school days summer 2015

SCHOOLHenrico County Public Schools

henrico.k12.va.us

Page 8

POVERTYHow it hurts students and what schools can do to close the gaps

Page 3

EARTHQUAKEHCPS bus supervisor was at epicenter of Nepal’s killer quake

SCHOOL YEAR IN REVIEWWhat made 2014-15 so special?

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2 JUNE 2015 SCHOOL DAYS

It’s not the end, it’s the beginning.” We hear those words so often during graduation season, and

I’m reminded of them as we send our graduating seniors to college, the military or the workforce. It’s a special time in the lives of these stu-dents and their families, and I hope everyone has plenty of opportuni-ties to celebrate safely. But before we close the book on the 2014-15 school year, I wanted to share some thoughts about what’s happening in Henrico County Public Schools.

In May we were delighted to see our School Board adopt the budget for the 2015-16 school year. The new spending plan continues our focus on the four priority areas of student safety, academic progress, closing gaps, and relationships. It also achieves a key goal of striking a balance between the available re-sources and supporting important school division programs. I’m also happy to report that it includes a 2 percent pay increase for eligible employees effective in October! My thanks go out to our School Board and the Henrico Board of Supervisors for their support of our efforts.

The forthcoming budget also dedicates

significant resources to improving our schools. We’re adding teaching positions to accommodate more students coming into Henrico County, but also to reduce class siz-es in certain areas. We’re dedicating money toward an extended-school-day pilot program that would al-low at-risk students more access to valuable instructional time. We’re also installing more positive behav-ioral interventions and supports, known as PBIS, which we believe will cut down on the number of students involved in discipline is-sues.

On that front, our School Board continues to refine our Code of Student Conduct proposal, in hopes of approving an update in time for the fall. This new code would allow school-level admin-istrators more flexibility in deter-mining the appropriate measures to take in response to incidents at our schools. We believe every child

is better served by being in school, and our Board is committed to tak-ing steps that foster a safe and sup-portive learning environment.

More information about the Code of Student Conduct, the bud-get, and other important matters can be found on our website. Just visit henrico.k12.va.us and look for the information beneath “Hot Top-ics.”

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a cooler of ice. Every June I shake about 3,600 hands at the Siegel Center! I couldn’t be more proud. I hope you have a great sum-mer, and I look forward to seeing our returning students in Septem-ber!

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ABCDAWARDS

2014-15 a year of progress

Dr. Patrick C. Kinlaw HCPS Superintendent of Schools

April’s ABCD winners were Linda Johnson of Wilder Middle School and Velma Brown of Highland Springs Tech-nical Center.

“

What is the ABCD Award? It’s a way of recogniz-ing HCPS support staff

who go “Above and Beyond the Call of Duty.” That means making a sig-nificant contribution to Henrico Schools, including: improving job efficiency, qual-ity of services or safety; conserving resources; performing a humani-tarian or heroic act; or responding proactively by anticipating needs and solving problems without specific direc-

tion. The Henrico Education Foun-dation and Henrico Federal Credit Union join us in recognizing these individuals by providing a check to each recipient.

In April, the winners were Velma Brown of Highland Springs Tech-nical Center and Linda Johnson of Wilder Middle School.

JOIN US FOR THE 17th ANNUAL

All proceeds benefit the Henrico Educa-tion Foundation and the Henrico County Public Schools. Sponsorship opportuni-ties are available. Space is limited, sign up today. For more information visit our website at henricofoundation.org.

GOLFTOURNAMENTTuesday, October 20, 2015

Hunting Hawk Golf Club

ContactMike Taylor at(804) 652-3869

Sponsored by

2014-20152014-20152014-20152014-20152014-20152014-2015

SCHOOL DAYS JUNE 2015 3

2014 saw the debut of Henrico Schools’ new theme, logo and four core areas of focus.

Henrico HS and CFA grad Rayvon Owen made Henrico County proud with an exciting top four run on Ameri-can Idol. Owen returned to Henrico in May and performed for stu-dents.

Henrico Schools’ Facebook page debuted in 2014-15: facebook.com/HenricoCountyPublicSchools

Eleven high school seniors accepted into Henrico County Public Schools’ new Teacher Scholars’ program have guaran-teed teaching jobs waiting for them when they graduate from college. The program is a homegrown way to address the need for teachers in content areas where there aren’t enough qualified applicants.

Dazzling renovations at Henrico High School moved closer to completion.

The annual Little Feet Meet brings together young athletes with physi-cal and intellectual disabilities from across Henrico and provided a format for them to shine.

TEACHER SCHOLARS2015

Grass coming soon!

Douglas Freeman HS 5A state champions,

boys cross country

Mills Godwin HS 5A state champions, golf

Glen Allen HS 4A state champions, competition cheer

Henrico HS 5A state champions,boys basketball

2014-15 HCPS state athletics championships

The YEAR IN REVIEW...

A new federal grant will enable HCPS to add 10 new pre-K classes, like this one at Montrose ES.


HCPS honors 2015 Teachers of the YearKecia Studevant Howell,

a French teacher at Her-mitage High School, was

named Henrico County Public Schools’ 2015 Gilman Teacher of the Year at a May ceremony at Glen Allen High School.

Chris Kresge, a fifth-grade teacher at Echo Lake Elementary School, was named the division’s 2015 First-Year Teacher of the Year.

“I’m honored to have been selected as this year’s Gilman award recipient,” said Howell. “This is due in large part to the many great educators who have served as role models and in-spired me. I’m grateful to Hen-rico Schools for providing us all with the support we need to excel with our students – both in and outside of the classroom.”

Both Teacher-of-the-Year re-cipients are products of Henrico

Lisa Marshall, Tuckahoe District School Board representative, presents the 2015 HCPS Gil-man Teacher of the Year award to Kecia Stude-vant Howell.

Henrico County Public Schools Superinten-dent Pat Kinlaw presents the 2015 First-Year Teacher of the Year award to Chris Kresge.

County Public Schools. The winner of the 2015

Christie Exceptional Education Teacher of the Year was Lauren Lightfoot Clare of Douglas Free-man High School. The Home-bound Exceptional Education Teacher of the Year was Jamie Weinstein.

The school system also an-nounced two winners of the Chris Corallo Distinguished Leader-ship Award: Glen Allen High School history teacher Drew Baker; and Mac Beaton, the divi-sion’s director of career and tech-nical education. The two were chosen from among 25 nominees for their vision, passion, innova-tion and student-centered focus. The award is named in honor of Corallo, a former assistant super-intendent for instruction and or-ganizational development, who died in 2013.

Corallo Award-winner and Glen Allen High School history teacher Drew Baker em-braces Henrico County Public Schools Su-perintendent Pat Kinlaw.

Lisa Marshall, Tuckahoe District School Board rep-resentative, congratulates Corallo Award-winner Mac Beaton. Beaton is Henrico Schools’ director of career and technical education.

Lauren Lightfoot Clare of Douglas Free-man HS was the 2015 Exceptional Educa-tion Teacher of the Year.

Jamie Weinstein was 2015 Homebound Exceptional Education Teacher of the Year

WE THE PEOPLEDouglas Freeman places third in national civics competition

A team of Douglas S. Freeman High School students took third place in the national finals of the

We The People competition. The annual contest pits 56 teams – each state’s cham-pions and a few wild-card participants – in a test of in-depth knowledge of the US Constitution. Douglas Freeman’s team was chosen as a wild-card par-ticipant and the school’s third place finish was the best ever for an at-large choice in the com-petition’s 28-year history.

“Historical ly in the program, there are a handful of schools around the country that are always their state champions and al-ways there, so it’s pretty hard to break into the top ten,” said team coach Robert Peck, head of the Center for Leadership, Government and Global Economics at Douglas Freeman. “It was a big deal for us that we made the top ten as a wild-card team.

“I don’t think the team believed me at first, that they could do this. It’s a testa-ment to how hard they worked: the way

they’ve invested and taken ownership of the team. It’s a special group – the kind a teacher can wait a whole career for.”

The rigorous four-day competition was held at the George Mason Univer-sity campus in Fairfax and at hearing rooms on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The competition’s wild-card bids

rotate among states and 2015 was Vir-ginia’s turn.

The contest takes the form of simu-lated congressional hearings. Groups of students testify as constitutional experts before panels of judges acting as con-gressional committees. Each hearing be-gins with a four-minute opening state-ment by students and is followed by a

period of follow-up questioning during which judges probe students’ depth of knowledge, understanding and ability to apply constitutional principles.

The competition is run by the Cen-ter for Civic Education, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting an enlightened, responsible

citizenry committed to democratic principles.“Our committee room was the Education and Labor hearing room. An awful lot of important legisla-tion – from Title IX to the Americans with Disabili-

ties Act to No Child Left Behind – was initially debated in that very room, so it was pretty cool to be sitting there and having conversations with the judges about those very same issues. It was pretty heady stuff for high school stu-dents.”

The Douglas Freeman “We the People” team with team coach Robert Peck, right.

Eleven Henrico schools joined Twin Hickory Elementary School in remembering Laurie McNeice, a

Twin Hicko-ry kindergar-ten teacher who died of cancer in 2014.

T h e schools will give the April p r o c e e d s from their “Clothes to Cash” recycling programs to the Hen-rico Education Foundation and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in honor of McNeice.

McNeice’ family chose St. Jude’s as a recipient of the funds, and after talk-ing with Twin Hickory principal Mike Dussault, included the Henrico Educa-tion Foundation because of its direct impact on children in Henrico County schools. St. Jude’s will receive a dona-tion of $566 and the Henrico Education Foundation will receive $647.

“Laurie always put the needs of oth-ers before her own and was the ultimate team player,” Dussault said. “It was great to see so many Henrico Schools pull to-gether to support two organizations that would have made Laurie smile.”

Schools honor memory of Twin Hickory teacher


HCPS Flag

Geospatial tech, photo and video students from Varina High School in NYC (top of 30 Rock!)

Maybeury Elementary School teacher Dwayne Cabaniss and the HCPS flag with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. Sisters and Echo Lake ES students

Libby and Lainey Miyashita took a family trip to China..

Dr. Delores Terry, a retired school psychologist and now the mental health con-sultant for Federal Programs Preschool, poses with the HCPS flag and an Orangutan!

HCPS students took the flag along to the DECA state leadership con-ference in Virginia Beach.

Email [email protected] to borrow a flag!

Whether it’s Petersburg, Va. or St. Petersburg, Russia, Henrico County Public Schools is going places!

#hcpsflag

And wherever HCPS students, staff, alumni and friends are headed, the HCPS flag LOVES to come along to photobomb travel shots. Here are a few...

Fifth-graders from Fair Oaks ES made a splash at the Chickahominy YMCA where they learned about water safety.


Toby Bowles’ flight had just touched down in Kathmandu. As she and her fellow travelers

waited in the customs line, the airport began to shake violently and the floor buckled. People screamed and ran for cover.

Bowles, a pupil-transportation su-pervisor with Henrico County Public Schools, had stepped off a plane and into the worst natural disaster in Ne-pal’s history.

“It’s massive destruction,” she said recently from her Henrico Schools’ of-fice. “There is rubble everywhere.”

Bowles was on a long-planned 10-day missionary-support trip to Nepal with a group comprised of Chester Christian Church members and stu-dents from Nebraska Christian Col-lege. Minutes after they arrived on April 25, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed more than 8,000 people and de-stroyed a half-million homes.

After some tense hours on the airport tarmac as aftershocks ripped the region, Bowles’ group boarded rental vans and headed for their Kathmandu hotel.

“Everybody was outside. They were afraid to go back in their homes … there was lots of sobbing and as you would go by, peo-ple were digging through things. We saw them bring sev-eral bodies out.”

When the ex-hausted Americans made it to the hotel, the structure was deemed too risky, and they spent their first night in a grassy courtyard instead.

Their original plan was to trav-el from Kathmandu to the town of Bharatpur, where they would convert a cement building into a cyber café and a

wired computer classroom where local men could take evangelism courses us-ing Skype. With transportation limited by the quake, the group decided to try to help out in the Kathmandu area, end-ing up at the devastated nearby village of Bungamati.

“When we pulled up in these vans, the townspeople met us there and they were screaming, ‘Get out of here! We don’t want tourists here!’ It was kind of fearful there for a sec-ond because they were angry and there was a crowd of them.”

After their van driver ex-plained that the group wanted to help, they were allowed in.

“All of the stores were closed. The banks closed down… So there was no place for anybody to get any relief. [In this town] ninety-five percent of their homes were completely

destroyed. People had set up – you can’t really call them tents – makeshift shel-ters. They were like piece of plastic they could stay under.

“We found one little store on the corner that was open … and we said, ‘We want to buy all of your bottled wa-

ter and any foodstuffs you have that don’t need to be cooked.’”

A local man organized the residents into a line and the visitors distributed the supplies.

A young teacher who had just lost her home befriended the group and took

them on a tour of the destruction, including whole buildings that had toppled into the streets, blocking vehi-cle access.

“They were so cut off, the [government] water trucks were not

able to get in to bring them water.” “These pictures you see on TV of

these tent cities? Those were the ones the government set up, so they’re very nice looking and organized, but it’s not like that. In this little town, they were just putting them up anywhere they could find a place,

and of course there’s no sanitation now, so people were beginning to get ill.”

“Food started running low. People there live a lot on rice and grain and they’ll store it in their house for the en-tire year. As their houses fell, they lost all of their food. There was one family

when we went by, there was a mom and a little boy sitting down and they had this piece of cardboard on the ground. And the dad was up in the house, hoping he could get [the food] out of the house before the house col-lapsed. It was falling steadily. And he was just dumping the grain out the window and [the mother and son] were going through it.”

“The third day we were there, [a health] organization called Ameri-Cares showed up … they happened to be staying in the same hotel we were in. So we grabbed the guy who was the head of it and said, ‘Look, we’ve been to this town, they’re getting ill.’ They didn’t even have Bungamati on their radar to go to. So [AmeriCares] went and set up a health clinic.”

A day later the group was finally able to leave Kathmandu and travel to their original destination – the town of Bharatpur, which was unaffected by the quake. After completing the computer-training-center project, the group scoured local shops and bought 200 tarps and blankets, and 500 lbs. of milled rice for the resi-dents of Bungamati.

“We had the bus so full, we couldn’t sit in the seats. We were sitting on the tarps and everything.”

When they got back to Kathmandu, the residents of Bungamati had devised a system of tickets, redeemable for blan-kets, tarps or food, depending on need. It took Bowles’ group two days to dis-pense everything.

“So by this time, you’ve got the aid organizations coming in.”

“We are so blessed here in the Unit-ed States. We truly are. Because had this happened here, [we] would have insur-

HCPS bus supervisor recalls cataclysmic Nepal quake

Seventh-grade Pocahontas Middle School student Jordan Washok has created five smartphone

apps. The 13-year-old’s latest, “Hawk Mobile,” has been purchased by Hen-rico County Public Schools for possible use at schools across the county.

Hawk Mobile started as a Poca-hontas-specific creation for access on Apple devices to school news, informa-

tion and the student grade portal. It’s now available for Android devices, too, and may expand to other schools during the 2015-16 school year.

All of his apps can be seen at his website, techgeekapps.com.

While he says he’d like to someday design apps for a living, Washok is also is interested in lighting-technology and design. He assists with lighting at his

church, and has a mentor in VCU’s the-atre lighting program.

The student’s father, Jim Washok, says that the family has a 38-year-old Richmond-based friend who creates software for Apple.

“When he and Jordan start talk-ing about code, you might as well walk away,” Jim Washok said. “They can talk forever.”

Middle school student creates app for HCPS see NEPAL QUAKE, Pg. 8

A fallen building blocks a street in Bungamati, Nepal.

Bowles with Monesha, a Nepalese girl whose home was destroyed.


Looking Back:School Days Vol.3 No.2 1970

Bulletin Board“Education is the best

provision for the journey to

old Age.”~ Aristotle

The HCPS ManUP Fatherhood Initiative wrapped up another great year in May with bowling, food, music and games.

Henrico County Public Schools

Fatherhood Initiative

see NEPAL QUAKE, Pg. 8

Dynasty revisitedIn the spring issue of School Days, we profiled 2015 mother/daughter teachers of the year Patricia Snead and Jennifer Bilyeu. It turns out there is at least one other instance of the achievement.

In 2011, Cathy Brennan was Carver Elementary School’s Teach-er of the Year, while her daughter Courtney Tooley won the same honor at Colonial Trail Elemen-tary School. Brennan still teaches at Carver, while Tooley moved to Argentina in the fall.

FAIRFIELD MIDDLE SCHOOL MARKET

SPRING/SUMMER HOURS:3-6 p.m. every TUESDAYfrom May 19 - Sept. 1at Fairfield Middle SchoolFacebook.com/FMSCommunityGardenMarket

for updates, produce lists, special events and community workshops!

Find us on Facebook BadgeCMYK / .eps

Henrico County Public Schools has been named one of the nation’s Best Communi-ties for Music Education by the NAMM Foundation for the 16th year in a row.

Follow us on Twitter!

@HenricoSchools

IMPORTANT DATES for 2015/16

Classes begin Tuesday, Sept. 8, 20 1 5 Classes end Friday, June 17, 2016Winter Break is Dec. 21 2015 - Jan. 1, 2016Spring Break is March 28 – April 1, 2016Get the full calendar: henrico.k12.va.us/Calendar2015-16.htmlCheck your individual school website for information about your back-to-school night.

Summer hours for Henrico Schools are in effect from June 15 to Aug. 14.Monday - Thursday, 7 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Chamberlayne ES students give a holiday concert at Central Office.


Sp tlight On:

Henrico County School Board

Lisa A. Marshall Tuckahoe District

P.O. Box 231203820 Nine Mile RoadHenrico, VA 23223-0420804-652-3600 School Days is an award-winning publication

produced quarterly by the Department of Communications and Public Relations of HCPS. If you have questions about School Days, call 804-652-3725 or email [email protected] C. Kinlaw Superintendent

Beverly L. CockeBrookland District

Michelle F. “Micky” OgburnThree Chopt District

John W. Montgomery Jr. Chair, Varina District

Lamont BagbyVice Chair, Fairfield District

henrico.k12.va.usTwitter: @HenricoSchoolsFacebook: facebook.com/henricocountypublicschools

Chris OBrion - Editor, WriterApril Sage - Graphic DesignerLarry Willis Jr. - Digital Content Manager

Public education is the fabric of our democracy. As Americans, we hold deeply the notion that a good

education can bring success and growth. Achievement in school is a leg up on the ladder of life. For children living in pov-erty, however, that ladder doesn’t always rest at ground level, and climbing it is of-ten more difficult.

Reams of research confirm the con-nection between poverty and academic struggles. As a group, children who live in poverty earn lower grades, score more poorly on standardized tests and read at lower levels than their more economi-cally advantaged peers. The effects of poverty are exacerbated when municipal planning practices and growth patterns create concentrations of extreme pov-erty.

In recent years, the pass rate on Virginia annual assessments shows a 22 percent gap in reading scores between students in poverty and their peers, and a similar gap in math. Importantly, these gaps between student performance rates exist whether the schools the students attend are labeled “fully accredited,” “ac-credited with warning” or “accreditation denied.” Stated simply, there is a strong correlation between poverty and aca-demic struggles irrespective of zip code.

As a group, families under consid-erable financial stress experience more family conflict, more frequent moves and more exposure to traumatic events. Impoverished children have more health and nutrition problems, and suffer more cognitive problems such as difficulty listening and concentrating – essential skills for school success.

A 2003 study in the journal “Ameri-can Educator” found that by age 4, chil-dren living in wealthy families had been exposed to 45 million words. Children in poor families had experienced just 13 million words by the same age. When they reach school, these children may find it harder to understand the words used by teachers or have the foundations to build rich vocabularies.

Yet public education cannot shy away from these challenges that students bring with them each school day. There must be an unwavering commitment to maintain high standards and expecta-tions. School divisions can use very tar-geted, meaningful support to close the experience-and-opportunity gap created by poverty. Fortunately, it is not a mat-ter of intelligence or capability, rather it is an issue of exposure and opportunity.

Three areas of student support that deserve to be continued and expanded are extended calendar and day programs, expansion of pre-K enrollment and smaller class sizes. Each of these strat-egies has specific goals. For extended learning programs, the idea is to increase the exposure of students to educa-tors. Teach-ers serve as role models as well as di-rectly provide instruction. By a combi-nation of additional hours during the traditional school day and additional days to the school year, students from lower-income communities are exposed to many of the opportunities that their more well-off peers experience.

Pre-K enrollment provides a myriad of benefits that lead to greater student readiness. Parents become involved in students’ education at an early stage and develop good home habits that will pay dividends in later years. Early childhood development through formal pre-K in-struction promotes fundamental under-standing of basic concepts and socializa-

tion. In short, pre-K participation is an essential first step in closing the expe-rience-and-opportunity gap created by poverty.

Finally, school divisions should strive to maintain smaller class sizes in schools with challenging environments. In a recent report, the Virginia School Boards Association Task Force on Schools in Challenging Environments concluded: “Teachers in [high poverty schools] are more than just teachers; they are also social workers, nurses and counselors to their students. Smaller classes provide more time to care for these issues as well as for differentiat-ing instruction and working with small group remediation.” In other words, smaller class sizes provide teachers the time needed to provide in depth instruc-tion and the support to students that is often missing due to their circumstances outside of the schoolhouse.

In addition to these direct stu-dent support efforts, there are numer-ous other areas that deserve attention. For example, student behavior is often a problem in higher-poverty schools as

students struggle with numerous issues outside of the classroom. Teachers can-not be expected to meet the edu-cational needs of their students while address-

ing the chronic misbehavior of some. Accordingly, more behavioral interven-tionists and social workers are needed to address distracting conduct. Similarly, greater involvement of families of strug-gling students is important to improved student performance. Yet outreach to and education of parents and others cannot fall solely to the classroom teach-ers and building administrators who are already working hard to improve class-room performance. Finally, the qual-ity of instruction cannot be overempha-sized. Challenging situations demand the best teachers and building leaders.

School divisions must focus on select-ing, retaining and providing professional development for educators with a calling to teach in tough circumstances.

The motto of Henrico County Pub-lic Schools is: “The Right to Achieve. The Support to Succeed.” Providing the sup-port to make that right a reality is neither easy nor inexpensive. It requires a com-mitment of resources in terms of both people and financial support to reverse decades-long trends that have led to the documented performance gap between students in poverty and their more afflu-ent peers. While simply throwing money at the problem is not a solution, just as unacceptable is refusing to acknowledge and fund proven approaches. While the cost of success may be high, the cost of failure is the fraying of the fabric of our successful democracy.

Smart, targeted support can help students from low-income homes achievePoverty and education

Lamont BagbyVice Chair, Henrico School Board

ance to fix our homes. They don’t have that over there. Some of these people will never have their homes back.

“There’s so much destruction there they couldn’t even begin to decide how they were going to rebuild.”

“The saddest thing for me was, I met a little girl, her name is Monesha. I was standing there giving out food and she was standing in line. She and her mother were living in a tent and they didn’t know anything about her father at that point. Her friend’s grandfather had been killed getting out of the house. Her teacher had been killed and her teacher’s wife, so she couldn’t go to school. She held her shirt out and said, ‘I don’t have a clean shirt. I think we’re all going to die.’ So I grabbed her little shoulders and I said, ‘Monesha, you’re not going to die today, we’re going to get you some food and then we’re go-ing to come back and see you.’ And when we came back after we had done [the computer project] I found her and she grabbed me and hugged me and said, ‘I got a new shirt!’ I look at that and think, we really have no idea how well we have it. We don’t appreciate it enough.”

NEPAL QUAKE - Continued from Pg. 8

“...by age 4, children living in wealthy families had been exposed to 45 million words. Children in poor families had experienced just 13 million words.”

school days summer 2015

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