From patheos.com

Blue Ridge Christian Academy. Sounds like it could be an institution of the Roanoke Valley, eh?

But it’s not. The parochial school is in Landrum, S.C., which is just south of the North Carolina border, about 20 miles northwest of Spartanburg.

Apparently they teach an interesting brand of  science there. You can get a flavor from the images on the left, a perfect score on a 4th-grade science test administered in March.

(Note: I copied them from patheos.com, which copied them from Reddit; Snopes says this may be a hoax is now rating it as “true;” a creationism blog is the one that identified the school; h/t to reader Scott M).

Pay careful attention to the questions, and the “correct” answers. The school’s website says:

“Science lessons are creation-based, student-centered and hands-on. Topics covered in the elementary grades lay the foundation for the sciences taught in middle and high school. Students are exposed to the natural resources surrounding us as well as the best of other resources and publications.”

Note the photo below, in which the answer “God!!!!” gets four exclamation points, but the answer “Bible!!!” (which is a work of man) gets only three. Both are correct, naturally.

And then answer this question: Read more »

Grafic by Dan

Note from Dan: The missive below was posted over the weekend by the feisty 13 Suns, a regular on this blog who’s in her 80s. The grandson she’s referencing is now an adult.

“When my grandson was a little boy, he had slow onset asthma. This means he never had a sudden asthma attack; rather, if he got a cold, flu, or any respiratory ailment, his asthma would more than likely act up.

When he was in second grade in the late 90s at a Roanoke elementary school, he missed 9 days of school due to illness. He was an A/B student, never in trouble, respectful, engaged, read several grade levels above second grade.

His mother was called to a mandatory meeting at the school to discuss my grandson’s absences. That meeting included the principal, my grandson’s teacher, and the school nurse. My daughter explained that she kept her son at home those days because he was sick, had asthma, and that she had only taken her son to the doctor on three of the nine days he was absent.

The teacher began lecturing my daughter on how difficult it was for students to make up work from being absent and how terrible it was for absent students to miss classroom lectures, projects, etc. The principal told my daughter that if my grandson missed two more days of school without seeing a doctor and without a note to the school from the doctor, they would ‘have no choice but to contact Child Protective Services with concerns of educational and medical neglect.

The school nurse and the principal wanted my daughter to sign a release of information form allowing the school all access to my grandson’s medical information.

My daughter refused to sign the release, told them all that SHE was the parent, left the meeting, and homeschooled her son for the rest of that year. By third grade, they had moved and my grandson was able to attend Salem schools until he graduated, with honors, and with no school nannies sticking their noses where they didn’t belong.”

It was at least 10 years ago when I got roped into being the pronouncer at The Roanoke Times Regional Spelling Bee. Many memorable students have crossed that stage since then.

From Bath County to Bland County, 17 more will be spelling Saturday morning at the 41st annual regional bee. One of those is Saumya Sharman, 13, who moved to Radford with her family last year.

Her dad, Sanjay Sharman, told me she’s an 8th grader at John Dalton Intermediate School. This is her first regional spelling bee in Virginia, but not her first regional bee. She competed in the Arkansas state bee in 2012.

Saumya has interests that go beyond spelling. When she grows up she wants to be a doctor. But there are a few things she intends to punch off a checklist before high school ends. One is completing a trilogy.

At 12, she self-published her first novel “The Ultimate Decision,” which is on sale at Barnes and Noble stores in this region and on Amazon.com. The hardback version sells for $25; a paperback copy goes for $15 and the Kindle version costs $4.

READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.

The original Broadway poster, updated by Dan with the local director’s name.

One of the details that I sought but was unable to get in time for Thursday’s column about the no-guns policy in Patrick Henry High School’s production of “Les Miserables” was details about another upcoming high school performance: “The Foreigner” by Community High School, March 15 & 16 at the June M. McBroom Theatre.

Community High School, in case you are unaware, is a fine private school that, deserved or not, has a reputation as a hippie/peacenik kind of place.

A thespian-minded colleague noted the script for “The Foreigner” calls for a couple of Klansmen with pistols, so I reached out late in the day Wednesday to director Les Epstein to find out if his production will change them out for foam rocks or something.

Epstein called back on Thursday. The answer was: his production at will use prop pistols.

I also got received this email from someone who signed it only “Tammie:”

“Hi Dan!
Just a question about today’s column. How is it that the [Patrick Henry] ROTC program is allowed to carry fake weapons when presenting colors? Just a thought …”

If she’s correct about that, it’s a good question.

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Last week in Baltimore, a second-grader got suspended from elementary school for shaping his Pop Tart into something that resembled a mountain. At least, that’s what the 7-year-old claimed he was trying for.

A teacher thought the nibbled-on pastry looked like a pistol — and in the wake of the Sandy Hook school massacre in Connecticut, folks are apparently extra-sensitive about images like that.

Something similar, though not as ridiculous, is playing out here in Roanoke at Patrick Henry High School. Rehearsals are underway for a theater production of Les Miserables.

The story is set amid the Paris Uprising of 1832. As you might expect, the script calls for some muskets. But you won’t see those in the Patrick Henry High production.

The play opens March 15 — sans any guns. Not even fake guns, or nonfiring theatrical prop guns.

How do you portray a revolution without those?

Actors and actresses will instead throw black-painted foam balls that are shaped like rocks. It sounds more like something from “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” than the Paris Uprising.

READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.

Correction: This blog post (and the column it links to) have been updated to reflect my error in originally writing that the show was set during the French Revolution. It’s a red face day . . . a correction will be published in the newspaper tomorrow.

In 2010, the Roanoke Children’s Theatre, some area educators and mental health advocates put their heads together on ways they could raise the issue of bullying among Roanoke Valley schoolchildren. The result was a play, “The Secret Life of Girls,” that was shown to every sixth-grader in the valley.

That initiative ended up listed on the White House’s website as one of many positive programs by communities concerned about their youth. So the locals did it again on another issue for ninth-graders in 2011, underage drinking. That play was titled “Wrecked.”

They’re back this year with another subject that’s even more daunting: teen depression and suicide. The curtain has already risen on performances of “Eric & Elliott,” for 2,500 eighth-grade students Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem. Performances for adults begin Thursday.

The playbill lists the story as about hope and healing and the warning signs of depression. Pat Wilhelms, artistic director for the Roanoke Children’s Theatre, described the plot of the one-hour, one-act play as: “A son who commits suicide comes back to help his mother and brother cope.”

Though the topic sounds unbelievably sad, the play by Dwayne Hartford has been lauded in Congress as inspiring and empowering.

“Obviously, these are very heavy topics,” said Hallie Carr, director of guidance for Roanoke City Schools. “Our goal is to let students know that feeling sad is not an uncommon experience. But if it interferes with their normal lives in school, outside of school . . . it could be something serious.”

If you believe this is an insubstantial issue, consider: In the 2012 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a little more than 25 percent of high school students surveyed in Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem and Botetourt and Craig counties answered “yes” when asked if they experienced feelings of sadness and hopelessness almost every day.

READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.

Museum of Lincolnshire Life | Green Lane | Wikimedia Commons

For 16 years or so, state and federal lawmakers and bureaucrats have tinkered around with measuring public education.

This has resulted in Virginia’s Standards of Learning, the feds’ Adequate Yearly Progress, and all kinds of other metrics and measurements and statistics and and charts. Lots of charts.

Now they seem to be admitting all that previous effort just doesn’t cut the mustard. Because this year, the geniuses in Richmond have hit upon a new scheme, pushed by Gov. Bob McDonnell and Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County: letter grades for every public school in the commonwealth. Both the House and the Senate have passed the bill.

Alas, nobody I’m aware of has ever asked education leaders to grade those measurement-minded lawmakers. That seems unfair. So I gave some area school board members and administrators that opportunity this week.

None seemed more eager than Fuzzy Minnix, a five-year veteran of the Roanoke County School board. He was a 12-year county supervisor before that.

We must forgive Minnix if he sounded a bit frustrated. You see, he ardently believes in turning mediocre schools into good ones and good schools into excellent ones. But his head is spinning from all the different edicts. And Minnix has lost his faith that state government leaders share his goals.

He ticked off some of his own measurements to explain why: Richmond has slashed $14 million in state funding from Roanoke County schools in the past four years. His school system has lost 115 teachers, cut 236 positions, and it’s looking at closing three schools down the road.

“I graded the governor, and he’s in my own party, and he did not get a good grade,” Minnix said. He launched into a long-winded explanation of all the points he deducted for the affronts listed above. The bottom line is, Minnix’s grade was a “D.”

READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.

(This post has been updated to correct the number of positions cut in Roanoke County schools.)

AP Photo | Doctored by Dan

Last month after the elementary school massacre in Connecticut, Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association’s vice president and CEO, called for armed cops in public schools.

“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” LaPierre said, a line that sounds stolen from the synopsis of any Clint Eastwood western.

He said Congress should appropriate money for armed security for every public school in America. There are roughly 99,000 of those, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, not counting 33,000 or so private and parochial schools.

This raises some practical questions. To consider them,  let’s take a single school — Patrick Henry High in Roanoke. That happens to be Wayne LaPierre’s alma mater. He was in the class of ’67.

How many cops would be required to ensure no massacres at Patrick Henry? Is that even possible? What would the cost be?

To get some answers I contacted Roanoke Police Chief Chris Perkins, Richard Rife, the architect who designed the school, and Joseph LaSorsa, an Arlington-based security expert.

The school has changed greatly since LaPierre’s days there. Back then, it a one-story, much more spread out campus of more than a dozen buildings.

READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.

TraumTeufel666 / Foter / CC BY-SA

Your daily Letter to the Columnist — Dec. 18, 2012

Dan,

Thanks for writing the nice article about the wonderful kids at James River High School. As a parent of three children who have attended school in Botetourt County over the past seven years,  I have had my share of complaints about the Botetourt school system.

However, I can’t say enough great things about James River. It’s a true gem. The teachers and staff are dedicated and fabulous in just about every way.

The student body seems to be a close-knit and friendly group of  students without the cliques and bullying often found in schools. The Key Club has done a lot to give back to the community over the years, and I’m not surprised by their efforts to win this concert for Staunton River.

Love your column. I read it all the time. I was moved by the story about your daughter’s struggles with an eating disorder.  I hope she’s doing well at JMU. Parenting can be agonizing sometimes.

Pam Kessinger
BOTETOURT COUNTY

Note from Dan: Erin is doing a lot better, thanks. She just finished her penultimate semester at JMU and will graduate next spring.

Stephen Barker Liles, left, and Eric Gunderson, who comprise the country music duo Love and Theft, who will play a free concert early next year at the area high school that wins WSLC-FM’s Toy Mountain holiday contest| AP Photo

Today we have a nifty and ongoing story about multiple tragedies, Christmas, a do-gooder charity, country music and some students’ concern for their grief-stricken peers.

It’s almost guaranteed to warm the iciest of hearts.

It involves radio station Star Country 94.9, aka WSLC-FM, Staunton River High School in Moneta and James River High in Buchanan.

Staunton River, as you probably have heard, has had a rough fall. Three students there — Jacob Baird, Katie Thurston and Ashley Barton — died in car accidents in the past few months. That’s taken a heavy toll on the 1,100-student Bedford County school.

WSLC is part of Wheeler Broadcasting, which is headquartered on Electric Road in the Tanglewood area of Roanoke County. For the last decade or so, they’ve been running a Christmas-season contest among our region’s high schools to gather toys for the charity Toys for Tots.

Each year, the school that contributed the most toys per capita has won a free concert by a country artist at their school. In recent years the entertainers have included Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum and Blake Shelton. The winning school this year gets a concert from Love and Theft, which currently has the chart-topping hit, “Angel Eyes.”

James River High, which has about 500 students, has won the contest for the last five years under the leadership of former teacher Lori Sibley, advisor to its Key Club. She’s no longer with the school.

READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.