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Third man arrested in recent shooting
Bench building friendships
Stafford scholars make the grade VOL. 30 | NUM. 20
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JULY 20, 2018
School board appoints new superintendent TRACY BELL
tbell@insidenova.com
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cott Kizner was appointed the new superintendent of Stafford County Public Schools on July 17 after a unanimous school-board vote. Kizner has served as the superintendent of Harrisonburg City Public Schools since 2010. He’ll pay a visit to the schools system and Stafford school board members in August to get acquainted with staff, said school board Chairwoman Patricia Healy, Rock Hill District. He’ll be moving to Stafford with his wife and begin his new position full-time Sept. 1. Kizner was not in attendance at Tuesday’s school board meeting due to his participation in a global Education First conference in Helsinki and in Berlin. “It is with mixed feelings that I am announcing that I am leaving Harrisonburg City Public Schools,” Kizner said in a statement on Twitter on Tuesday. Kizner began his career teaching specialeducation students including those with autism and emotional and learning disabilities. He has also worked as a school psychologist. He has more than 18 years of experience as a school superintendent, with five years spent as superintendent of Westerly Public Schools in Rhode Island. He also directed various special education programs and served as assistant superintendent of instruction in the Northern Shenandoah region of Virginia. He obtained a master of arts degree and an education specialist degree from James Madison University in Harrisonburg and a doctorate degree in philosophy from Virginia Tech.
Riders line up at a commuter lot to share a ride on the Interstate 95 Express Lanes. “Slugging” is expected to get more attention from commuters as toll lanes grow over the next few years. ALEKS DOLZENKO | INSIDENOVA
Informal network of shared commutes sees new interest, obstacles in 2018
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EMILY SIDES
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nstead of driving her car for an hour to Washington, D.C., for work, Lake Ridge resident Tammy Bish catches rides with fellow commuters who carpool to drive the high-occupancy toll lanes for free. “Slugging” benefits the driver and passengers because the driver can ride the HOT lane without paying a toll and passengers get a free ride. After she finds a driver at a commuter parking lot in Prince William County, Bish makes it to work within about 30 minutes. Then, she lines up in D.C. in the afternoon to get a ride back home. “Some days the line is very smooth and very fast,” Bish said. “Some days I have to wait 15 to 20 minutes, depending on what day it is. There’s no two days that are the same.” Slugging makes sense for many drivers in Stafford County: carpools can be tricky, bus routes can shift, and trains don’t always run on time. But
the decades-old option to get between home and work is facing growing pains in 2018. New routes for HOV lanes means new interest from hundreds of Prince William commuters, along with new challenges from D.C. transportation officials opening their eyes to the afternoon slug lines. Bish has been “slugging” to work for more than 30 years, including two years when she drove other commuters. In earlier days, Bish said the “slugging” community would stay in touch via a daily email blast. Now, some commuters can stay in touch via Facebook groups or a smartphone app called Slug-Lines, with a list of morning and afternoon slug pick up locations to travel on I-95 or I-66, a forum and a lost-and-found section. FAST ROUTE, SLOW PROGRESS
Flexibility is slugging’s strength, but it’s also a challenge when commuters face issues. While trying to pick up commuters, drivers in D.C. have been threatened
with traffic tickets if they don’t move their vehicle, said Kalai Kandasamy, curator for the “Slug-Lines” app and the website, sluglines.com. “They are trying to move the traffic along,” he said. Kandasamy is also on the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission Board of Commissioners. Drivers waiting for slugs don’t have signs either on their vehicle or on the sidewalk to let others know they’re waiting for “slug” passengers. Instead many use their flashers to indicate they are waiting. On June 19, “slug” commuters and officials from the District Department of Transportation had a meeting with plans to meet again soon to discuss issues with commuter pickup spots and traffic enforcement, Kandasamy said. Kandasamy said reaching out on the behalf of slugs with multiple agencies can require a lot of time. “The catch is there is no one leader for slugging,” he said. “It’s a community of people helping each other; that’s probably the reason why we are not able to move forward.” COMMUTES
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