When the Sweet Briar College class of 2015 walks the stage at commencement on Saturday, May 16, hundreds of their family members, professors and friends will be present to see what may well be the school’s last graduation ceremony. Sweet Briar Professor Marcia Thom-Kaley is urging one person to stay away. “Your presence at graduation […]
When the Sweet Briar College class of 2015 walks the stage at commencement on Saturday, May 16, hundreds of their family members, professors and friends will be present to see what may well be the school’s last graduation ceremony. Sweet Briar Professor Marcia Thom-Kaley is urging one person to stay away. “Your presence at graduation […]
The display case near the entrance of the Central Library holding a coat-hanger necklace, birth control pills and condoms had gone unremarked upon since it went up April 1. Three weeks later, it captured the attention of a local library user who said it was inappropriate for children and advocated abortion in a publicly funded […]
Orange is the new Black History Month flashpoint following a March 12 high school program titled “Black Lives Matter.” An anonymous deputy called the event “anti-police” and “political” in a Facebook message that went viral, and by Monday, March 16, parents were keeping their children home because of alleged threats of violence. Students at Orange […]
Weeks after the board of Sweet Briar voted to shutter the school following the spring semester, alumnae and faculty are fighting back, raising more than $3 million through the nonprofit Saving Sweet Briar and hiring the international law firm of Troutman Sanders to pursue legal action to block the closure. That action began with a […]
A week after Sweet Briar’s board of directors announced plans to close the 114-year-old women’s college in Amherst, shock and grief among students, faculty and alumnae has given way to anger, defiance and questions about the basis for the decision. “I just think it was handled so badly,” said Sweet Briar biology professor Lincoln Brower, one […]
This week marks our first-ever pride issue—just in time for Charlottesville’s Pride Festival this weekend. Check out our other feature stories on deciding whether to marry as a gay couple, on UVA’s lack of gender-neutral housing for trans students, and on the festival itself. Here’s an “it gets better” stat for you: According to Equality […]
In a 4-2 vote last week, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors approved a special use permit that will allow a small private school to expand enrollment. The school in question is the Regents School of Charlottesville, where last year 83 plaid- and khaki-clad kids from kindergarten to eighth grade attended classes infused with Christian […]
Charlottesville City Schools have one more half-million-dollar payment to make on the contract that put a Fujitsu touch-screen tablet in the hands of every middle and high school student in the division in 2012, and while the aging computing devices have been criticized as glitchy and slow, the division says it’s committed to the one-to-one […]
It’s that time of year again: Kids are headed back to school. As both county and city school divisions prepare for the annual return of students, we’ve collected updates on a few hot topics in local public education, from starting bells to snow days. Check out our feature stories on the city schools’ tablet program and […]
In 2009, Albemarle County launched its Math, Engineering & Science Academy (MESA) at Albemarle High School as a pilot program for a new model of learning. Five years later, enrollment in MESA has more than doubled, and administrators are taking more steps towards career-oriented learning with a strong hands-on component in other fields. Two years […]