www.newrivervalley.com

My colleague, Tonia Moxley, just brought this to my attention from our sister blog, the New River Notebook.

During a meeting today, Joe Meredith, Virginia Tech's Corporate Research Center manager, told Blacksburg Town Council that unfavorable perceptions of Montgomery County schools might hurt business and industry.

Prospective employees are telling business owners in the CRC that they would rather their children attend Salem or other schools. According to Meredith, Montgomery County schools are, at least, perceived to be “not as good as we used to be and I’m concerned about that.”

“There’s a stormcloud brewing around secondary education,” Meredith told the council.

Montgomery County Superintendent Tiffany Andersons said she had not had any conversations with Meredith and had not heard any of the concerns raised.

"We certailny feel that we provide an outstanding education," she said, citing Advanced Placement course offereings, test scores and state accrediation results as indicators.

Based on that she said she's not concerned about the quality of the county's schools. She also points to " the fact that most families continue to send their children to Montgomery County Public schools" as an indicator of success.

The school system also has more than 200 business partners, including many who were at the meeting, she said.

"I would hope that any individual that has concerns about a school or instruction districtwide would talk with me, the principal or either the director of secondary or elementary education," she said. "We have an open-door policy here.

Anderson said that Rick Weaver, director of the school system's career and technical education and business partnerships, would follow up on the concerns.

Nelson Simpkins, former principal at Eastern Montgomery High, took over full-time this year as director of secondary schools.

During the next three weeks, students at six Montgomery County schools will paint rain barrels to be auctioned off during Blacksburg's Sustainability Week.

After they are painted, the barrels will be on display in the lobby of the  Blacksburg Municipal Building during Oct. 20-25. People who want to bid on the barrels can  place a bid at the cashier’s window on the second floor.

Winners will be announced on Oct. 25.

Rain barrels are a low cost way to reduce storm water runoff, conserve water, and irrigate your garden in dry weather, according to a news release from the town.

The schools are:

• Gilbert Linkous Elementary
• Harding Elementary
• Margaret Beeks Elementary
• Blacksburg Middle School
• Blacksburg High School
• Falling Branch Elementary

The Senate passed the financial bailout bill yesterday, and it has a few "sweeteners" in it. One is a program that gives rural schools with low property-tax bases a boost.

The House is expected to vote today.

I've heard of tons of different incentive programs across the nation, including paying kids for grades, and here's another one in our area that takes advantage of October's (who knew?) National Roller Skating Month

A news release in my inbox promises students ages 5 to 11 in the New River Valley free skating tickets if they read five books. Notice of the Rock and Read program was sent to me three times, so I figured I should waste no time in getting the word out.

Here's some of the details:

To celebrate “National Roller Skating Month” you can earn a free skate admission pass just by reading five books and having your teacher sign your very own Roller Roo Read & Roll bookmark. The program is part of a cooperative effort between the public schools of the NRV and skating center to get young people to “Read & Roll” for healthier minds and bodies.

Bookmarks are available at shools or at the skate center.

The Read & Roll skating pass offer is only good until Nov. 10, but other programs are scheduled throughout the year.

What do you think about incentive deals like this?

A while back, I wrote about a project out in Riner, where students received a shelf full of books on agriculture.

Now, it seems, the program is expanding.

Here's part of a news release about the same thing at Price's Fork Elementary.

The Blacksburg FFA Chapter presented a bookcase to Price’s Fork Elementary School. The bookcase was made by Blacksburg High School FFA members and is in the shape of barn and silo. It is full of books and other educational material on agriculture.

Debbie Lineberry, agricultural education teacher and FFA advisor at Blacksburg High School noted, “Unfortunately, many people do not understand the importance of agriculture or even know where their food comes from. The information in the books for this bookcase will help students better understand agriculture.”

The bookcase was presented during a ceremony at Price’s Fork Elementary School. While accepting it the school’s principal, Dollie Cottrill stated, “We are pleased to receive this beautiful bookcase that is so attractive and that is filled with books and materials that focus on agriculture. Our community is tied to farming in many ways, both past and present. Providing more information to our children about their heritage is an important component of their education. We thank the FFA for thinking of our school when they were deciding on where the bookcase would be placed in our community.”

The bookcase and its contents are part of the Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom program whose mission is to promote, through education, an awareness of the importance of agriculture.

It's likely not suprising, but here's a story from Education Week
taking a look at how the current financial state could affect education in the future.
Current funding levels are in effect through March 6 under a bill passed last week.
" But a multi-billion-dollar federal plan to assist the financial markets may leave the next president with very little room for major increases for K-12 schools, perhaps for the foreseeable future," Ed week says.

Local districts I've talked to still are waiting to see what kind of cuts they'll receive from the state in their budgets for this fiscal year.

Obviously, cuts will need to be made.

What programs or projects do you think we could forgo or cut back?