Among Youngkin’s Vetoes is a Bill that Would Have Allowed Localities to Charge Additional Sales Tax to Support School Construction

by Adele UphausMANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT Among the bills Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vetoed this session is one that would have permitted all localities in Virginia to charge 1% sales tax to fund public school construction projects. Youngkin vetoed the legislation, which passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support, this week. Virginia is a Dillon […]

Stafford School Board’s Provisional Budget Will Provide Raises to Support Staff

by Adele UphausMANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT Stafford County Public Schools’ support staff—the bus drivers, cafeteria workers, maintenance workers, administrative assistants, bookkeepers, and other employees who aren’t teachers but who are essential to the day-to-day functioning of the school division—will receive long-awaited raises under the provisional budget adopted Tuesday by the School Board. These employees, who […]

Stafford Theater Teacher Honored by Longwood University

by Adele UphausMANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT The 2024 Longwood University High School Theater Teacher of the Year is a middle school teacher. Aidan Brown, a sophomore at Longwood, wrote in the letter nominating his middle school theater teacher Andrea Candea-Carroll for the award that he’s usually a rule-follower, but in this case, he had to […]

Riverbend High School Teacher Named Region 3 Teacher of the Year

by Adele UphausMANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT It took the students in Beth Marshall’s French 2 class less than a second to come up with answers to a question posed to them by Lisa Coons, Virginia’s state superintendent of public instruction. “Why is Ms. Marshall a good teacher?” Coons asked. “She is very passionate,” said one […]

School Divisions Prepare for Solar Eclipse

by Adele UphausMANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT Monday’s solar eclipse will occur at the end of the school day or on the way home for most area students, and school divisions have announced plans to ensure that children are safe and able to enjoy the rare phenomenon. Fredericksburg will experience a partial solar eclipse beginning at […]

School Board Members Lay Out Path to Spotsylvania’s Next Superintendent

by Adele UphausMANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT There has already been interest in the job of superintendent of Spotsylvania schools, associates with BWP, the search firm selected by the School Board to find the division’s next leader, told the Board on Wednesday. Kevin Castner and E. Wayne Harris, BWP associates who will lead the search process […]

Stafford Supervisors Approve Increased Funding for School Major Maintenance

by Adele UphausMANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT Stafford supervisors on Tuesday approved a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that will provide about $15 million to the school division for critical systems maintenance and repair, replacement, and renovation, or “3R” projects. This funding is in addition to $13 million in new money for the school division’s […]

Stafford Elementary Schoolers Collect 2,000 Cereal Boxes for Food Bank

by Adele UphausMANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT Grafton Village Elementary’s second annual cereal box drive for the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank started slowly, but by the end of last week, the shelves of the local Giant’s cereal aisle were cleared out and the school’s hallways, stairwell, and gym were filled instead. Students and staff collected more […]

Chronic Absenteeism on the Spotsylvania School Board

by ADELE UPHAUSMANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT Spotsylvania School Board members April Gillespie, Berkeley district representative, and Lisa Phelps, Lee Hill district representative, have either been absent or left early from nine out of the 10 meetings the School Board has held so far this year. Both board members left the January 8 organizational meeting early […]