Learning experience
Sen. Tim Kaine visited the Thomas Jefferson Adult Career Education division of Piedmont Virginia Community College on March 25.
Located at Ix Art Park, TJACE works with adult learners to build education, language, and career skills. Classes through the center are free, ranging from English for Speakers of Other Languages courses to entrepreneurship classes for advanced and native English speakers.
Kaine’s tour of the PVCC Adult Career Education department was prompted by the senator’s work on the Jumpstart Our Business By Supporting Students and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity acts.
“Part of WIOA is to fund this program to help students who are in the United States who may have come from another country who speak another language to gain English fluency and get a GED and then get jobs. And we’re working on that bill right now,” said Kaine to a classroom of students. “I wanted to come today, because I felt like if I saw the classrooms here, and talk to the teachers, talk to the students, I can help persuade my colleagues.”
During his visit, Kaine spoke to students in several classes, including an elementary-level English course.
“You see these students who haven’t been here very long. And … see them go up in front of the board, and they’ve got a U.S. senator there, and they’ve got cameras there,” said Kaine. “It’s hard to learn a new language, but the teachers make it open and fun, and they take away the nervousness or anxiety. You can see the students were tackling this with some real competence.”
Several students told the senator about the challenges of immigration and settling into life in the United States. From an Uzbek oncologist, to Afghan refugees and Ukrainians in the country on humanitarian parole, PVCC Adult Career Education learners come from a wide variety of backgrounds. One common experience, though, is restrictions on working based on visa and immigration status.
“I think we need to make it easier for people to get work visas here, and certainly people who are here lawfully—as you are under an H4 visa,” said Kaine. “We should make it easier to work because every employer that I talk to tells me they’re having a hard time hiring people, the unemployment rate is very low.”
At the end of his visit, Kaine participated in a roundtable discussion with PVCC leaders and students from the center. All emphasized the needs for additional resources and further funding, something the senator echoed his support for.
“The fact that they have to turn students away, new Americans who are excited to get language skills, and then get jobs … we should want folks that have skills in the job,” said Kaine. “I feel like no matter what the lineup, whoever’s president, whoever’s got the majority in either house, JOBS is moving forward, because [of] the low unemployment rate. … WIOA can be a little bit more difficult. Some of WIOA involves provisions dealing with organized labor that Democrats tend to like and Republicans not.”
Homicide investigation
Albemarle County police are investigating a suspected homicide and suicide that occurred last weekend. Robert Shifflett contacted the department on Friday, March 22, to report his wife, Kristie, as missing. The investigation turned from a missing person’s case to a potential homicide after Kristie’s car was reported abandoned and police talked with Shifflett again on Saturday. Shifflett was found dead from a suspected suicide at Rockgate Cemetery on Sunday, March 24; the suspected remains of Kristie Shifflett were discovered in a makeshift grave later the same day. ACPD asks anyone with information to call 296-5808, or make an anonymous report through Crime Stoppers.
Principal of the matter
Charlottesville City Schools announced that Justin Malone has been named the new principal of Charlottesville High School. Malone, who takes the reins on July 1, previously worked as an assistant principal at CHS from 2013 to 2017, and is currently the principal of Jackson-Via Elementary School.
Burnout
The Albemarle County Department of Fire Rescue responded to 19 fire-related calls after an outbreak of wildfires across the region on March 20. Large-scale fires at Taylors Gap, Blackberry Hill, and Piney Mountain burned over 400 acres of land, and led to evacuation orders and a declaration of local emergency. All three fires are now 100 percent contained, and Albemarle County remains under a burn ban until April 30.