Today we highlight the situation in Colonial Heights where students have been attending school in-person five days a week since September. There also was a study completed by scientists at Virginia Tech that shows masks protect the person wearing them. Oh, and there are a couple of weed stories, I promise I didn’t wake and bake, it’s just what is in the news, enjoy!
Colonial Heights opened up schools in September: How is it going?
Colonial Heights is one of the few localities in central-Virginia that chose to begin the school year with students attending in-person. Virginia’s Governor Ralph Northam said that this matter was not something that required a one size fits all solution, he instead left the decision up to the individual localities and their school boards.
Colonial Heights is a small school district with only three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. The city is only eight square miles and less than 20,000 people live within its limits.
The school board for Colonial Heights Public Schools (CHPS) approved a plan over the summer that provided families with two options: in-person learning for five days a week, or a fully-virtual academy. Administrators say it was a fairly even split of students in virtual compared to in-person. The plan separates buildings into “learning zones” in an attempt to limit the spread if COVID-19 makes it inside the building. The plan had succeeded in keeping schools open, at first.
After the plan was approved, CHPS had to prepare the buildings for students to return on the first day. Teachers removed extra desks from their classrooms, aides lined hallways with tape to ensure that students kept their distance, schools set up signs in front of the school to separate grades at drop off and pick up, work began to improve the ventilation systems and more.
As the Superintendent of one of the first and only school districts in the Commonwealth to have students back full time, Dr. William Sroufe said they have not had to make any significant changes to their plans since students returned, telling Virginia Scope that “there have been little tweaks here and there.” Sroufe said the Superintendent Advisory Committee and the individual school leaders often provide suggestions for improvements, but so far there have been no drastic changes. “The building leadership did a really good job of coming up with specific plans for their campuses.”
Read more to find out what happened when COVID-19 was reported times within a school.
Face masks protect wearers about as well as others, Virginia Tech study finds – Roanoke Times
by Henri Gendreau
Masks were originally advertised to reduce the amount of virus a person exhaled, noted Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and the study’s lead author.
“If I’m sick, you know, I put on the mask and then it reduces the amount that I released into the air around me,” Marr said Monday. “It turns out masks work essentially the same way and offer very similar protections to the wearer.”
Newly formed Virginia Beach mass shooting commission includes the city’s sheriff, former deputy police chief – The Virginian Pilot
by Peter Coutu
Virginia Beach Sheriff Ken Stolle is among those who have been appointed to a state commission tasked with again investigating the Virginia Beach mass shooting, which ended with 13 people dead and four others seriously injured in May of 2019.
The selection of Stolle, whose office responded to the shooting as it unfolded, by the Senate Rules Committee drew some strong criticism. Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler, D-Virginia Beach, called it “a clear conflict of interest,” saying no one who worked with local law enforcement when the shooting happened should be on the commission.
COVID-19 vaccines were developed in record time – but these game-changers appear safe – Virginia Mercury
by Dr. William Petri
I am an infectious diseases specialist and professor at the University of Virginia. I care for patients with COVID-19 and am conducting the local site for a phase 3 clinical trial of Regeneron’santibody cocktail as a tool to prevent household transmission of COVID-19. I’m also conducting research on how dysregulation of the immune system during SARS-CoV-2 infection causes lung damage.
Task force recommends John Tyler Community College change its name because Tyler owned slaves – Richmond Times-Dispatch
By Eric Kolenich
A task force created by John Tyler Community College says the school should change its name because its eponym, the 10th president of the United States, was a slave owner and supporter of the Confederacy. The recommendation is the latest instance of a Virginia school shedding an association with the Confederacy. The task force unanimously voted to recommend that the college in Chesterfield County change its name and two buildings named for former Virginia politicians Mills E. Godwin and Lloyd C. Bird, the college’s president said Friday.
Legal state marijuana sales could overtake illegal trade by year four – Virginia Scope
By Sam Fowler
Capital News Service
Virginia’s commercial marijuana market could yield between $30 million to $60 million in tax revenue in the first year, according to a new report by the state’s legislative watchdog agency.
The Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission released a report this month that explores how the commonwealth could legalize marijuana. The agency, however, did not give its take on legalization. Shortly after the report was released Gov. Ralph Northam announced that “it’s time to legalize marijuana in Virginia.”
The state’s tax revenue could grow to between $150 million to more than $300 million by the fifth year of sales, according to JLARC. The revenue depends on the tax and demand of marijuana products.
Racial equity obstacles in Virginia’s push to legalizing marijuana – Virginia Scope
by Brandon Shillingford
Capital News Service
Could legalizing marijuana in Virginia help address social disparities and inequities? That’s one of the topics the state’s legislative watchdog agency explores in a new report examining how the commonwealth could legalize marijuana.
The Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission report was published shortly before Gov. Ralph Northam announced he will support legislation to legalize marijuana in the Old Dominion.
Virginia decriminalized marijuana possession earlier this year and reduced possession penalties toa $25 civil penalty and no jail time for amounts up to an ounce. In the past, possessing up to half an ounce could lead to a $500 fine and 30 days in jail.
Northam said legislation should address five principles including public health and social, racial and economic equity.
In a shrinking part of Southside Virginia, VDOT is still planning a highway expansion – Virginia Mercury
by Wyatt Gordon
Highway expansion is often pitched as necessary to combat congestion for a growing population. For opponents, that makes the Virginia Department of Transportation’s planned Martinsville Southern Connector — a $745 million, 7.4-mile highway expansion in a shrinking corner of the state — all the more perplexing.
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