www.newrivervalley.com

A University of Virginia study has found that as much as $17 million in state money given to public education could have been misallocated because of incorrect student census reporting.

State law says that 1.125 percent of tax and sales receipts are supposed to be given to school districts based on the number of students they have.

Most school districts report that data based on a survey done every three years.  In a mailing this summer, residents in Montgomery County were asked to identify the number of school-aged children they had.

Researchers at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at UVa.  compared their own population estimates with the 2005 census figures reported by 98 of the state's 132 school divisions -- including Giles, Floyd and Pulaski counties -- and found that the way the data is culled varies widely.

Researches excluded localities with colleges, including Montgomery County and Radford City.

The third options they explore is to appoint their center to provide annual estimates of the school-age population using annual population and other estimates.

Using that formula, some New River Valley school districts would receive more state dollars, but others would dip a bit.

Floyd County reported 2,517 students and received about $1.9 million, whereas the researchers found the county had 2,907 students and should have received about $2.1 million.  Giles County schools offiicials would get $2.287,710 for the 3,107 students as opposed to $2.3 for 3,074 students. In Pulaski, schools would get $4.3 million for 5.959 students under the school's study. It received $4.5 million for 5,905 students, according to the traditional method.

"By comparing our population estimates with the counts reported by the school divisions, we found that four school divisions counted accurately, 27 reported too many children (and thus got too much money) and 67 reported too few children (getting too little money)," said researcher Susan Perrone said. "Martinsville reported 575 more children than we would have expected, and Portsmouth reported 5,072 too few. As a result of under- and over-counting across the state, the amount allocated ranged from $582 to $928 per child.”

The study has been handed to school leaders and is expected to be given to state lawmakers, the Associated Press said.

It's the ultimate gift, and it even came before the holiday season.

Lisa Radford, the administrative assistant for Montgomery County's Superintendent Tiffany Anderson, wrote a children's book for her three grandchildren, Shauna, Garrett and Kylie.

Radford used publisher Authorworks to get the book, "God's Great Creations" out. So far, she's sold about 150 copies, but said it's more important that her three grandkids, ages 5, 3 and 1, have something from her.

Radford lives in Floyd, and is working toward becoming a teacher.

Kindergartners would start learning about fractions and count to 100, while fifth-graders would start working on linear equations, according to proposed changes to Virginia's Math Standards of Learning.

The state's Board of Education is looking for comments on the revisions. On Monday, a public hearing is scheduled at Pulaski High School. It starts at 7 p.m.

Right now, the state has no timeline for when the changes would come forth.

A 14-year-old male student at Christiansburg Middle School was charged with threats to burn a building after a small fire at the school on Monday.

Investigators found that the student, who allegedly burned a stack of papers in an upstairs conference room, had made threats that he would burn down the school, said Lt. Brian Wright of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department.

Two school teachers extinguished the flames, and no one was injured.

Roanoke contractor Branch and Associates will build the new consolidated elementary school in Elliston.

The Montgomery County school board chose the firm after hearing it was the lowest bid at a little more than $18 million. It was one of five bids received.

Assistant Superintendent Walt Shannon said documents should be signed by Dec. 1, with working beginning soon after. The school is expected to be complete by 2010.

The contractors also built Christiansburg and Blacksburg middle school.

Montgomery County teachers, principals and staff have proposed their wishes for the 2009-2010 budget cycle.

The hopes: more money, better benefits and more sick days.

Here's a rough list.

Angie Cornett, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, which includes teachers and some staff, asked for:

1. A step increase and a 3 percent increase in pay or a step increase and a cost of living allowance

2. A 6 percent increase in salaries for teachers with a master's degree

3.  An additional personal day

4. Continuation of payment of the single subscriber health benefits

5. Wellnes days for instructional aides

6. An increase in sick days for instructional aides, to at least sic

7. Give instructional aides sick days up front, rather than have them accrue

Ramona Brown, president of the association of administrative assistants, asked the board to:

1. Consider basing health insurance rates on an employee's pay

2. Increase the level at which administrative assistants are paid

3. Increase the top level of pay for central office administrative assistants

4. Increase pay for assistants with degrees or certifications

Danny Knott, president of the administrators' association, asked that the board:

1. Decrease the number of steps in administrators' salary scale

2. Increase contracts for assistant principals to 12 months, instead of 11

3. Provide an assistant principal for Auburn and Shawsville Middle schools

So, this wasn't me, although I can attest to seeing my share of bullying in school hallways through the years.

A friend, and fellow reporter, was at a school out of state last week covering what is essentially an anti-bullying program. Mix it up, was created through the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's designed to get kids to become more tolerant of others and get to know people they wouldn't normally.  A potential result of which is a decrease in bullying.

Here's what happened during this lunch day: a midde schooler with a shaved head walks purposely to another table, locking his sights on a smaller, meek-looking student.

"There you are," says the bald student.

The meek student hands over his chocolate milk, "as if it were an everyday ritual," my friend writes.

One colleague suggests it sounds like something out of a comic strip, but for the kid without his milk, it's not funny.

Teachers and students, what similar events do you see in the hallway, classroom or lunch line?

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office expects to charge a juvenile in connection with the fire this morning at Christiansburg Middle school, according to Lt. Brian Wright.

Deputies responded to a small fire there this at 11:17 a.m. However, before the sheriff's office arrived on the scene, at least three fire trucks and two Christiansburg police officers were on the scene. The exact time the fire broke out is unknown, Wright said.

Wright said a bunch of papers caught fire in a conference room. Students nearby the conference room on the second floor  were sent from their classes, but the school was not evacuated. The students, and their teachers, waited at the bottom of the stairs as investigators looked into the fire.

Some students over at Christiansburg Middle School might still be hoping they'll get out of school today after a small fire broke out on the second floor.

Little chance of that.  The fire, which occurred in a teacher's lounge, has been out for a couple of hours, although investigators still are looking into it.  At least three fire trucks, two Christiansburg police officers and the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office responded the incident this morning.

Originally, Superintendent Tiffany Anderson sent an e-mail to parents and staff saying that the school had been evacuated. It was not.

Shortly after 11 a.m., after the firefighters said the fire had been extinguished, a few classrooms worth of students waited around the staircase closest to the school's entrance as firefighters descended from the scene. Teachers and students both had questions about what happened, and some teachers suggested this was not the first time a fire had broken out.

In an e-mail to the school system's listserve after noon,  Anderson said, "There was a small fire that was immediately extinguished by a staff member in a teacher conference room today.  Students on the second floor in the wing closest to the conference room were evacuated from their classrooms although the fire had already been extinguished."

Anderson's e-mail said she was still getting details about the incident.  We're still waiting for those, too. As would be expected, Principal Ryan Hitchman was busy after the blaze, presumably talking with the sheriff's department and Nelson Simpkins, the school system's director of secondary education.

Simpkins arrived at the school about 10 minutes after 11 a.m. today.

Keep checking back, and we'll update with what we have learned.

The Montgomery County school board is expected to pick a contractor to start work on the new consolidated elementary school in Shawsville on Tuesday.

County school officials recieved bids on Wednesday. At a meeting tomorrow, the board will review the bids and accept one.

The school, which is supposed to hold 600 students, is scheduled to be complete in 2010.