Matthew Haas
School Bus Safety Week, Scottsville Elementary School

Good Friday Morning, Everyone! I hope you are doing well today and that you are taking care of yourself as well as you take care of our students, your colleagues, and families! 

This week was School Bus Safety Week, and I know our schools found great ways to let our bus drivers know how special they are during this time when we show appreciation. Our whole transportation department deserves appreciation! I especially want to thank Charmane White, Jennifer Green, Michel’le Franklin, and Amanda Richardson for getting me up to speed and for supporting me as I drove an afternoon bus route for Woodbrook each day this week. I started out wanting to show appreciation to our drivers, but I think I got more out of the experience than anyone else as I enjoyed spending time driving and interacting with such fun and lively young people. Thank you!

 

On Monday morning, I had a wonderful visit to Scottsville Elementary School, where I was joined by Jack Jouett School Board Representative Kate Acuff and Scottsville Representative Ellen Osborne. I also had an additional special guest: County Executive Jeff Richardson. You all remember Jeff’s awesome remarks from our convocation in August!

 

 

While Kate and Ellen toured Scottsville with Principal Art Stow, Jeff and I visited classrooms with Assistant Principal Christa Livermon. 

During our walk, we visited Collette Bahn and Colleen Murphy’s 1st grade; Jonathan Norwood, Jessica Lundgren, and Carla Haislip’s 1st grade; Elizabeth Cox and Cathy Cummings’s 2nd grade (also UVA graduate student Kameron Cummings); and Matthew Bahn’s 5th grade. We also had a chance to touch base with Cafeteria Staff Sara Herndon and Kara Redman.

Colette Bahn was working with students on sounding out letters and words, and celebrating each success! Jonathan Norwood’s students were getting ready to complete an assessment of their knowledge about triangles. Elizabeth Cox’s students were reviewing their own writing through journal entries and getting ready to share out summaries. Fifth graders in Matthew Bahn’s class had gone out to take measurements of the soon-to-be playground area near their classroom, and they were making choices and space calculations while planning proposals for playground equipment!

Thank you to all the students and staff of Scottsville Elementary School for having Kate, Ellen, Jeff, and  me for a visit. I am always impressed with all of our ACPS educators, and it was great to share you and your work with Jeff. 

 

Media links for you! 

Dan Redding, our Executive Director of Human Resources, appeared on NBC-29 to talk about the recent division-wide compensation study and next steps: NBC 29 Community Conversation

In keeping with National Cybersecurity Month in October, several of our Center 1 students and staff recently visited Meriwether Lewis to talk with students about how to keep safe when using the Internet:

Center One Shares Cybersecurity Tips with Kids 

5th-Graders at Meriwether Lewis Elementary Learn about Cybersecurity 

This also is National School Bus Driver Safety Week and our transportation team has now surpassed 14 million safe miles.  The team covers more than 14,000 miles a day on more than 550 individual bus routes.  Here's a video that salutes them for their excellent service and dedication:

National School Bus Driver Safety Week 

On a serious note, public radio recently reported on the increasing number of false social media threats against schools in Virginia and around our country.  Our Community Engagement team is planning an upcoming community forum on this important topic:False Threats Barrage Schools in Virginia and Beyond 

 

Upcoming Events and Observances: