"Agitate, agitate, agitate!" -Frederick Douglass
The Board of Supervisors agreed last night to contribute $1,200,000 in local funding to the school system.
$600,000 will come from the general fund.
The other $400,000 will be sent back to the schools from the school’s unencumbered balance (i.e., money that is left over from this closing fiscal year that would go back to the county normally).
Bowling Green Town Council Election: The Free Lance–Star:
Eight candidates will vie for seven seats on the Bowling Green Town Council in Tuesday’s election.
Two current members, Susan Sili and T. Scott Haley are not running for re-election, but three new faces have joined the race.
Mayor David Storke is running for the seat again unopposed.
The full story has more along with candidate profiles.
Superintendent search: The Free Lance–Star:
Nine of Caroline County’s 26 applicants for superintendent are former or current school chiefs.
The candidates include four assistant superintendents, six central-office administrators, four principals or school administrators and three others.
Sixteen men and 10 women–10 of whom belong to racial minorities–applied for the position. Twelve of the candidates live outside Virginia.
Again, full story has more.
From The Free Lance-Star: Mother charged in school gun case:
The mother of a 4-year-old Bowling Green Primary School student who authorities said brought a gun to school last week, was charged Saturday.
Caroline County Sheriff Tony Lippa said the woman, who was not named to protect the identity of her child, was charged with recklessly leaving a firearm so as to endanger a child under the age of 14, which is a class 3 misdemeanor.
Lippa said the mother told police she kept the gun loaded and in plain sight for protection for the child and herself.
He said a lesson should be learned from the incident and parents should remember to separate ammo and guns and to get gun locks, which are free at the Sheriff’s Office, for their guns.
He said however, that he understands there’s a tradeoff for those who want their gun for immediate use, such as protection, as in this case.
Lippa said he was not sure whether the woman would face any additional charges, but he said she will go to court on at least the one charge Feb. 26. She was charged in a summons.
The loaded pistol was found in the boy’s possession last Thursday when a fellow student spotted it and told a teacher.
The police were then called, the report taken and the gun confiscated, according to previous police reports.
Lippa said it’s important to remember and be thankful that no one was hurt.
“We avoided a tragedy,” he said.
NBC12 News: Gun found at Bowling Green Primary School in Caroline:
A gun was found at Bowling Green Primary School in Caroline County Thursday.
The Sheriff’s Office is releasing little information at this time, but say they got a call about the weapon from the school and quickly recovered the gun.
They could not say whether it was or loaded or not.
The investigation continues.
UPDATE: From The Free Lance-Star: Boy, 4, brings gun to school in Caroline:
A 4-year-old brought a loaded pistol to Bowling Green Primary School yesterday, but didn’t intend to hurt anyone, according to the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office and school officials.
Lt. Col. Michael Timm of the Sheriff’s Office said no one was hurt and immediate action was taken after the boy was seen in class with the gun.
The weapon was confiscated and the boy’s family was called, he said.
The Sheriff’s Office is investigating but no charges are expected, Timm said.
According to Virginia law, “recklessly” leaving a loaded firearm within reach of anyone under age 14 is a Class 3 misdemeanor.
The student will be suspended, said School Board member Tamara Redding, who said she spoke with Bowling Green Primary Principal Debra Holt.
Another student saw the gun in the boy’s backpack and thought it was a toy but told the teacher anyway, Redding said.
The teacher immediately took the backpack to the office, she said. “My understanding is that [the gun] was never out of the backpack.”
Redding said she thinks students aren’t even allowed to bring toy guns to school.
Holt called the student’s mother and asked her to come to the school before calling police, Redding said.
In a letter sent home to parents, Holt wrote that there was never a threat.
“Upon discovery, the situation was appropriately and immediately resolved,” she wrote. “No one was injured, nor was there ever any threat of injury.”
This new story brings up an even bigger question: who the heck is Lt. Col. Michael Timm?!
There’s a Major Michael Timm of the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office as of September 27, 2007, from The FL-S: CAR WASH CAPER Two NABBED IN STRING OF COIN THEFTS PAIR DIDN’T GET AWAY CLEAN:
The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office received a tip Tuesday night that two men would soon be pulling one of the burglaries somewhere on Jefferson Davis Highway, said Maj. Michael Timm.
UPDATE #2: The story has since been fixed at The FL-S and now reads “Lt. Col. Michael Hall”. The original story (without corrections) can be viewed here (courtesy of Google Cache).
Caroline County Programming Needs Assessment
Some other surveys about the curriculum at: Interest Surveys
The Washington Post: Internet Access Is Only Prerequisite For More and More College Classes
Raising Kaine: Help out Gov. Kaine: take the broadband Internet survey
From NBC 12 in Richmond, Virginia: Following shoot-out rumor, extra security still on hand at Caroline High:
The man accused in a deadly shooting at a birthday party in Caroline County will be arraigned today.
Lashawn Monroe is accused in the weekend shooting death of 16-year-old Raquel Hunter.
Meanwhile, extra security will be on hand again today at Caroline High School.
Yesterday, more than 200 students were pulled from class by lunchtime after rumors circulated about a shootout on campus.
There was no shoot-out.
Wait a second. Yesterday, you reported that “classes were nearly empty by fifth period” and that 80% of the students had left. Now it’s only 16.4% of the students that had left. Which one is it NBC 12? Or did you just bother running a story with no official comment (except for two seconds of video from Sheriff Lippa after you criticized the Sheriff for half a minute for increasing security of all things)? If you’re going to fearmonger, at least get your facts straight. Maybe you should leave the real reporting to WTVR next time. You freakin’ mooks.
The Caroline Sheriff’s Dept. wants parents to know that deputies are only on campus as a precaution, not because they’ve heard anything reliable about a plot for revenge.
From NBC 12 in Richmond, Virginia: Security, tensions run high at Caroline County school :
Parents pulled their children from classes at Caroline High School after a student was gunned down at a weekend party. Fear about retaliation for that deadly shooting prompted some parents to pick their kids up from school early Monday.
Saturday night, 16-year-old Raquel Hunter was shot and killed outside the Madison Ruritan Club. The building was rented for a 16th-birthday party and had adult chaperones.
Lashawn Monroe, 22, is charged with murder. Another teen is being investigated for possible involvement.
Raquel Hunter was a student at Caroline County High School. On Monday, fear of more violence overtook the campus.
The rumor mill started Monday morning, when someone said there was a shooting at the high school. It did not happen — neither did the teaching of hundreds of students, because of the rumor.
Parents started driving up to campus once rumors began that something had happened.
When they found out nothing had occurred, there was already another rumor running rampant: there was supposedly going to be a shootout after school.
That was the last straw for Roy Gray, who picked his daughter up from school.
“You definitely get nervous, worried,” he said.
Shannon said her classes were nearly empty by fifth period. Seeing all the sheriff’s deputies on campus may have triggered some parents’ fears once they arrived.
The sheriff said the extra security was meant to be a precautionary measure as a result of the weekend violence.
“We care about our children,” Sheriff Tony Lippa said. “That’s why we did what we did.”
There is a perception that the weekend shooting was the result of some deep-seated rivalry between two Caroline County communities: Dawn and Bowling Green.
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2434304036206046469]
Uh, NBC 12, are you a bunch of idiots?
You have rumors going around that there is going to be a shootout after school and you wouldn’t increase security?
Jesus Christ, Lord Almighty, I’m surrounded by idiots…
From NBC12 News: Two schools threatened with violence :
A Caroline County elementary school was evacuated Thursday morning due to a bomb threat. County deputies were called to Ladysmith Elementary around 9:20 a.m. because of a written bomb threat inside the school.
All the children were taken outside while the state police bomb squad went through the building with bomb-sniffing dogs. Less than two hours later, everyone was allowed back inside.
Ladysmith Elementary is working with deputies to find the culprit.
Stafford County deputies also are investigating a threat against one of the county’s schools.
Deputies searched the home of a 16-year-old student from Mountain View High School.
They received reports that the teen threatened several other students last Friday and talked about shooting up a class. Deputies recovered a BB gun and a knife at the home.
So far no charges have been filed against the teen.
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7841140039410378636]
From WUSA 9 in Washington, D.C.: Fire Inspector Faces Possible Action For Pointing Out Dangerous Boiler Room:
Timing is everything. After uncovering a mud and debris filled boiler room at Francis Junior High School in July, Fire Inspector Alan Lancaster told school officials it needed to be fixed.
When he came back in two weeks to check it, it wasn’t repaired, so he went looking for the principal.
He found her leading a tour of the building during Mayor Adrian Fenty’s “Buff and Scrub” media event.
Lancaster diverted the principal and the Deputy Mayor for Education Victor Reinoso to the boiler room.
In an exclusive report, 9NEWS NOW cameras were rolling when they discovered a scene, Reinoso described as “appalling.”
Within 30 minutes of the detour, school engineers and maintenance workers, and some top education leaders swarmed the school to see it for themselves.
It was fixed within days.
But 9NEWS NOW has learned the inspector who brought the problem to light faces possible disciplinary action for the way he handled it.
Sources tell 9NEWS NOW, some of the mayor’s staffers complained about how he pulled them away from the media event.
Lancaster is now on desk duty while fire officials conduct an internal investigation.
His supporters say he was just doing his job, to help the city meet the mayor’s October 15th deadline to have a working boiler in every DC school.
“We have addressed it early and removed all danger to anyone in the building before the cold weather hits,” Principal Stephanie Crutchfield said.
Lancaster isn’t commenting pending the outcome of the investigation.