Former EMU education professor dies

Contributors

Kathryn F. (Kass) Seitz, a former member of the Eastern Mennonite University teaching faculty, died Sunday, June 5, at Oak Lea Nursing Home in Harrisonburg. She was 73. Seitz was a member of EMU’s education department faculty from 1979 to 1986. Her teaching specialty was elementary education. Her spouse, Kenneth L. Seitz, Jr., who survives,…

Prince William school officials agree to remove LGBT web filter in response to ACLU complaint

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia have received confirmation from the Prince William County School Board that it is deactivating web filtering software that blocks students’ access to educational information geared toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. The school board’s decision came approximately six weeks after the ACLU sent…

Nan Russell: Natural inspiration

Contributors

The hints commenced with the changing landscape, traversed by dramatic colors and intriguing rock formulations. I should have expected it. Although the travel guide provided a glimpse of what was coming, I was still not prepared for the majestic beauty and expansive, as-far-as-you-could-see, dramatic terrain of Bryce Canyon National Park. Hoodoos Cast Their Spell, the…

Y, Waynesboro Public Schools team up to offer Pre-K afterschool

Chris Graham

The Waynesboro YMCA and Waynesboro Public Schools will partner in the fall to offer pre-kindergarten afterschool care at Wayne Hills, meeting a long-identified need in the Waynesboro community. “The Waynesboro Y will be providing a valuable service that many working parents have requested for several years,” said Robin Crowder, the superintendent of Waynesboro Public Schools,…

‘Long-awaited,’ ‘special,’ ‘surreal’ day for FMS grads

Contributors

The final order came down, and a flurry of hats flew into the air, marking the end of 35 cadet careers at Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro. “It’s been long-awaited,” said Alex Burkard of Stuarts Draft, who began at Fishburne as an eighth-grader, and for whom the graduation ceremony on Saturday was the end of…

Ken Plum: Hail to Shenandoah, Hail

Ken Plum

The Board of Directors of Shenandoah High School Alumni Association gave me the “Distinguished Alumnus” Award at its annual banquet last weekend. Last year I wrote about my graduating class’s fiftieth reunion that I could not attend because I was out of the country. I did attend this year and was honored by the recognition….

Wilson Library acquires Signal Corps photographs

Chris Graham

The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum announced today that, with the assistance of Sen. Mark Warner it recently acquired a collection of 120 Signal Corps photographs from President Wilson’s trip to Europe for the Paris Peace Conference following World War I. Many of the photographs are of President Wilson. Barbara Rohmann of Fairfax County,…

Inspirational: AWE newcomer, military vet, overcomes obstacles, pursues dreams

Chris Graham

Michael Hayes has just won his professional wrestling debut match over his teacher, Nick Dinsmore, in dramatic fashion. The hometown crowd was cheering the young Iraq veteran on all the way, so it’s one of those nice moments in sports where the fans get to go home happy. A fan comes up to shake Hayes’…

Ken Plum: Misplaced blame

Ken Plum

Public employees and unions have been getting a bad rap lately. As tax revenues have declined along with the value of public pension funds, government workers have been getting stuck with part of the blame for our current financial crisis. Local and state budgets have to be reduced to be in balance with revenue, but…