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Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016
The Journal
www.journalpress.com
Westmoreland schools holds staff convocation Start of school year brings new faces By Patty Kelly Long Westmoreland County Public Schools It was a full house at Washington and Lee High School on August 24, 2016, as Westmoreland County Public Schools held its annual Opening Day Convocation. Superintendent, Dr. Michael Perry, welcomed School Board members, teachers, staff, administration, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, the general public, county administrators, and retired teachers to the yearly celebration. James Cook, Assistant Superintendent, began with the introduction of new staff positions by introducing new administrators Leslie Steele, Principal at Cople Elementary, Justin Savoy, CTE Director at W&L, and Deputy Kim Simon, District School Resource Officer. Teacher transfers included Ann Lurba, English teacher from MMS to W&L, Jacob Spears, English teacher from W&L to MMS, Elizabeth Johnson, SPED teacher from WD to Cople, Maria Hutt, Pre K teacher from WD to Cople, Kelly Evans, Reading Specialist from Cople to MMS, and Allison Ondovcik, English to Reading Specialist from W& L to MMS. New support positions are Rob Wright, District Instruction/Gifted Resource teacher, Andrea Cottom, District Instruction/Gifted Resource teacher, Natasha Tate, Cople Reading Specialist, Meghan Smith, W&L Instructional Technology Specialist, Millard Samuels, WDES Instructional Technology Specialist, and Michael Breunig, Cople Instructional Technology Specialist. Student support positions include Merita Carey, Cople Instructional Assistant, Bethany Bojorquez, WDES Instructional Assistant, and Amanda Straughan, WDES part-time Instructional
Assistant. Two clerical positions are being filled by Sherri Kennedy, W&L secretary and Linda Henry, WDES part-time secretary. Food service staff includes Renee Thompson, Cople Food Service Manager, Kim Harriman, Cople Food Service Assistant Manager, and Glenn Kelly, W&L kitchen employee. A new custodian person at MMS will be Mack Straughter. Pupil Transportation welcomes bus drivers Richard Harman, MM/W&L, Joyce Brown, WDES, Georgia Kelly, MMS/W&L, Avery Baylor, MMS/W&L, Deborah Bennett, MM/W&L, and Bill Hall, MM/W&L. New teachers for the upcoming year include the following: W&L – Spencer Sadler, Librarian; Yanira Guerrero, Spanish; Ariany Mancera, Spanish; Tyler Engel, Band; Chastine Perry, Mathematics; Jacob Inge, Government; Adam Nash, Mathematics; Ashley Jensen, Special Education; Jessica Davis, English; and Bryan Lee, Computer Systems. MMS will welcome the these teachers; Cecilia Goodell, Librarian; Kristy Beamer, Mathematics; Marcia Becker, Choral Music; Brian Goodell, History; Josh Wild, Physical Education; Rosalynd Doneghy, Special Education, Bruce Passaretti, Band; Paul Ziebell, Mathematics; Tammy Ware, Technology; John Bertrand, English, and Stacie Mott, Science. Cople Elementary welcomed Amanda Allen, Kindergarten, and Megan Kryger, Grade 3. Washington District Elementary School new teachers include Jordan Coates, Grade 3; Anabell Salazar, English Learner; Rebecca Jones, Special Education; Kellen Donelson, Music; Monica Naylor, Grade 4; Deborah Castle, Grade 5; Ashley Ziebell, Grade 5; Morgan Berg, Grade 4, and Kathleen Berry, Grade 1. Continuing education is always encouraged among staff. Cathy Rice, Deputy Superintendent, asked persons who had earned advanced degrees this past year to come for-
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ward and celebrate their achievement. Ms. Rice then introduced the Westmoreland County Teachers of the Year. Representing Washington and Lee High School was Faye Turner; Cindy Flickinger was Montross Middle School’s teacher of the year; Cople’s Sarah Maier and Samantha Dougherty of Washington District were the elementary level representatives. WMLCPS District Teacher of the Year, Faye Turner, was unable to attend and present. A musical selection by Kelly Wright, Choral music teacher at W&L was presented in honor of the teachers. She was accompanied by her husband, Rob Wright. One of the highlights of the morning was the Vendor Row in the hallway. Teachers and guests could visit among the various vendors and compete for some excellent door prizes. Connie Allen coordinates this effort every year. The WMLCPS Food Service, led by Hazel Hickman, had a special raffle to raise funds for student gifts throughout the year. Attendees vied for dazzling baskets filled with goodies and surprise gift cards and even a Dallas Cowboy chair. The food service department raised over $1,124.00 on the raffles. After a sumptuous lunch served by the WMLCPS Food Service Department, Dr. Perry addressed the employees about this year’s focus; fundamentals. He reiterated the importance of effective lesson plans, proper planning, and relative curriculum. This year students will write, in every class, every day. It is an important skill that is necessary for success and their metacognitive skills. There is a new synergy at Westmoreland County Public Schools. You can feel it in the hallways of the schools and the classrooms as new and returning teachers prepare for the upcoming year. WMLCPS welcomes its teachers, staff, families and students to a new and exciting school year.
Trail: School sites map From page 1
tion were aimed at primary education for younger children, with some training sites to teach work skills for older children. There were a few private schools for African-Americans with high educational standards, some famously established by Julius Rosenwald, a businessman and philanthropist from Illinois. At last month’s meeting, Hull displayed a first draft of an interactive web-based map showing some African-American schools and training sites. Several locations were approximated because the buildings no longer exist. Hull explained. “This is a jumping-off point.
Photo courtesy of Westmoreland County Schools
Above, Dr. Michael Perry welcomes staff to the convocation to kick off the school year. Below, Food service chief Hazel Hickman puts last minute touches on items for a raffle to raise money for student gifts throughout the year.
It’s only the beginning. What I’ve started to do is to approximate the locations of African-American schools, and some sites need to be verified and a lot more need to be added,” Hull said. “This is an unpublished map that will be published as soon as we get confirmation about the location, dates of operation and other facts. The idea is to add the information for each, so when people click on it they would get links to websites and more information for each site.” Hull had distributed paper copies of the draft map with an alphabetical list of what she had so far, including Avalon School, Hygeia School, Howland Chapel, Kremlin School, Ralph Bunche High School, Holley Graded, Julius Rosenwald High school, Little Ark School and Frog Hall approximate. The group who met in King George came up with some more
and Hull has since added some. She also made a decision to publish the unfinished map on the Northern Neck website to more easily gather information from anyone with knowledge of locations and/ or names of educational sites of any type for African-Americans prior to actual desegregation. The direct link to this map site is: http://www.northernneck.org/ african-american-education-inthe-northern-neck/. The map’s existence on the site will not be promoted until after it gets into a more finished state. In an email to interested parties after the meeting in King George, Hull explained her reasoning in making the map quietly available online in its unfinished state. “Seeing it once on a screen at a meeting without the ability to return to the places, descriptions and photos, makes it difficult for
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you to provide input. This way, you can look at the trail at your leisure - and maybe share with others who were not able to attend the meetings, but who may — have information,” Hull said. Following the upcoming Montross meeting, future meetings will also be set for Lancaster, Northumberland and Richmond counties. Those with knowledge of a former training or school site for African-American children are urged to contact Hull to assist in this effort. For more information, or to provide information to Lisa Hull about sites, send questions or any information/corrections to her email: lhull@nnpdc17.state.va.us. She can also be reached at the Northern Neck Tourism Commission, 804-333-1919, located at 457 Main Street, Warsaw.
Movie: Big hit for foundation From page 1
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"We are definitely going to do it again," said Grisevich. There was no admission charged to attend the outdoor showing. The event was organized to support the Colonial Beach Foundation, which is working to turn the old Lion's Club building at the site into the Colonial Beach Community Center, so donations to the foundation were accepted. "It was the beginning of a long term effort at having something where neighbors can come and meet neighbors," said Eric Nelson of Coldwell Banker Elite, who is a member of the foundation and was one of the sponsors of the event. There were popcorn and soft drinks available for movie goers, and a breezy night, as well as fogging, helped reduce mosquito problems. The crowd was well-behaved and enthusiastic, so much so that plans a have already begun for the next outdoor movie night. "It was a wonderful community event," said Grisevich. "We are definitely doing it again, hopefully the first Saturday of the month, including in October and November. It was a perfect night."
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