The UVA Issue: The final words

As excited fourth-years take their final walk on the Lawn and up the portico steps of the recently refurbished Rotunda, they will no doubt be reflecting on their years at the University of Virginia. Just in the last school year, UVA has made headlines for scientific discoveries, Olympic athletes who have roamed Grounds, and improving […]

Spreading the words: The Virginia Festival of the Book

Every March thousands gather in Charlottesville for the Virginia Festival of the Book, now in its 22nd year, to celebrate storytelling and literacy. With most events free of charge and open to the public, the festival encourages book-lovers from all over to attend readings and panels, to see some of their favorite writers up close, […]

How to spend $162 million: The city’s budget increases 3.5 percent

Charlottesville City Manager Maurice Jones presented his proposed budget for fiscal year 2017 to City Council on March 7. The $161,871,784 budget is a 3.5 percent increase over 2016’s fiscal year budget, which was approved at $156,391,435. The latest budget is Jones’ sixth version. “The biggest chunk is going to the schools,” he says, and […]

Teaching Model: Dr. Pam Moran employs a student-centered approach

Visiting the library of Woodbrook Elementary School, Dr. Pamela Moran, superintendent of Albemarle County Public Schools, was in her element. A group of third-graders were busy showcasing their reading skills for a pair of small collies, therapy dogs provided by the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA. The students rested on pillows or sprawled across the carpeted floor, gently […]

It takes a Village

It took two men with a vision to create an all-girls village On the Tuesday before winter break, a spirited debate has broken out in Jamie Knorr’s sixth-grade history class at Village School, the all-girls middle school he and Proal Heartwell founded two decades ago. A few of Knorr’s students have just delivered their soliloquy, […]

Space invaders: CHS robotics team goes international

A group of Charlottesville High School students are on an espionage mission from NASA to capture photographs of a competitor satellite while managing a limited store of energy and avoiding having their own satellite’s photo snatched by the competitor. BACON, or the Best All-around Club of Nerds, has been doing a pretty good job at it, […]

Open dialogue: Group helps special education community

The parent of an eighth-grader who receives special education at Buford Middle School says her daughter doesn’t appear like she’s disabled. Lisa Torres’ daughter is moderately to severely dyslexic and has some difficulty with speech articulation, but she’s enrolled in advanced classes and also in the band. “I’m a parent who’s at a different end […]

Wyld thing: Parents at Buford concerned about recruiting tactics

When Manuel Lerdau heard from his seventh-grader a couple of weeks ago that a Christian youth organization was recruiting at Buford Middle School under the guise of a party, he became concerned. “Representatives from WyldLife were at Buford during lunch recruiting students to attend WyldLife events, and doing it in a way that was not […]

Making the grade: Your guide to an A+ school year

At the start of a new academic year, it’s inevitable that some students mourn their summer vacations and others feel happy to have something to do. Either way, going back to school can be a stressful time for both students and parents. Who’s picking Jacob up from football practice? And how much did Jessica’s scientific […]

Sweet Briar College to remain open after settlement approval

Students, faculty, and supporters of Sweet Briar College are breathing a sigh of relief that the home of the Vixens will stay afloat for at least another year. Following months of uncertainty over the future of the women’s liberal arts college after President James F. Jones announced in March the school would close due to […]