Inside A4 STEM Expo to highlight division’s programs
Powhatan, Virginia B1 Hat trick hero Sloan fuels overtime win
Vol. XXXV No.. 38
March 23, 2022
Elected officials evaluate school board budget By Laura McFarland Managing Editor
POWHATAN – How much Powhatan County Public Schools will need in fiscal year (FY) 2023 – as well as how that number might still be reduced – was the focus of board meetings held over two days last week. Finding ways to cut the budget was a big focus of a workshop the Powhatan County School Board held on Monday, March 14. The next day, the school board and board of supervisors discussed the school board budget, efforts thus far to trim it to make it balanced based on the current information available, and plans in the coming weeks to continue to evaluate expenditures. The balanced budget Dr. Eric Jones, superintendent, proposed to the two boards on March 15 currently totals $54.76 million, which is a roughly $4.4 million increase over the FY 2022 ad-
opted budget. About $2.09 million of that increase is part of a state grant proposed by the General Assembly that would be earmarked for specific kinds of projects such as construction, renovations, land acquisition for a new school or paying of debt service, not the general operating budget. Just as with the final operating budget for the state, the final amount and how funds would be divvied out to localities remained unresolved when the General Assembly finished its 2022 session, so schools are still waiting on guidPHOTO BY LAURA McFARLAND ance. Members of the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors and School Of the remaining portion of the in- Board meet March 15 to discuss the school division’s budget. crease in the school board budget, the The March 15 joint meeting was the vast majority of it – about $2.1 million es ($124,450). The amount from state sources for first time the two boards had sat down – is currently being proposed as an exthe operating budget is a fluid number together to talk about this year’s budget. pense borne by the locality. All three reuntil the state finalizes the budget as the Jones gave his full budget presentation, maining revenue sources have much versions proposed by the House of Del- which covered topics such as class sizes, smaller increases: state sources for the egates and Senate represent different enrollment, per pupil costs, mandated inoperating budget ($64,138); federal possible amounts for Powhatan. see BUDGET, pg. 5 sources ($37,759), and local other sourc-
McPherson ready to dig in at library By Laura McFarland Managing Editor
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POWHATAN – The aspect of becoming the new director of Powhatan County Public Library that made Chandra McPherson the most excited was the people. Throughout the interview process and into her first few weeks on the job, McPherson, who started on Valentine’s Day, has definitely been feeling the love. From the start, she said she has been impressed with the wonderful synergy of the library staff and the library board that was already in place and was excited to see how she could add to both those relationships and the overall working environment. “What I have brought that I think the staff is most attached to is I do have a very open, team-minded approach, and I think that enriches our programs, collections and every product we produce,” McPherson
PHOTO BY LAURA McFARLAND
Del. Lee Ware speaks to attendees of the Powhatan Chamber of Commerce luncheon held March 17 about the Virginia Assembly session.
PHOTO BY LAURA McFARLAND
Chandra McPherson was recently hired as the director of the Powhatan County Public Library.
said. “I am not the library, the staff is the library, and we are all working together. … The team – if they feel like exploring something new or learning something new – I am willing to partner on that.” For now, they are still working everything out. In addition to the dynamic of acclimating to a new director after being without one for the better part of a year, the library has been working in recent months to slowly increase its programming and activity opportunities toward pre-pandemic levels, she said. “We are getting into the rhythm of working together and playing with a lot of ideas and hoping we will solidify some new programs soon,” she said. McPherson came to Powhatan from Heritage Public Library in New
Kent, where she had been the director for four years. Before that, she was deputy director at the Appomattox Regional Library System for about eight years. McPherson started her off-and-on library career when she was studying English at Virginia Tech, working part-time at Blacksburg Library and continuing there after she graduated. Through the years, she would work part-time at the library assistant level at libraries in Richmond and Chesterfield. “I liked the active sharing of information at a library and the informal educational setting. I liked getting random requests and just digging in to find information. I found that was a very librarian thing to do,” she said. In tandem with some of those posisee LIBRARY, pg. 3
Legislator shares General Assembly highlights at Chamber lunch By Laura McFarland Managing Editor
POWHATAN – Del. Lee Ware continued an annual tradition last week when he met with local business leaders to talk about what was accomplished or failed to move forward in the General Assembly’s long session during a Powhatan Chamber of Commerce lunch. While usually joined by his counterpart from the State Senate, Ware was the lone speaker at the March 17 luncheon held at the County Seat Restaurant as Sen. Ghazala Hashmi could not attend. see CHAMBER, pg. 2
Powhatan High School holds Spirit Week
PHOTOS COURTESY OF POWHATAN HIGH SCHOOL
Powhatan High School’s Spirit Week, held March 7 to 11, included fun activities such as an ‘anything but a backpack’ day, shown being embraced by Callie Mikita, left, and Julianna Cascone, and a Powder Puff football game, shown above. See more photos Page 6A.