www.newrivervalley.com

It is with sadness that I inform you that the Chalk Dust soon will not exist.

In its place, The Roanoke Times will offer a community news blog with photos and tidbits about happenings where you live.

Don't fret, though. All your New River Valley education news will not disappear.  Just hop on over to the New River Notebook.  There, I plan to post about events and news from school systems across the region as well as national policies that might affect them.

Thank you for reading, and be sure to visit our new blog.

-Anna L. Mallory

Fred Morton, Montgomery County's schools superintendent from 1998 to 2004, was named Virginia's Superintendent of the Year at a conference of schools chiefs Tuesday.

The State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the officers of four Virginia education organizations selected him from among eight regional Superintendents of the Year.

Don Ford, president of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, called Morton a "champion of the underdog."

Morton left Montgomery County to take a post in Henrico County schools, one of the largest school districts in the state with 48,000 students. He recently started a program, which required building administrators to “adopt” ten students not likely to succeed in school and eventually drop out. The program helped to reduce Henrico’s drop-outs from 678 to 453 in one year, according to a news release.

The award makes Morton eligible for the National Superintendent of the Year Award, which will be presented in Phoenix, Arizona next February by the American Association of School Administrators.

A few weeks ago, i wrote about two  teachers at McHarg Elementary who tried to take her classroom to the world through a classroom blog.

Today, one of those teachers, Carolyn Wojtera, was named one of the Virginia Lottery's "Super Teachers."

Wojtera is one of eight across Virginia. She found out about the award -- $4,000 of which half must be spent on school supplies -- during a schoolwide assembly disguised a celebration that students completed their Standards of Learning exam.

A fellow teacher and parent of one of Wojtera's students nominated her.

"My daughter loves going to school and has developed a love of reading becasue of Mrs. Wojtera," wrote  first-grade teacher Tracie Shelton Farmer in a nomination essay to the lottery.

Wojtera said she plans to use the classroom supply money to purchase flip cameras that will allow her students to take videos of classroom projects and post them to the class blog.

You can read more about Wojtera in Wednesday's NRV Current.

A few schools across the nation have decided to shut their doors in response to potential swine flu outbreaks, and the Department of Education says that's OK.

In a conference call with a group of educators, Ed secretary Arne Duncan and folks from the Office of Safe and Drug-Free schools said to follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control. That agency suggests a closure if an outbreak has occurred.

Montgomery County's assistant superintendent sat in on that conference call, but the school system isn't planning any closures.

Duncan encouraged schools to closely monitor students' health, which they plan to do.

Joni Underwood, health supervisor in Montgomery County's schools, said she doesn't expect much to be different in schools, but she said they'd be a little bit more cautious when it comes to flu symptoms.

School systems also have "pandemic" emergency response plans, which were required in the wake of avian flu scares.

Folks who eat at Texas Roadhouse tonight can support Falling Branch Elementary.

The school's Parent Teacher Association is sponsoring a food night from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., which means that 20 percent of the cost of each ticket will benefit the PTA, if you let your server know that's why you're there.

Students also have flyers, and some can be picked up at the front of the restaurant.

The partial proceeds method of fundraising is becoming increasingly popular in schools and other organizations across the region.

Here's a more in-depth look at the Montgomery school board's first crack at finding a new superintendent.

Montgomery County has more to offer than just Virginia Tech, school board members say, and they want to find a headhunter willing to promote the whole county to prospective superintendent candidates.

The board could start hearing from those companies soon after deciding at its meeting Tuesday night to send out a request for proposal to find a firm. It’s the first step in hiring someone to replace outgoing Superintendent Tiffany Anderson, whose last day with the district is June 30.

The vote to circulate the proposal was 5-1, with board member Joe Ivers dissenting. Board chairman Wendell Jones was absent from the meeting.

Ivers said he’s worried about what a national firm might cost and that he has already heard complaints for residents about the potential cost of such a search in “tough times.”
Read more »

Montgomery County is officially on the hunt for a superintendent.

At its school board meeting Tuesday, board members chose 5-1 to send out a "request for proposal" to find a firm to help lead the search.

A listing for the job itself wont' likely go out until later next month.

Board member Joe Ivers disagreed and board chairman Wendell Jones was not present.

Ivers said he's worried about the money and potential to overlook qualified candidates within Montgomery County and Southwest Virginia. He said the board should take its time finding a superintendent.

However, state law says that the district must have a leader within 180 days, and an interim super, which he suggested, is not appropriate, according to attorney Brad King.

Other board members said they wanted to cast the wide net, and that they didn't expect that to preclude any candidates locally.

"The University of North Carolina did not create a national championshp team by recruiting only in the state of North Carolina," said board member David Dunkenberger.

Montgomery County school board members want to get the ball rolling on a superintendent search to replace Tiffany Anderson by next week. And, most say they're in favor of using a national search firm, which could be costly.

Tonight, the seven board members said they'd review this week a proposal from the 2004 search that resulted in Anderson's hiring and plan to approve a similar ad at a meeting Tuesday. That ad would help them find a firm. An ad for the superintendent's position would likely be placed once the board hired a search firm. Anderson leaves the district effective June 30, and the board has 180 days after that to find a replacment.

In the 2004 search, the school board used national firm Ray and Associates, which cost close to $25,000.

The Virginia School Board Association offers statewide and regional search assistance, but Montgomery board chairman Wendel Jones said he wouldn't work with them again  based on a poor experience during the hunt that found Anderson.

Read more »

A school district in Arizona facing a tight budget is looking at whether each school in its division needs a full-time principal. Cutting back vice principals and principals to half-time jobs is just one measure suggested in the Tucson Unified School District.

The ideas got me thinking about some of the early plans discussed in Montgomery County's schools.  School board member Joe Ivers later said he was in favor of making schools share some assistant principals or to have them teach classes.

His ideas drew the ire or some, but it's interesting to see that he's not the only one with the ideas. As this article says, the freedom to choose half-time principals also means choosing not to have one at all. "if they can come up with a way to ensure duties typically carried out by principals are still completed."

What do you think?

RADFORD — A Christiansburg Middle School teacher won a $25,000 regional educational award tonight.

Jayanne Bridges, who teaches sixth-grade science, is one of two top winners in the 2009 McGlothlin Awards for Teaching Excellence from the Bristol-based McGlothlin Foundation.

The regional award, open to teachers from parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, is one of the largest education awards in the country. It was awarded at Radford University.

Bridges has taught in Montgomery County’s school since 1994.

She must use at least $10,000 of the award to travel internationally. The awards are designed to “bring the world” to those who win, according to the foundation. Bridges plans to use the money to travel to Africa. While there, she  plans to work with underprivileged children in reading, math, computer skills and conservation science.

Judges said Bridges impressed them with hands-on lessons and community service projects.

To be eligible, teachers must have been in the classroom for at least five years. Applicants are judged on a four-month long application that includes classroom observations, sample lesson plans and an essay about how they plan to teach students about the world.

Other semi-finalists for the award this year included Troutville Elementary teacher Teresa Hash and Pulaski County High teacher Erin Wigginton. Each won $1,000 and a trophy.