about the high school possibly changing its mascot from the Indians generated a substantial negative reaction among community members. Jones explained that neither the school nor the division had any discussion about getting rid of the Indians name or changing the high school’s mascot. The one change that was suggested was having the two seniors chosen as the student section leaders (also called mascots) to change to a different costume to protect them after criticism was brought to teachers targeting students wearing Indian costumes. “We did have an email from staff to those two individuals who were selected this year and talked about possibly making some changes and going with a more orange and black theme, and I think that may have spurred some of this. We have communicated to those students and their par-
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
A rumor about an effort to change the Powhatan High School mascot led to pushback from local teachers because of a negative community response.
ents that there would still be Indian attire that we traditionally have used and that has already been ordered,” he said. In his eight years with the school division, Jones said he has only had three people approach him about changing the mascot, but it never went beyond those complaints. He pointed out that the school updates its logos over time and “uniforms change to become more modern with input from students and staff,” but anyone who walks around the high school will see contin-
Tyler lends an ear to travelers By Roslyn Ryan Richmond Suburban News
GOOCHLAND – For the most part, the people Gregory Tyler meets while working the night shift at the Goochland Safety Rest Area are just passing through the county on their way somewhere else. Regardless of what has set them in motion however, those who meet Tyler are often glad they stopped. For the past three years, Tyler, a Powhatan resident with close family ties to Goochland, has been working to make sure that visitors to the rest stop on Interstate 64 get more than just a quick snack or a bathroom break.
While his official duties primarily center on keeping the grounds pristine, his actual role is a little harder to describe. Tyler says many of the people he comes in contact with are in need of support of some kind or another. Some are not sure where they are in the literal sense — Tyler often has to explain that Oilville is a part see TYLER, pg. 8 PHOTO BY ROSLYN RYAN
Gregory Tyler of Powhatan has worked at the Goochland Safety Rest Area on Interstate 64 for three years.
see TEACHERS, pg. 6