First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe announces 139% school participation increase in key child hunger program

AFP

During a visit to Perrymont Elementary School in Lynchburg last week, First Lady of Virginia Dorothy McAuliffe announced a 139% increase in the number of schools participating in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a new provision from the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act that allows schools with high poverty rates to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.

Assessing Frank Beamer: The man who put Virginia Tech on the map

Chris Graham

A whole generation of future engineers, agricultural scientists, business majors, writers and teachers grew up thinking that heaven was a home football fall Saturday in Blacksburg, Va. That is because of one man who by rights should have been fired after going 2-8-1 in 1992, his sixth season at Virginia Tech, and only got to stay on because then-athletics director Dave Braine saw something that nobody else did at the time.

Charter schools, and other right-libertarian false gods

AFP

Charter schools, for the libertarian establishment, are what passes for “free market reform” in public education. They’re regularly pushed by mainstream libertarian think tanks, and at Reason they’re topped only by Uber, right-to-work laws and defined-contribution pensions on the list of libertarian shibboleths.

swag writers

Black Swan Books & Music and SWAG Writers present fiction writers Chris Cleary and Clifford Garstang

AFP

Black Swan Books & Music team with the SWAG Writers (The Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta Group of the Virginia Writers Club) Reading Series to present a reading by fiction writers Clifford Garstang (What the Zhang Boys Know and In an Uncharted Country) and Chris Cleary (The Ring of Middletown).

James River Writers Master Class registration available to general public

AFP

For several years now, James River Writers has been kicking off their conference with Pre-Conference Master Classes. These two-hour classes allow attendees to absorb the wisdom of the experts and gain hands-on experience, with offerings on the business of getting published and exploring the nuances of craft.

Valley Music Academy Musikgarten Studio in Waynesboro recognized for exemplary service

AFP

Musikgarten, the award-winning leader in early childhood music education, has recognized a number of teachers for their outstanding Musikgarten studios and contributions to music education in their communities. Karen Palumbo of Valley Music Academy in Waynesboro was awarded The 2015 Musikgarten Exemplary Program Award.