By KRISTINA SCHNACK KOTLUS
Schools and Education Reporter
I’m not sure if anyone missed me, but I have, in fact, been on something of a “holiday hiatus” since November. I’ve been learning plenty of my own lessons as family continues to navigate our way through our first year of homeschooling our children, including that it is a full time job, especially around the holidays!
Stafford County, Va. — It was a failed gas line that knocked out the heat at Ferry Farm Elementary School in Stafford County, and students today are once again displaced.
As they were on Thursday, Ferry Farm students are in classes held at Dixon Smith Middle School as repairs are being made at Ferry Farm. School officials decided to abandon the failed gas line and ordered Columbia Gas to install a new line that will service the building, said Stafford schools spokeswoman Valerie Cottongim.
Stafford County, Va. — While students at Ferry Farm Elementary School will have classes Thursday, it won’t be at their regular school building.
Unlike on Wednesday when classes at the school were canceled, students and staff of Ferry Farm will have class at 9 a.m. at Dixon Smith Middle School at 503 Deacon Road in Stafford County. Buses will run their regular routes, and students who normally get rides to school should be dropped off at Dixon Smith Middle School by 8:40 a.m.
Stafford County, Va. — Ferry Farm Elementary School in Stafford County is closed today after school officials say the building has no heat. Parents, students, and staff have all been told not to report to the school today.
The YMCA before and after school programs, as well as all after-school activities have been canceled.
Seven Stafford Schools were among the 447 in Virginia to earn 2012 Virginia Index of Performance awards for advanced learning and achievement. The incentive program recognizes schools and divisions that far exceed minimum state and federal accountability standards and achieve excellence goals established by the governor and the board.
Garrisonville Elementary received the 2012 Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence by meeting all state and federal achievement benchmarks for the last two consecutive years and achieving all applicable excellence goals.
Stafford, Va. — A former school principal in Manassas will take over at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, the school now infamously known for the Banana Man controversy.
Michael Byers will begin his duties at the school Jan. 3, after relocating from his current position as assistant principal at Briar Woods High School in Loudoun County, said Stafford schools spokeswoman Valerie Cottongim.
In preparation for a planned “Occupy Mary Wash” event, similar to an Occupy Wall Street protest, the UMW Bullet reported earlier this month the students held a teach-in to express their frustrations about lack of representation on the school’s Board of Visitors.
“What’s important is that we all realize that education is becoming a business. What we can do with the BOV is to show them that we want our own voice,” the newspaper quoted one of the students.
The show will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the school, at 14000 Smoketown Road in Woodbridge across from Potomac Mills mall.
All proceeds from the show will benefit the school’s orchestra program with the purchase of new instruments, new music, awards and scholarships, and instrument maintenance, said craft show coordinator Kathy Kann.
Woodbridge, Va. – Gar-Field High Senior High School in Woodbridge on Thursday held its annual Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony Thursday morning.
Click here to see photos and see coverage of the event.
