Category: Harrisonburg Issues

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Residents and teachers vent to school board about controversial issues and educators being stretched too thin

More than two hours of public comments dominated Tuesday’s Harrisonburg school board meeting as about 20 speakers voiced opinions on several different issues. The jumbling of topics — where one person would talk about working conditions at elementary schools while the next speaker addressed higher suicide rates among LGBTQ+ students followed by another person playing a gospel song to punctuate her point — gave the meeting, at times, the feel of a local political fever dream.

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Judge’s ruling says plaintiffs failed to show that school policies about student names and pronouns violated parents’ rights

In an apparent win for the Harrisonburg School Board, Rockingham County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Baugher denied a motion for a temporary injunction on the district’s policies and approaches related to students’ gender identities and pronouns.

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‘Their actions are hurting us’: How HHS students have turned up their advocacy against critics  

Ellie Tjaden, Lee Jenkins and Finn Maddox, students at Harrisonburg High School and members of the Gay-Straight Alliance, have weathered COVID shutdowns, masking and remote learning as part of their high school experience. But they have also experienced another strange phenomenon. 

New director of Massanutten Regional Library likes what he sees

Since beginning his new job on Nov. 7, Zachary Elder has checked out an audio book to help pass the time on an eight-hour car ride, picked out a printed guidebook on the 50 best day hikes in the Shenandoah Valley and started taking a course to improve his Microsoft Excel skills – all from his new place of employment

Harrisonburg’s Election 2022: Why turnout among certain voters might have lagged

Voter turnout in this month’s general election was lower than the last midterm in 2018, but to Mark Finks, Harrisonburg’s registrar, turnout matched expectations. Finks said there was an uptick in young voters locally, but their turnout rates still appear lower than what was seen nationally.

Architect's drawing of a new building

City braces for higher construction costs, including public works building and potentially the new homeless shelter 

Concerns about ballooning construction costs for the city’s homeless services center and low barrier shelter prompted the city council to hold off on finalizing a plan Tuesday for spending its $23.8 million in federal American Recovery Plan Act funds.

HDR receives $90,000 grant for music series; now seeks sponsors, volunteers

Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance learned Tuesday from the Levitt Foundation that Harrisonburg was one of 15 localities chosen around the country for the grant, signaling the start of more hard work to make the series happen.

Flu, respiratory illness hitting central Shenandoah Valley, Virginia hard

Rockingham County Public Schools urged parents last week not to send their children to school with flu-like symptoms as cases of the virus climb across the area and region. Meanwhile, Sentara RMH is seeing more patients with flu-like and respiratory illnesses.

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