Botetourt County School Board held a regular meeting on Feb. 9. February is School Board Appreciation month. Many of the CTE classes  sent tokens of appreciation to the board. The Horticulture Class and FFA at BTEC  arrived with beautifully arranged roses for each member of the School Board and for Betty Holland the School Board clerk. she also received and azalea from the school board. those students were: Joey DaVolio, Rebecca Harlow, Billie West, Hailey Garrison.

Notably Beth Umbarger, the  principal at Greenfield Elementary School, presented each school board member with an historic film called “Shaping the world, Conversations in Democracy.” Produced for Poplar Forest by Blue Ridge Public Television, the summer home of Thomas Jefferson the series is for  schools to explore the history of Thomas Jefferson and his encounters during the time of and prior to the American Revolution. Umbarger proudly detailed the Greenfield consort’s musical involvement on the DVD.

The school calendar for 2012-13 was approved.  Here are some important dates :

First day of school: August 22, 2012

Winter Break: Dec. 19-Jan 2

Spring Break: April 1- 5 (not counting weekends)

Last day of school: June 11, 2013

Breckinridge Reading specialist Rhonda McDonald was honored for receiving the George Irby, Jr. incentive  grant. She also has two non fiction children’s books  “Polar Bears” and “White Whales”  to be published in the next year! McDonald has been a McGlothlin Award finalist in the past.

The School Boundary  issue will go to public comment on March 19 at 7 p.m. at the Central Academy Forum.

School Board members Scott Swortzel and John Alderson have been named to the joint committee to study and plan the building of a new Blue Ridge Elementary School and upgrades to Lord Botetourt Science classes.

The next regular school board meeting is March 8.