"I am not a teacher but an awakener." – Robert Frost

Dear Liz,

It is with great pleasure that we congratulate you on your election to the VSTE Board of Directors for the upcoming term! You are one of five newly elected At-Large Board Directors for a term that runs from July, 2012 to June, 2015.

We will now begin communicating with you, providing information pertaining to your role and upcoming events.

Again, we congratulate you on your newly elected position and look forward to your contributions to our exciting efforts. Please take a moment to reply to this email to let us know that you intend to serve as a Director and if you will be able to attend the meeting on June 2. Should you have any questions on your role, please feel free to send them to Karen Richardson, Executive Director, via karen_richardson@vste.org.

VSTE Election Committee, 2012

Laura Briggs
Michael George
James Maxlow

http://www.glnd.k12.va.us/index/news/teachers_of_the_year1/

Here are the results from the band competition this weekend held at Busch Gardens.

• GMS Beginning Band second place rating of excellent
• GMS Advanced Band first place rating of superior
• GHS Wind Ensemble first place rating of superior, also grand champion for the weekend.
• Outstanding soloist awards:
  • GMS Corrine Whalen: Flute
  • GHS Dustin Cutright: Euphonium
  • GHS Abbie Allison: French Horn

GHS Concert is this Wednesday at 7:00 PM.

Tuesday May 1st through Friday June 1st

We are asking ALL staff and students to conserve our bandwith of the internet during the peak times of SOL testing.

The ban begins  May 1st and ends on Friday, June 1st. For each school day during this period, there will be a ban on using the internet beginning at 8:30 am. Shannon Lacy (testing coordinator) will send an email to announce when testing is over for each day. At that time, the ban will be lifted.

During the internet ban, the following things are allowed:

- Access to PowerSchool (grades, attendance, etc)
- Access to email
- Access to Pearson websites (for school testing coordinators, technology staff, etc)

- Access to Goochland websites (blog, Moodle, wiki, etc)
- Access to GoogleDocs – This may have to change pending any issues with bandwith
- iChat (Required throughout testing if you are a proctor or test administrator.)
- SEAS (Special Education Automation Software – special education)

- PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Testing – elementary schools)

Please remind students that open surfing is not permitted during the SOL window.
Also, the use of personal devices – iPods, iPads, smartphones : accessing the internet on your personal cell phone, or mifi is not permitted.

If you have any questions about the ban or anything testing related, please contact me.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Shannon P. Lacy
Coordinator of Testing
Goochland County Public Schools
804.556.5610 (Office)
804.556.3847 (Fax)

Jake King, a junior at GHS, is the winner of this year’s regional Crime Stopper’s Poster Contest.
Here is his winning poster and a picture of him receiving his award.

I have always been a big fan of Edgar Allen Poe, so the release of the movie The Raven has me very excited. I wish there was a line of people waiting outside the theater to see this movie like they would be for Harry Potter orThe Hunger Games.
Here is a synopsis from IMDB:
“When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s works, a young Baltimore detective joins forces with Poe to stop him from making his stories a reality.”
The movie stars John Cusack as Poe, “the only one who can stop a serial killer is the man who inspired him.”
To read the poem, click here “The Raven.”

Illustrations from Dover Publications

If you have a business in Goochland or in the surrounding area, please complete our survey to help the Career and Technical Education Advisory provide advice to Goochland Schools as we look at adding courses, programs and improve offerings in the area of CTE.

http://blogs.glnd.k12.va.us/teachers/tdeweerd/2012/04/26/chamber-survey-helps-cte-advisory/

The News 2 Team of Brian Lapkin, Trevor Hartley, Quinton Pace, and Chris Hawke competed in Hampton Roads this weekend in the Broadcast News category of the Skills USA state level of competition. After 2 days of testing, writing script, and producing a 3 minute news cast, our Bulldog team took 3rd place in this competition. Skills USA is a national organization that allows students the opportunity to showcase technical and vocational skills at regional, state , and national levels of competition.

Reported from GCPS NEWS ARCHIVES

Goochland County Public School’s Superintendent Dr. Linda A. Underwood has been named as the 2013 Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS) Region One Superintendent of the Year. Other localities in Region One include Charles City, Hanover, Prince George, Colonial Heights, Chesterfield, Henrico, Surry, Hopewell, Dinwiddie, New Kent, Sussex, Petersburg, Powhatan, and Richmond.

Each year superintendents from school divisions across the state are nominated for one of eight regional titles.  As the Region One winner, Dr. Underwood will be considered for the Virginia Superintendent of the Year, an honor which will be awarded at the VASS Annual Conference May 6-9, 2012 in Roanoke.

Under her leadership as Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent over the last nine years, Goochland has experienced significant progress despite challenging economic conditions.  Division accomplishments include narrowing of the achievement gap, decreased drop-out rate and increased on-time graduation rate, increased rigor through curriculum revisions, expansion of the collaborative teaching model and school-wide enrichment opportunities, implementation of the G21 framework for embedding twenty-first century skills in instruction, comprehensive induction programs for new teachers, and improved facilities.

While Dr. Underwood is receiving the honor, she is quick to acknowledge the school board, leadership team, teachers, and the community that make such strides possible.

Dr. Underwood holds a Bachelors Degree from DePauw University in Indiana, a Master’s Degree from Indiana University, and Doctorate from Virginia Tech. 

ALL PICTURES COPYRIGHTED 2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED