DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Mechanicsville, VA 23111
Vol. 27, No. 16 | Richmond Suburban Newspapers | August 18, 2010
STOPS AT EVERY HOME IN TOWN
Inside today
Schools await goals direction By Melody Kinser mkinser@mechlocal.com
Discover Hanover, a comprehensive guide to Hanover County, features emergency numbers, government services, business information, schools, health care, parks and recreation programs, county activities and community events. If it’s about Hanover County, you’ll find it in Discover Hanover.
With Hanover County Public Schools preparing for a Sept. 7 start to the 2010-2011 year, the superintendent told the Hanover County School Board last week that “the federal direction is becoming increasingly fuzzy and frustrating.” Stewart D. Roberson said the Virginia Board of Education’s accountability system is among the nation’s earliest to be created and continues to be viewed as one of the nation’s most rigorous. For the ninth consecutive
Juniors travel with The Local
Budget calendar...........Page 4 SOLs/AYP......................Page 5
year, he said Hanover County can expect to have 100 percent of its schools meeting the state’s highest standards. “By contrast, while the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act remain bold, noble and worthwhile, and have resulted in millions of dollars targeted investment locally, the federal direction is becoming increasingly fuzzy and frustrating,” he said. Due to the lack of action
Submitted photo
While participating in the Southeast Regional tournament in Greenville, S.C., members of the Mechanicsville Juniors team took time to pose with The Mechanicsville Local. The Aug. 4, 2010, edition featured the boys on the front page. They have been competing in the World Series in Taylor, Mich. For more on the games, see Sports, page 36.
see GOALS, pg. 26 `
Maggie L. Walker grad heading to film school
History comes alive for MES teacher
S
onja McGinnis, a fourth grade teacher at Mechanicsville Elementary School, and 23 other educators from across Virginia will bring to their classrooms new knowledge and experience gained during the 2010 JamestownYorktown Foundation Summer Teacher Institute,
held July 11-16 at Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center history museums. Correlated with the Virginia Standards of Learning, the institute emphasized interactive, inquiry-based methods of teaching American history. see HISTORY, pg. 4 `
PRSRT. STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID Mechanicsville, VA Permit No.141
Photo submitted by Sonja McGinnis
Sonja McGinnis, a fourth grade teacher at Mechanicsville Elementary School, participated in the 2010 JamestownYorktown Foundation Summer Institute.
When asked his opinion of Virginia’s new tax credit legislation for the motion picture industry, Norris Guncheon’s response is swift and passionate: “Thank God. It’s about time!” Hardly the reaction you’d expect from a typical teenager. But Norris is anything but typical. This Maggie L. Walker
NORRIS GUNCHEON
Governor’s School (MLW) graduate is a math whiz, composes his own music, is the reigning Mr. Maggie L. Walker, see GRAD, pg. 8 `