Author: Logan Roddy
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Logan Roddy, senior contributor
Amid controversy, superintendent pulls graphic novel from school library
Harrisonburg City Public Schools Superintendent Michael Richards removed the graphic novel “Gender Queer: A Memoir” from the high school’s library this week after people raised concerns at last week’s school board meeting — and following similar objections in school districts in Texas and Northern Virginia.
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City seeks input on housing needs and discrimination
In analyzing impediments to fair housing choices, the city is seeking the public’s input — including with a survey and a forum — to find out what people see as Harrisonburg’s most urgent needs. They will also allow residents to share whether they faced discrimination in their searches for housing.
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School board seeks to make sense of divided recommendations on school resource officers
After the Harrisonburg School Resource Officer Task Force members split over their recommendations regarding police officers assigned to schools, the school board on Thursday decided to extend the current agreement with city police for another month to allow board members more time to decide what’s next.
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‘Scary for democracy’ versus ‘big government control’: Candidates for governor rest their cases
Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin took their bus tours through the Shenandoah Valley on Thursday to make their closing arguments before Tuesday’s gubernatorial election. Both framed the race as offering stark choices with sweeping consequences — just for different reasons, as they staked out opposing positions on education, how to spur economic growth and hot-button social issues that tend to fire up their respective bases.
City lays out a roadmap for spending ARPA funds. Meanwhile, the council is getting frustrated with its internet service.
With more than $23.8 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act on its way to Harrionburg, the city council will spend a work session Nov. 16 — and possibly a second later in the month — working through how to prioritize projects and upgrades.
Rockingham Schools superintendent seeks to quell concerns over student survey
After hearing some concerns from parents and grandparents of children in the Rockingham County Public Schools, Superintendent Oskar Scheikl on Monday sought to clear the air regarding a youth data survey going out to middle and high schoolers, as well as continuing objections to policies regarding transgender students.
Efficient buildings and encouraging electric vehicles on city’s next environmental to-do list
With the city’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory now in hand, members of the Environmental Performance Standards Advisory Committee are itching to connect community resources to start enacting the Environmental Action Plan’s next phases. Coordinating efforts to weatherize Harrisonburg homes and buildings, install more electric car charging stations and replace combustion engine school buses with cleaner versions are all on the to-do list.
Instead of switching its leaders each year, school board mulls changes
In a move billed as a way to promote stability, school board members Deb Fitzgerald and Andy Kohen on Tuesday proposed changing the city’s school board handbook to extend the terms of board chair and vice chair to two calendar years, up from one year. Also at Tuesday’s work session, school staff explained the implantation of new policies for transgender students.
