Month: August 2016

Categories
Arts

Kubo and the Two Strings unfolds beautifully

Laika Entertainment’s Kubo and the Two Strings tells a familiar, heroic story through innovative stop-motion animation. Courtesy of Laika Entertainment

There is a common refrain in some cinephile circles that the main problem with 2016’s reliance on muddy, lifeless reboots and sequels is a lack of original ideas in Hollywood. While there may be some truth to that, it does not explain the failure of the individual films themselves. Suicide Squad didn’t have to be a hypermasculine slog that wastes its fantastic performances just because it’s setting up a franchise, and Jason Bourne didn’t have to live down to all of the tropes the original series avoided because it’s a sequel. Directors David Ayer and Paul Greengrass are no slouches and they have worked very well within the studio system with their artistic integrity intact, yet they delivered two of the biggest letdowns of the year. On top of that, one of the greatest revelations of the summer, Pete’s Dragon, has been a remake.

The thing that separates this summer’s successful films from its failures isn’t originality, it’s a matter of making movies that are more invested in the nuances of canon and narrative than the ABCs of film as a medium of visual storytelling. As the wonderful Kubo and the Two Strings shows, audiences and critics alike will forgive familiar stories and occasional clichés if a film cares about how it’s made, how it looks, and remains true to the rules it’s established. The narrative of Kubo is one you’ve heard many times before—a boy with a mysterious past accompanied by two anthropomorphic magical creatures must learn the truth about his origins and overcome his uncertainty to defeat a great evil. The experience of Kubo, meanwhile, is refreshing and unique, from its setting in feudal Japan to the way its stop-motion animation gives life to its naturalistic depiction of magic and otherworldly beings.

The plot follows Kubo, a young boy who lives with his mother near a village. They occupy a cave to remain safe from Kubo’s maternal family, from whom his mother fled, but not before they stole one of Kubo’s eyes and killed his father. The mother, wounded from her escape, has difficulty with her memory and maintaining a single line of thought, so during the day, Kubo goes to town with his magical shamisen and manipulates paper into living origami to tell the story of his heroic father, the samurai.

One day, Kubo is out too late, against his mother’s orders, and is discovered by his aunts. Kubo is rescued by his mother with her last ounce of magic, but not before she dies and the village is destroyed. Kubo awakens to a talking monkey, summoned by his mother, that leads him on a quest to find the missing components of his father’s armor, enlisting the help of a cursed warrior with the body of a beetle.

The familiarity of the tale ends up being an asset to director Travis Knight, who establishes beautiful set pieces with stunningly innovative techniques. He wisely gives equal weight to the themes of the film; there are some twists scattered throughout, but even if they had all been removed or if you manage to predict every single one, the film holds together as an artistic statement about family, the transfer of sins from parent to child, worldly magic and forgiveness. Kubo and the Two Strings is a true achievement from the always dependable Laika Entertainment.

Playing this week: 

Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX The Shops at Stonefield, 244-3213

Bad Moms, Ben Hur, Florence Foster Jenkins, Ghostbusters, Jason Bourne,Kubo and the Two Strings, Nine Lives, Pete’s Dragon, Sausage Party, The Secret Life of Pets, Star Trek Beyond, Suicide Squad, War Dogs

Violet Crown Cinema, 200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 529-3000

Ben Hur, Bad Moms, Café Society, Florence Foster Jenkins, Jason Bourne, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Music of Strangers, Sausage Party, Star Trek Beyond, Suicide Squad, War Dogs

Categories
Uncategorized

Gina Sobel unpacks stories of travel in new album

Jazz musician Gina Sobel comes home to release her new album, World’s Getting Loud, at the Tea Bazaar on Friday at 9pm. “For this [album], I really wanted to capture this vibe I had in my head,” she says. “I wanted to portray that. I think the phrase everyone uses is, ‘We use the studio as an instrument,’ you know?” Publicity photo

The sun casts honey-colored hues across White Hall’s stretch of the Blue Ridge Mountains as Gina Sobel plays a gold Stratocaster at Restoration’s summer concert series. It’s too hot to play inside the restaurant, she says, as muddied jazz and rock ‘n’ roll reverberate across the restaurant’s patio.

A native of Northern Virginia and a William & Mary alumna, Sobel started on the flute and credits her dad, a guitarist in a jazz trio, as her major musical inspiration.

“From a really young age, I was interested in music, and music was everywhere, all the time,” she says.

She started reading charts and sitting in with her dad’s trio until she was told, “You can’t play with us anymore unless you start improvising.” And that was the push that Sobel needed. “I started playing and [discovered] I love improvisation—it’s such a huge part of my musical experience,” she says.

Sobel stuck with the flute and later picked up saxophone and guitar. She performs in more than a dozen bands, including rock group The Mighty Fine, a new jazz improv, funk-based project called Choose Your Own Adventure that Sobel calls a collective, and Wytold, an ensemble featuring electric cello and live looping.

“I write a lot of jazz, which has in the past been very separate,” she says. “But with Choose Your Own Adventure and The Mighty Fine and these duo gigs, I’m slowly starting to bring those together and get the improvising in and get the interesting chord changes in and blend it all. I’m really focusing on grooving and making cool musical experiences.”

On her new album, World’s Getting Loud, Sobel draws inspiration from touring and traveling. Just 30 minutes long, Sobel kept the album short to drive home her travel theme, calling it a “sonic realm” that expresses the subjective feelings her travels evoked, rather than the objective sounds of places she visited.

It’s about loneliness and separation, excitement and curiosity, and in the song “Natchitoches,” for example, the weariness and beauty in driving 10 hours across California. Sobel recalls catching the flu in India and writing the album’s title track between fever dreams, fitful naps in her sleeping bag, unsteady walks in the Himalayan town of McLeod Ganj and eating bowls of Tibetan noodle soup.

“It’s the idea—and this happens for everyone—that we travel because we’re unsatisfied or we’re searching or trying to figure something out—and [traveling] helps to a certain extent,” she says. “But we still bring ourselves with it. …Sometimes it’s the realization that when you’re going to new places, you still have the same things going on.”

Translating the experience of travel into the language of music didn’t happen immediately for Sobel. “I had been dreaming of this,” she says. “I got back and had this electric [guitar] that I bought and was scared to perform on. I was like, ‘I’m not Jimi Hendrix.’ It’s gold. It’s a gold Stratocaster.”

In the end, Sobel’s confidence emerged through the artistic vision she’d founded. “I’m primarily a rhythm player on guitar, but I knew I really wanted to do this,” she says. “I had this image, or, I don’t know what you’d call it, I guess a soundscape in my head that I really wanted to put out there.”

Helping create those soundscapes is Lance Koehler, owner of Richmond-based Minimum Wage Recording. They produced the album in two and a half days, collaging layer upon layer of Sobel’s melodic instrumental and vocal tracks. “He’s the drummer for No BS! Brass Band, really cool,” says Sobel. “Huge ears. He hears amazing things, not technically, not physically, but you know, he just hears stuff.”

Sobel is no stranger to the studio. “This is my 11th or 12th album. I’ve done a lot of studio time, but this was something that was new and really exciting,” she says. “I knew what I wanted it to sound like and [Lance] helped me put it out there.”

Catch Sobel’s new sounds at her Tea Bazaar release show this Friday at 9pm, where she shares the bill with Marian McLaughlin’s folk trio. Fresh off her West Coast tour, Sobel plans to stick around in her home state to promote the new album.

“I left thinking that there are all these amazing places and I’ve been in Virginia almost all my life, you know, it would be cool to be out there and I fell in love with a lot of places,” Sobel says. “But, I came back and was like, ‘Oh wow. This place is one of the most amazing places in the world.’ I love Charlottesville. It’s really good to be back.”

Categories
News

Barefoot bullied: Kombucha company to change name in settlement with Gallo

Barefoot wine and Barefoot Bucha: Gallo didn't want to risk consumer confusion, so the kombucha is looking for a new name. Photo Tom McGovern

For most of us, wine and kombucha tea are totally different products and only an idiot would confuse them. Not for Gallo, the $4 billion corporation with a history of trademark bullying. In April it sued local mom-and-pop Barefoot Bucha purveyors Kate and Ethan Zuckerman on the grounds that their kombucha name and logo infringed on its Barefoot Wine trademark.

The Zuckermans, like many businesses that have dared to use “barefoot” or “Gallo” in their product name, no matter how unrelated to wine that product might be, will change Barefoot Bucha’s name in a settlement with the wine goliath and will crowdsource a new name for the popular probiotic drink.

“It’s very common in litigation,” says intellectual property expert David Pratt at M-Cam. He estimates 80 percent or more of small companies faced with trademark bullying will change their company’s name because of the cost to litigate against deep pockets.

“Once you get into multi-billion-dollar publicly traded companies, they say, ‘We’d better have our hard-nosed lawyers go to the board and tell them we did everything to protect our trademark,’” he says.

“I don’t think Jefferson envisioned this,” says Pratt. James Madison convinced Thomas Jefferson to include intellectual property protection in the Constitution, he says, and he thinks that today, Jefferson would “be an open-source guy.”

The Zuckermans’ Conscious Cultures LLC settled without admitting any wrongdoing.“We are pleased that Conscious Cultures and E. & J. Gallo Winery have reached a mutually agreeable resolution,” says a Gallo spokesperson.

“We have amicably settled our differences out of court,” says Kate Zuckerman. “We are relieved to put this behind us so that we can continue to focus on bringing kombucha drinkers in our area a delicious and healthful beverage using a low-waste model.”

The winner of the “name that bucha” contest will receive a year’s worth of kombucha. Details are available on the Barefoot Bucha website and the deadline for submissions is September 12.

Crowdsourcing the name is an increasingly common tactic for up-and-coming companies and it appeals to millennials, says Pratt.

In choosing a new name, he advises the Zuckermans to check both the name and the classification code on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website, which means a car and a computer drive can have the same name because they’re different products. Although, in the case of Barefoot Bucha, “They probably didn’t think they’d run the confusion line with Barefoot Wine,” he says, so it’s also a good idea to note if an extremely litigious company owns similar trademarks.

Tom Gallo and Susan Devitt in Asheville, North Carolina, had to change the name of their company, GalloLea Pizza Kits, when E. & J. Gallo Winery came after them in 2012.

“In our case, it basically put us out of business,” says Gallo, citing the cost of changing the brand, its packaging, website and marketing.

Like the Zuckermans, Gallo and his wife had been in business for about five years, and decided to trademark their brand. He checked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database, and the trademark for Gallolea was available. “It didn’t cross my mind it could be confused with Gallo wine,” he says. “In our case, not only was the name different, it was a different class.”

Gallo says he’s “kind of sad” the Zuckermans agreed to change their name. And his advice for anyone in a similar situation? “Tell everybody not to buy Gallo products.”—Lisa Provence

 

 

 

Categories
News

Aromas Cafe FC seeks unity through soccer

David Deaton, with the ball, plays in a pick-up soccer game at the Madison Bowl at UVA with other Aromas Cafe FC players.

Aromas Cafe FC, best known for its success in the 2016 Lamar Hunt Open Cup, wants fans to see its deeper purpose this year.

“For us, it’s all about being part of the community, being a reflection of the community and this is the community. This is why we play,” player manager David Deaton says.

The amateur soccer team is an adult recreational team run through SOCA. Last May, Aromas defeated the Richmond Strikers of the National Premier Soccer League and advanced to the second round of the Open Cup. There, they faced the Richmond Kickers of the United Soccer League, where they bowed out after a 4-0 defeat.

Now, with the recent publicity, the team hopes to show fans the power of soccer.

“The power of the game is how it brings people together. I’ve been lucky, through my business travel, to be able to play games in India, to play games in Greece. I’ve played games in Brazil [and] Argentina,” Deaton says. “How do we translate this and showcase that Charlottesville has an incredibly diverse community?”

Deaton and the team’s owner, Hassan Kaisoum, hope to bring immigrants and Charlottesville residents together through the sport and shed light on what they perceive as Charlottesville’s lacking soccer infrastructure.

Midfielder Mark Gaya came to Charlottesville from Kenya “with literally just a suitcase.” Shortly after his arrival, Gaya stumbled across a pickup soccer game at UVA’s Madison Bowl recreation fields but did not have cleats to play. One of the players, who came from Iran, offered him an extra pair of cleats. Since then, Gaya has been active in the soccer community.

“In my everyday [life], because of my line of work, I wouldn’t be able to sit down or meet with these people. But [soccer] allows me to do that, and learn about a different culture,” Gaya says.

Aromas Cafe FC doesn’t have a recruiting process like some competitive teams; members simply play pickup games around Charlottesville and are chosen from there.

“There really is no formal recruiting process,” defender Kyle Rose says. “There is a strong local local community of soccer players in the area so you know the players in the area. But a  lot of these guys want to stay involved in the soccer scene.”

Aromas Cafe FC is made up of players from around the world, including Iran, Croatia, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Kenya and Ghana. The team started about a decade ago, according to former player Godfrey Branche, with just a few players, and now has a list of 80 or 90 names.

“This group started with my co-rec team,” Branche says. “In the offseason we would get people together and meet up at Carr’s Hill sometimes. Once we left [Carr’s Hill] and went to Division II in soccer, we started to add more people from different parts of the league.”

Now, as the soccer community grows, Deaton stresses the problems with the soccer infrastructure in Charlottesville, claiming there are no public soccer fields with lighting, making it difficult for the team to practice in the fall and winter. This affects more than just the team, according to Deaton, but soccer-loving youth as well.

“In the winter, during inclement weather, people will play in the basements of parking garages,” Deaton said.

Now Aromas Cafe FC is focusing on qualification for the 2017 Lamar Hunt Open Cup. While representing Charlottesville, Aromas Cafe FC will take a bye through the first round of qualifying and match up with Tartan Devils Oak Avalon in Pittsburgh on October 16. Fans can follow the team through qualifying on Instagram and Twitter at @aromascafefc.

In addition, the team has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with the cost of registration fees, jerseys, etc., which before were an out-of-pocket expense for players.

Categories
Arts

Lockn’ festival is groomed and geared up for more

Lockn’ festival producer Dave Frey shows off a whimsical addition to Garcia’s Forest, the portal door. “Walk through and if you don't like what happens to you, just walk right back the other way and it will undo it all,” he jokes. Staff photo

Lockn’ festival returns to Oak Ridge Farm on Thursday, and while the musical acts including Phish, Ween and My Morning Jacket are expected to draw more than 30,000 fans to the area, event producer Dave Frey defines the key to enjoying the festival as “locality.”

Pointing out the attributes of the recently established Nelson County Preserve, an area of more than 300 acres adjacent to Oak Ridge, Frey says the multi-performance landscape is part of his “20-year plan to create a park—for ourselves, for our community and for the people who come here.”

From the pastoral main stage setting tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains, three tents of local gourmet food and a Super VIP ticket option, to the curated bike-only trails, swimming sessions at WaterLockn’ and live dub flow with Opal Yoga, Frey and his partner, Peter Shapiro, bring the mid-Atlantic region a modern version of your grandma’s Woodstock.

With many small improvements made in efficiency—charging stations, more shade, family hangouts—Frey says the biggest change this year is the new stage. A round platform 56′ in diameter, Frey calls it “the world’s largest turntable.” The traditional interlocking sets will be presented by cutting the round stage across the middle with a wall and presenting one act on the front half while the next one sets up behind the wall. When it’s time for the next set, they’ll just turn the stage.

Fans can expect the usual jams and collaborations that have branded Lockn’ as a unique live experience with major players showing up at campfires and local bands getting national exposure. Frey says the festival reputation has become a brand itself. “No one even cares who plays anymore,” he says. “ They just go.”

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Central Virginia’s Students Enjoy a Quality Education in Local Public Schools

Welcome to our public schools feature where we highlight the quality education available to students in Charlottesville city and surrounding counties.  If you have a family and are considering a move to central Virginia, or if you’re planning to relocate from one county to another, and are wondering about what each county school system has to offer, you will find much of what you need here plus links to more information if you want to explore further.

Albemarle County Public Schools
The Albemarle County Public School Division’s strategic plan lists one goal—to have every student graduate having actively mastered the lifelong-learning skills they need to succeed as 21st century learners, workers and citizens.

This past year, the division’s on-time graduation rate reached 94.3 percent, higher than the statewide rate for every one of the nation’s 50 states. Nearly seven out of ten graduates received Advanced Studies Diplomas, well above the 50 percent rate for all school divisions across the Commonwealth.  The drop-out rate for Albemarle County public school students was 2.3 percent, less than one-half of the 5.2 percent statewide rate and far below the most recently reported national rate of seven percent.

The foundation for this consistent outperformance by local students can be found in a 2015 national survey by Niche, an education assessment organization.  Each year, Niche evaluates more than 100,000 public and private schools and school divisions across the country.  The evaluation includes a comprehensive analysis of performance data and incorporates the views of more than 27 million parents and students to determine its rankings.

Top Two Percent of Nation
In 2015, Albemarle County Public Schools placed within the top two percent of all school divisions in the United States.  In three categories, academics, educational outcomes and teaching, the division earned an A+ rating and in four other areas, administration & policies, extracurricular programs, sports & fitness and culture & diversity programs, the division received an A rating.

In a companion study, all three of the division’s comprehensive high schools were ranked within the top five percent of all high schools in the nation.

The pathway to these results at the high school level is formed at the very earliest grades based upon five objectives adopted by the School Board.  They include engaging every student, implementing balanced assessments of student learning, improving achievement by improving opportunities, establishing and expanding partnerships with the business community and other organizations, and optimizing the value and impact of all resources.

Student engagement regularly is addressed through the use of the most innovative technologies and instructional methods in the classroom to empower students to complete self-designed projects.  This hands-on approach to learning emphasizes not only the acquisition of knowledge but its application.

Students develop problem-solving skills in such areas as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication.  One such example at the end of the 2015-16 school year involved middle school students who volunteered to design, develop and complete a project in which a weather balloon soared to more than 100,000 feet to collect data and photograph the earth’s curvature.

Balanced assessments represent a forceful step away from rote learning and evaluate students on the basis of the skills they bring to a project, whether printing out components on a 3D printer to assemble an invention, recreating an historical artifact to develop a deeper understanding of history, science or literature or writing and performing an original musical or dramatic piece.

The division’s commitment to eliminating opportunity gaps among students resulted in its becoming one of the first public school divisions in the nation to adopt a plan to eliminate the digital divide for all school families.  Re-purposing its FCC-allocated spectrum, the division is providing free broadband access to the homes of students who have not previously had such access, often because of their geographic location.  Within a short period of time, all students will be able to fully access the Internet at home for their academic research and to further their project-based learning needs.

Through its three high school academies for Math, Engineering & Science, Health & Medical Sciences and Environmental Studies, the division is building strong connections with local businesses and service organizations, more closely aligning curriculum with the county and nation’s professional requirements.

Bond Referendum
In recent years, the school division has increased its operational efficiencies through such innovative initiatives as energy conservation measures that have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost avoidance, new contracting guidelines that have reduced expenditures by nearly a quarter-million dollars and consolidated bus routes that have lowered fuel costs by millions of dollars.

In a school division continuing to add students as the result of the county’s sustained growth pattern, nearly one-third of all Albemarle County Public School students currently attend over-crowded schools.  If there are no additions to the current capacity of schools, in a few years, that percentage will exceed 50 percent.

In the summer of 2016, the School Board requested the Board of Supervisors approve a school bond referendum for the November 2016 ballot to finance a series of projects that would benefit every school in the division and reduce over-crowded conditions.  If the bond referendum is approved by the voters and the Board of Supervisors, it would lower the financing and administrative costs of these capital projects by more than $1 million compared to the current public borrowing method.

Augusta County Public Schools
Augusta County Public Schools has a comprehensive educational program for students from preschool through high school. The school system takes in approximately 10,500 students from around the county. Augusta County Public Schools operate 20 schools including five high schools, four middle schools, and eleven elementary schools.  Additionally, the division operates a regional career and technical center, a regional governor’s school, a regional special education program and a regional Head Start program.

Currently the division employs approximately 900 teachers and offers advanced curriculum in language arts, science, foreign language, mathematics, social studies, physical education, and fine arts with college credit available. The schools offer a program for gifted and talented students in the areas of language arts, mathematics, art, music, and drama as well as education programs in agriculture, business, family and consumer sciences, technology, trade and industry. Extensive media services and connections to the Internet are provided to all students and personnel. Summer school enrichment and remedial programs are available as well as special education programs to provide a continuum of services for students with special needs.  We welcome you to visit our website at www.augusta.k12.va.us.

City of Charlottesville Public Schools
The City of Charlottesville values education highly, and the Charlottesville City School Division offers the best in curriculum and community. The City schools are comprised of six elementary schools (preschool-4); Walker Upper Elementary School (5-6); Buford Middle School (7-8) and Charlottesville High School (9-12). As of October 2015, enrollment for preK-12 was 4,379 students.

Neighborhood schools with a global orientation expose students to diverse experiences, viewpoints, and opportunities—preparing them not only for post-secondary education but for life. Small class sizes promote individual attention in a collaborative climate.  With extraordinary fine arts, the latest STEM technologies, a computer for every student, and more, the City schools are White House-certified to be “future-ready” and a charter member of the League of Innovative Schools.

Charlottesville City Schools is known for its commitment to the fine arts. Just this year, the CHS Orchestra and both the Buford Middle School Band and Orchestra all earned Grand Champion in statewide or multi-state competitions.  Art and music begins in the elementary schools, and fourth-graders even participate in a year-long dance program with the Richmond Ballet.  From fifth grade on, students can be active in art, band, choir, orchestra, theatre, and special programs such as dance or step teams. Students also learn about the arts through regular field trips to live performances as well as school visits from guest artists and authors.

New science and engineering labs at Buford Middle School and Charlottesville High School support innovative STEM education.  Buford’s science and engineering program is a cutting-edge collaboration between the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education and School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Smithsonian Institution, and other area school divisions. CHS offers every possible AP class in computer science, engineering, math, and science, and the school’s science club regularly wins honors in state and international competitions.  In the 2016-17 school year, “iSTEM” teachers will work in all the Charlottesville schools—even at the elementary level—to lay a strong, hands-on foundation for science, technology, engineering, and math.

The Charlottesville schools are part of their community and the world! In the past year, CCS students won acclaim in art, athletics, debate, engineering, geography, history, math, music, science, and writing—and that’s simply the list from Buford Middle School! Students begin studying Spanish in first grade, and by the time they attend CHS, they can choose from Chinese, French, German, Latin, Spanish, and even American Sign Language. Student field trips and competitions take students to places like China, Europe, New York, San Francisco, and more. Charlottesville students excel in all areas and they go on to attend the world’s best colleges and universities.

CHS offers approximately 30 college-level (Advanced Placement and dual enrollment) courses, and the school is the only regional school on The Washington Post’s list of “Challenge Schools” that encourage a wide variety of students to take AP classes and tests. CHS students far outperform their state and national peers on AP and SAT tests. In 2015-16, Charlottesville City Schools was one of just 37 school divisions across the state to have all schools be fully accredited due to their strong performance on state “standards of learning” tests.

Nearly 300 students attend Charlottesville City Schools by choice, either in person or through the extensive virtual education program at CHS. Learn more!  Find the schools on the web at charlottesvilleschools.org or on Facebook and Twitter at @CvilleSchools. To arrange for a visit, call your local school or 434-245-2400.

Fluvanna County Public Schools
The Fluvanna County Public Schools system is comprised of six schools:  West Central Primary (preK-K), Central Elementary ( 1st – 2nd), Carysbrook Elementary (3rd-4th), Fluvanna Middle School, and Fluvanna County High School. All of Fluvanna’s schools are fully accredited. Fluvanna County Public Schools will:

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Student enrollment is a little over 3,500 students with a targeted student-teacher ratio of 22:1. The school system offers a variety of student programs including special education, gifted and talented education, career and technical education, and alternative education. Parental involvement is high, as is the school system’s expectation of its students.

Greene County Public Schools
Greene County Public Schools (GCPS) educates 3,113 children in grades Pre-K through 12 in one primary school, two elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, and one technical school.  Greene County Public Schools has five Nationally Board Certified Teachers; 51 percent of the division’s professional staff has a masters or doctoral degree, while 99 percent of its professional teaching staff is considered “highly qualified.”

GCPS has a lot to be proud of:
The class of 2016 had 38 Early College Scholars.

  • 72 percent of the class of 2016 will continue their formal education after high school.
  • 9 percent will take the skills learned at our Technical Education Center and move into the workforce.
  • 6 percent of the Class of 2016 earned their Associates Degree.
  • 74 Students are enrolled in the Early College Scholars Program for 2016-2017.
  • The class of 2016 earned an impressive $1,520,879 in scholarships.
  • Charlotte Berry and Tracy Morton were recognized as Educators of the Year for the 2015-2016 school year.
  • 4 AP Scholars and 1 student with AP Honors with Distinction at William Monroe High School.
  •  62 percent of the class of 2016 earned an Advanced Studies diploma.
  • 45 percent of seniors earned at least one Industry Certification at the Greene County Technical Center/William Monroe High School.
  • 94 percent of students from William Monroe High School graduated on-time in 2016.
  • Ruckersville Elementary School has a 2016 Distinguished Teacher from the National Council for Geographic Education.
  •  Three students from William Monroe Middle School competed in the National History Day Competition and were State 1st place winners for their presentations.  14 students placed in the top two positions at the State tournament.
  • State Runner-Up for the William Monroe High School Baseball team in 2016
  • 13 State HOSA competition award winners from the Greene County Technical Education Center
  • Local HOSA chapter won the Advisor to the Executive Council Award
  • $50,000 awarded for Early College Scholarships to help fund students in need
  • In 2016 adopted a 5 year strategic plan titled “Innovate 2021” that focuses on Innovation and Academic Excellence, Safe and Secure Learning Environments, Communication and Collaboration with Stakeholders, and Efficient Utilization of Resources.
  • Participating in a comprehensive and inclusive Facility Study with VMDO architects and the community to plan for the long term future facility needs to educate the students of Greene County.
  • Implemented a one to one Chromebook initiative in several grades throughout the school division.
  • Implemented a STEM program at the elementary levels that includes engineering activities and coding of aerial Drones.

Louisa County Public Schools
Louisa County Public Schools (LCPS) currently has six schools: one high school (9-12), one middle school (6-8), and four elementary schools (pk-5). The building of Moss-Nuckols Elementary School, the county’s fourth elementary school, is completed and the school opened in August 2010.

The division also has an alternative education center for students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The high school has an extensive Career and Technical Education department and access to a Governor’s School. All LCPS schools are currently accredited by the Virginia Department of Education, having met or exceeded the standards required on the SOL assessments.

During the 2015-2016 school year, the school division employed approximately 390 teachers, and served about 4,850 students.  The division strives to maintain a 21:1 student/teacher ratio at the elementary level and a 25:1 student/teacher ratio at the middle and high school levels.

In May of  2016 a total of 364 students received their diplomas at the high school’s seventy-sixth annual commencement service. Approximately 36 percent of these students planned to attend a 4-year college, 32 percent planned to attend a 2-year college, 28 percent planned to work and 4 percent planned to enlist in the military.

Madison County Public Schools
Pride.  In all, Madison is known not so much by “schools” as by educational families—students surrounded by caring, thoughtful parents and community members who expect graduates to have earned a top-notch education.  Our students attend Virginia’s and the nation’s top schools and enter the workforce exceptionally well prepared.  This great feat is accomplished by a caring community centered on what we call “Madison Pride”—the drive to provide children an absolutely remarkable education and a plethora of opportunities.

Schools.  For nearly two decades, student enrollment has hovered around 2,000 students in four schools: Madison Primary School (PK-2), Waverly Yowell Elementary School (3-5), William H. Wetsel Middle School (6-8), and Madison County High School (9-12).

Exceptional Education.  Madison County Public Schools (MCPS), a student-centered and community-supported school division, insures a superior education in a changing world.  Our vision is to build on excellence to exceed community expectations—to be the best.  In Madison, we are proud of excellent schools, which focus on traditional methods and progressive programs in our never-ending cycle of improvement.  This is why we are regarded as a superior school division in the Commonwealth.

We are committed to helping students acquire the strong values to deal effectively with important intellectual, ethical, and social problems.

Responding to community, parent, and workforce expectations, MCPS aims to educate children to be prepared for good citizenry and life-long learning.  Twenty-first century skills require that tomorrow’s workforce be adept at technology, excellent communicators, responsible employees, and physically fit and active.  To this end, we want every secondary student to take Dual Enrollment, Advanced Placement, or earn an Industry Certification prior to graduation as well as a foreign language.  And, we encourage all students to be scholar-athletes or scholar-performers.

MCPS embraces the notion of global awareness.  We aim to provide world awareness through foreign language, current events, classes in culture and diversity, as well as K-12 division wide studies on a central question.  We support enrichment experiences for all students to engage them with the world beyond Madison and by developing national and international connections through virtual exchanges with national and international sister schools.  We fully support the incorporation of cultures and current events of local, national and international communities at every grade level.

Equally, we support the notion of community citizenry and awareness.  MCPS embraces our local community that is rich in history and tradition.  Our landscape boasts preeminent countryside—mountain life and flatlands, rich with agriculture, viniculture, forestry, and pastureland.  We expect students to know our Madison community and natural wealth as we encourage field trips, community service projects and service learning.  In our preeminent countryside, students have the opportunity to experience and learn from our amazing location.

Additional information can be found on the division website at: www.madisonschools.k12.va.us

Orange County Public Schools
Over 97 percent of the teachers employed by Orange County Public Schools are highly qualified.  This fall they will educate approximately 4,830 students in nine schools, including six elementary, two middle schools and one high school. Average pupil/teacher ratios are 1:20 in elementary; 1:24 in middle; and 1:23 in high school. All schools in the system are accredited by the Virginia Department of Education.

OCPS has over 803 identified gifted and talented students. The division also offers a summer scholars program for enrichment as well as Head Start, Early Head Start and Virginia Preschool Initiative. OCPS utilizes the School Messenger system to notify parents, students, and staff of school-related events.

318 students graduated from OCPS in 2015, of which 152 students received an Advanced Studies Diploma.  Blue Ridge Virtual Governor’s School, Advanced Placement, Dual Enrollment and Distant Learning opportunities are offered by OCPS.

Approximately 76 percent of this year’s graduating class is continuing their education.

Nearly 86 percent of our graduates enrolled in a Career & Technical Education Course during middle or high school.  In addition, advanced math & foreign language instruction is offered.

Celeste Smucker is a writer and blogger who lives near Charlottesville.

Categories
News

Parliamentary push-back: Benford reinstated, Fenton nearly ousted

Ousted chair George Benford watches the drama play out that results in his new job as co-chair on the DBAC with the woman who wanted him gone. Staff photo

 

Chaps owner Tony LaBua spoke for those not in the thick of last week’s Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville coup: “I’m confused. Is George not president?”

George Benford wasn’t chair at that point early in an August 17 DBAC board meeting, but within 45 minutes, he was elected co-chair, and Joan Fenton, who had prompted his August 8 resignation when she told him his election in March may not have been legal, survived a vote to remove her from the board because her opponents couldn’t muster a two-thirds majority.

The feud between the city and Charlottesville Parking Center owner Mark Brown over the Water Street Garage seeped into the DBAC, with factions forming and accusations from Fenton that Benford and other DBAC board members were in Brown’s pocket.

After last week’s public airing of DBAC grievances, Fenton took charge of Wednesday’s board meeting and explained her discovery that a decision to amend the bylaws and move the membership year to begin January 1 had never been made official, and therefore Benford’s election after former chair and former CPC general manager Bob Stroh resigned was invalid.

“I didn’t do this easily,” said Fenton. She said she’d consulted Tuel Jewelers’ Mary Loose DeViney, who in fact is a professional registered parliamentarian. DeViney agreed the elections held at the March meeting were not in accordance with the bylaws. Fenton waited to break the news until after an August 5 meeting of the bylaws committee, she said, because “I didn’t want it to look like I was doing anything improper.”

An angry board challenged Fenton when she passed out the bylaws and an e-mail with DeViney’s opinion. “Why are we just receiving this?” asked Will Van der Linde, manager of the Main Street Arena, which is owned by Brown.

Attorney David Pettit, who represents Violet Crown Cinema, which has lobbied the DBAC to tell the city it wants the Water Street Garage to be a public utility, said he came to the August 17 because Fenton asked him to weigh in on the bylaws situation, not on behalf of Violet Crown, which is also a DBAC member.

The calendar year could be changed in the bylaws by a two-thirds vote of the board, he said, but he found no evidence that occurred in the minutes. And if the board doesn’t follow its bylaws, the result is “chaos,” he said.

Fenton wanted to have an election in September at the annual members meeting, 90 days after the June 30 end of the membership year under the old bylaws. It didn’t work out like that.

Van der Linde proposed a motion to change the membership year to January 1 and make it retroactively effective January 1, 2016.

“I will question the validity of that motion because we do not know who our board was,” said Fenton.

That brought up another issue. Some of the board’s 17 members had been elected, like Benford, under the unofficial new bylaws. In a vote of only those who had been on the board before the contested election,  a 9-1 decision was made to change the membership year in the bylaws, with Fenton the sole “no” vote.

Van der Linde made another motion: “I move to fill the vacancy of [co-chair] Bob Stroh with George Benford.” That passed 8-2, with Fenton and Spring Street owner Cynthia Schroeder, who had been in the ax-Benford faction and who has plans to start a new business association, voting no.

Van der Linde had yet another motion, the most dramatic yet. “I make a motion to remove Joan Fenton from the board,” he said. That 6-2 vote, with two abstaining and two absent, failed to get the two-thirds necessary to oust Fenton.

“I think I really upset a lot of people by publicly stating my issues and by refusing to have an emergency meeting,” said Fenton, who remains co-chair, after the meeting. “I think there was a lot of anger at me and I hope we can move past that and work together.”

In a final motion, Van der Linde moved to reinstate the nine people who had been elected to the board earlier in the year.

George Benford and Joan Fenton kiss and makeup after last week's nastiness. Staff photo
George Benford and Joan Fenton kiss and makeup after last week’s ugly business. Staff photo

Several members seemed shaken by the events of the past week. David Posner, an investor with Davenport & Company and a board member whose election was questioned, said everyone had been “very happy” with how things were going at the DBAC, and that he found it alarming “all of a sudden to see this coup go down.”

“What we’re trying to do is bring this ship back to port,” said Amy Wicks-Horn, whose membership and allegiances Fenton had questioned. Although COO for the Piedmont Family YMCA, Wicks-Horn says she’s not a DBAC member in her work capacity. Fenton had pointed out that neither Wicks-Horn nor Benford owned businesses on the Downtown Mall.

“In the past week, our reputation has suffered,” when it was “only one or two individuals” leading the charge to oust Benford, said Wicks-Horn.

“It’s been very disturbing,” said Roy Van Doorn, a partner at City Select. “It’s been very personal. When motives get questioned in a public way, it’s really out of place. I ask the leaders of DBAC to temper their comments. It’s been very disturbing to the board. It’s been very disturbing to the members. [The DBAC] has to be focused on its members and its issues.”

And with that, Van der Linde moved on to talk about DBAC plans to put lighting in trees for the mall’s 40th anniversary.

Afterward, Fenton said, “Sometimes the best thing is to have an open and honest discussion. When you clear the air, you can move past that and work together.”

The issues that had been “festering” were not discussed at the meeting, she said, but people did get to express their displeasure.

She added, “I do sincerely think [Benford] and I can work together.”

 

Categories
News

Tom Garrett on job creators tour

Phil Wendel and Tom Garrett don't break a sweat at today's ACAC tour. Staff photo

Congressional candidate Tom Garrett is back in Charlottesville today a week after he debated Dem Jane Dittmar at the Senior Center. The two are vying for the 5th District seat currently held by Robert Hurt, who decided not seek a third term.

C-VILLE caught up with Garrett, a state senator, at ACAC, where owner Phil Wendel, a reliable political contributor who usually leans Republican, showed him around the facility.

“We’re meeting job creators,” says Garrett, who notes that Wendel employs between 700 and 800 people in the Charlottesville area.

“What we’re constantly hearing is that the regulatory climate keeps businesses from doing things that create jobs,” says Garrett. Earlier at Gaston & Wyatt, he says he was told its owner spent between six and seven hours a week complying with OHSA.

He points to Lane Furniture in Altavista, which closed its doors because of the burden of meeting OHSA and EPA regulations for safety and health, according to Garrett. Lane had been in business for nearly 100 years, he says, “with no history of Lane employees getting hurt.”

flanna & tom garrettGarrett’s wife, Flanna, is campaigning with him, and said she could beat her husband in tennis, an assessment with which he disagreed. The couple resides in Buckingham.

Next on the job creators tour: gun store Woodbrook Sports and Floors R Us.

Categories
News

Bryan Silva’s sentencing delayed

Because of complications with paperwork, Bryan Silva's sentencing was rescheduled for October 18. Photo: Charlottesville Police

 

Bryan Silva appeared in Charlottesville Circuit Court August 17 for sentencing on charges related to a January 3 SWAT standoff, in which the 25-year-old Facebook celebrity barricaded himself inside his Jefferson Park Avenue home for several hours while posting videos of the incident on his social media pages for his thousands of fans to follow along.

He has been charged with a felony for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and three misdemeanors for brandishing a gun, contempt of court and a probation violation he made while out on bond.

Because of complications with paperwork, the sentencing was rescheduled for October 18.

Silva appeared in the courtroom—wearing sagging jeans, a gray polo shirt and gold chain—and sat in the front row with a girl he wrapped his arm around and later kissed. His brother joined him and their mother sat a few rows away.

The January standoff was initiated after Silva’s then 17-year-old girlfriend—whom he allegedly ordered not to leave his apartment after pointing the laser scope of a loaded 9mm at her—escaped and called police from a neighbor’s house earlier that morning. It is unclear if the girl in the courtroom was involved.

Judge Rick Moore has already agreed to drop an abduction charge in the case.

“He’s really a nice young man,” Silva’s attorney, Richmond-based John March, said outside of the courthouse. “I think what you see is a persona.”
He confirmed that his client is doing well, has passed all court-ordered drug tests and will remain free on bond until his sentencing.

Categories
Living

Allie Redshaw leaves Timbercreek Market to open own restaurant

Photo: Amy Jackson

Allie Redshaw will leave her post as executive chef at Timbercreek Market later this month, and for a very good reason: opening a restaurant of her own. Redshaw, known for her new-school American cooking and modern, locally-sourced gourmet cuisine, told C-VILLE Weekly that she leaves Timbercreek “on good terms,” and that she “didn’t want to take away from the market” while she planned her own venture.

“I figured if I was going to be working as hard as I was, I might as well have some skin in the game and do it for myself,” she says, adding that she and her business partner plan on launching their concept and location soon. Redshaw opened the cafe at Sara and Zach Miller’s Timbercreek Market last June and before that served as sous chef at Pippin Hill.