Friday, May 18, 2012
Winners will be announced at Kennedy Center in June.
Paul VI Catholic High School's spring musical “Hello, Dolly!” received nine nominations for the 2011-2012 Cappies program. Nominations included Best Musical; Lead Actress in a Musical (Sean Pugerude); Lead Actor in a Musical (Daniel Rozmajzl); Supporting Actor in a Musical (Connor McAlevy); Supporting Actress in a Musical (Casey Enochs); Comic Actress in a Musical (Patty Kelleher); Male Dancer (Alex Siegal); Female Dancer (Kayla Sharpe); and Ensemble in a Musical (The Waiters). The Cappies is a program where high school students are trained as theatre critics, attend shows at other schools, write reviews, and publish those reviews in local newspapers. Each school submits one play to be critiqued through the program. At the end of the …
Fairfax County Public Schools staff is looking into possibility of deferring budget approval
The Fairfax County School Board continued to debate how to implement changes to the Virginia Retirement System into the fiscal 2013 budget during a work session Thursday, with most of the members leaning toward phasing in the required shift to 5 percent employee contributions. Susan Quinn, chief financial officer for Fairfax County Public Schools, presented six of the hundreds of options for how to adjust VRS and Educational Employees' Supplementary Retirement System of Fairfax County (ERFC) contributions, market-scale adjustments and STEP increases. [See the options in a PDF included with this article.] Option A showed Superintendent Jack Dale's proposal, which would have FCPS complete the 5 percent shift in fiscal year 2013 and eliminate…
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
School board will hold a work session on the budget Thursday
A week before the Fairfax County School Board is scheduled to approve a fiscal year 2013 budget, community members advocated Tuesday for closing achievement gaps, increasing funding for employee compensation and providing benefits to parent liaisons at a public hearing for next year's spending plan. Superintendant Jack Dale presented his adjustments to the $2.4 billion budget during a markup session Monday, which removes step increases for eligible employees and calls for a 2 percent compensation market rate adjustment (MRA). The payment changes come in light of this year's General Assembly legislation requiring public school employees who participate in the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) to pay a 5 percent employee contribution, which …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Superintendent Jack Dale proposes eliminating compensation adjustments in favor of meeting five-year state requirement within the next year
Though Superintendent Jack Dale presented his recommendation for adjustments to Fairfax County Public Schools' $2.4 billion advertised budget at a work session Monday, some school board members said they weren't satisfied his proposed changes fully met their priorities or produced a budget that best met the needs of the system. Dale returned to the board after the system's $1.68 billion transfer from the county Board of Supervisors, an amount 4.5 percent higher than what schools received last year but still short of the 8.4 percent increase board members asked for when they moved forward the approved advertised budget. Despite the school board's approval of the advertised budget in February, Dale and School Board Chairwoman Janie Strauss…
Monday, May 14, 2012
The annual 'Patriot Pack Up' collects unwanted items.
George Mason University is hosting its annual Patriot Pack Clean Out as students leave their dorms for the end of the academic year. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to drop off unwanted clothes, nonperishable food, and small working appliances so they can be sent to area charities Food for Others and the Clock Tower Thrift Shop. In 2011, the university collected 9,540 pounds of materials. From this collection, 1,219 pounds of food were donated to Food for Others while another 8,323 pounds of clothing and small appliances were donated to the Clock Tower Thrift Shop in Falls Church, which benefits Northern Virginia Family Services. Faculty and staff are encouraged to donate their items through May 21 at the drive-up/drop-off …
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Championship Game Friday
By Dick Rosenbaum The Liberty District boys and girls soccer season has ended with the District Tournament set to begin Monday. In the boys soccer regular season Thomas Jefferson and Langley tied for first, with TJ defeating Langley in the regular season for the tie breaker. South Lakes finished 3rd. McLean and Stone Bridge tied for 4th place, with McLean defeating Stone Bridge in the regular season for the tie breaker. Madison finished 6th, Fairfax 7th and Marshall finished 8th. In the district tournament: Thomas Jefferson hosts Marshall, Langley is host to Fairfax, Madison travels to South Lakes and McLean hosts Stone Bridge. In the Liberty District girls soccer regular season Stone Bridge finished 1st, Langley 2nd, McLean 3rd, …
Friday, May 11, 2012
Mother and son are part of the class of 2012.
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Friday, May 11
A mother and son will be graduating jointly from George Mason University, myFoxDC reports. The 49-year-old Jody Shipp and her son, 26-year-old Devin Shipp, are both part of the class of 2012, the television station reports. "Before I even got to the first class, she texted me and said, 'Are you going to come sit next to me in class?’” Devin Shipp told the station. “And I was like 'Why not?'" Though certainly a rarity, the Shipps are not the only mother-son duo to graduate from college together as members of the Class of 2012. Jean Fredin Lindsay, 46, and her son, Dan Fredin, 21, are graduating from the University of Florida together this month, the Gainesville Sun reports. To see the Shipp's full story, visit myFoxDC.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Fairfax and Woodson get good grades in U.S. News ranking.
Fairfax and Woodson high schools are among the top public schools in the state and nation according to U.S. News Best High Schools Rankings for 2012. Local Rankings Of the top 15 high schools in Virginia, 11 are in Fairfax County. National Rankings Five other Fairfax County Public Schools made the top 100 nationally. "We evaluated nearly 22,000 public high schools in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Schools were awarded gold, silver, or bronze medals based on state proficiency standards, how well they prepare students for college, and other factors," wrote U.S. News and World Report. In all, U.S. News reviewed 21,776 U.S. public high schools nationwide and 96 Virginia schools made the list. According to U.S. News, the rankings were …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
May is declared "Parents Who Host Lose the Most" month.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is urging parents not to give their teens alcohol — especially now that it’s high school prom and graduation season. In partnership with the Unified Prevention Coalition (UPC) of Fairfax County, the board has proclaimed May “Parents Who Host Lose the Most” month in the region. Together, they are making a concerted effort to educate parents and their teens about the effects and health risks of teen drinking. According to the 2010-11 Fairfax County Youth Survey, 20 percent of high school seniors reported binge drinking during the last two weeks and 36.5 percent of them had consumed alcohol in the past 30 days. The survey also revealed that 20 percent of 10th graders consumed alcohol in the last 30 …
Friday, May 4, 2012
The president spoke Friday before more than 1,000 students, parents, teachers and area officials.
President Barack Obama seemed to strike all the right notes Friday at Washington-Lee High School when he delivered a speech designed to put pressure on Congress to keep student loan interest rates down. The president spoke before an enthusiastic crowd of more than 1,000 junior and senior high school students, parents, faculty and local elected officials. Nearly 94 percent of Washington-Lee students go on to some sort of higher education upon graduation. Obama spoke briefly about the economy in general before specifically talking about college affordability. On July 1, a student loan interest rate cut will expire — effectively doubling rates overnight — unless Congress acts, Obama said. He was answered with resounding "boos." "That's like a…
Bob
6:46 am on Friday, May 18, 2012
What's this? Moon is actually doing some work on the School Board for a change? He's actually consulting with colleagues? Wow - that's IS a change! more ›