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AUGUST 11, 2017 | NORTHERN VIRGINIA MEDIA SERVICES JULY 1, 2016 | NORTHERN VIRGINIA MEDIA SERVICES
School board School board talks lunch saves thousands
A DAY FOR LEMONDADE FARMERS’ MARKET
on copier service BY TRACY BELL
tbell@insidenova.com
С T
heese sandwiches were a topic of TRACY BELL
tbell@insidenova.com discussion Tuesday
at a Stafford County School Board he Stafford County Schoolmeeting, Board where members heard about agreed Tuesday to a $588,000 four-a proposed change to help year contract with Ricoh USAstuof dents avoid when their lunch acChicago for shame copier services beginning in counts grow bare. fiscal 2017. Currently, ord County Publicwas Schools The initialStaff proposed contract for off ers a modifi ed lunch when students can$650,000. notApay for their lunches. The modified competing Xerox representative lunch is a cheese sandwich, a piece of fruit attended four school board meetings this and milk. spring urging the board to consider using Berkley Dunbrack, the the director of bid. student Xerox, which produced lowest nutrition at SCPS, proposed eliminating Stafford County Public Schools used modifi Ricoh ed forlunches the pastfor 10 the years2017-18 and hasschool used year to avoid “lunch shaming. ” Xerox in the past. In the 2016-17 school did year,not thechoose SCPS School board members lunch program was short $1,300 due to Xerox, but thanked its representative unpaid student account debt. SCPS served for saving the schools $250,000 over 2,300 modifibased ed school costing the four years on itslunches, lower bid and for school district $4,140. providing information that helped the If the modified lunch is eliminated, stuboard save money. dents with no money in their accounts will S cho ol b o ard memb ers and still receive a standard hot lunch, Dunbrack Superintendent Bruce Benson expressed proposed. disappointment in the way the school “My job is to feed the kids, and we will do system handled the matter, but said it whatever we can to do that,” Dunbrack said. would cause them to look more closely at The schools system saves 11 cents per future meal bybusiness offering dealings. the modified lunch. “I think could’ve in our Dunbrackwewill look atbeen anyclearer financial loss communication with our vendors,” at the end of the upcoming school yearsaid and Benson. assess the situation for the following school In April, the board deferred a decision year. onThe which copier company to use and school board and Dunbrack disdecidedtheto possibility further review its options. cussed of parents taking There were five bidding advantage of the potential newcompanies policy, but involved. noted that they can adjust the policy for the There, next year. school board member Patricia SCHOOL Dunbrack also Healy, menPAGE 13 SCHOOL R-Rockthat Hill,methods challenged tioned for PAGE 6 recovering student debt
Locally harvested produce gets prime display as crowds browse and shop the stand operated by C&T Produce at the North Stafford Farmers’ Market. This year the total number of vendors has increased to around 30 at the same location, the parking lot of the Stafford Medical Pavilion on the Stafford Hospital campus. The market is open Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. With the temperatures hovering in the sweltering 90s, the Sharifi children decided it was a good time to set up a lemonade stand Saturday until November. ALEKS DOLZENKO | INSIDENOVA afternoon at the corner of Cromwell Court and Hampton Boulevard in North Stafford. Sulaiman, 16, left; Amina, 9; Ali, 8; and Sakina, 6; got
12 lemons and a half-cup of sugar to make the thirst-easing beverage, and offer it to passers-by for 50 cents a cup. While business was not brisk, a group of construction workers got the enterprise off to good start. By day’s end, the foursome made $68. Above, the kids fill an order for a pair of friends who stopped by.
Stafford seeks funding Assistance dog, man make a match for 100 body cameras
ALEKS DOLZENKO | INSIDENOVA
Cerebral palsy can’t stop TRACYbond BELL between duo growing tbell@insidenova.com
he Stafford County Sheriff ’s for a U.S. Department of Justice grant n area resident with cerethat could fund 100 of its bral palsy and an assistance deputies with a body camdog named Wyoming IV era. are building a bond. If received, full funding the Hunter Van Peltof and wouldyellow allow deputies in the thegrant 2-year-old Lab/golden reoffice’s field operations divisionCato triever trained by the nonprofit carry the cameras. nine Companions for Independence, sheriffand ’s office applied for were The matched sent happily on theway. grant after the Stafford County their Board of Supervisors gave dog its stamp “Wyoming is a very special and I hope to have many wonderful years with BY TRACY BELL
Office has applied tbell@insidenova.com
A
her,” said Van Pelt, a Fredericksburg man who uses a scooter for mobility. of Wyoming approval. The works as a 50 will grant respond to more than internal investigations and compercent match with local 40 advanced commands, canfunding turn light plaints is significant,” Decatur said. from the on county. The cost to Stafswitches and off , open and close “Body-worn cameras are a psychoford is $400,000 a year for five years. doors and retrieve dropped objects. logical deterrent to misbehavior on Stafford County job, Sheriff DaHer most important though, is to both sides of the lens. The benefits vid Decatur told InsideNoVa thatfor exceed the drawbacks associated provide constant companionship implementing a body-camera pro- with the cost and time to manage Van Pelt. gram a vast undertaking. Thesaid goalthat the program.” His iswife, Melody Van Pelt, of the program to achieve a high Wyoming is an isamazing dog, always Using the technology in the delevel of with the comready totransparency help at a moment’s notice. Wy- partment’s field operations division munityalso while protecting the rightsshe would allow for the most immedioming triggers conversation, of citizens and that deputies alike, he said, explaining her husband loves ate and expansive contact with the community served, Desaid. and talking to people “…The of having video catur said. them aboutbenefit Wyoming. CAMERA DOG PAGE 13 St af ford C ounty footage for prosecution, training, “She ‘breaks the ice’ PAGE 12 Hunter Van Pelt and Wyoming IV if you will between
STAFFORD COUNTY SUN
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