VA Tech: 2 families awarded $4 million each

Two families have each been awarded $4 million dollars for the wrongful deaths of their children during the VA Tech massacre on April 16, 2007.  The jury ruled that administration and the campus police did not send out an early enough warning of two shootings on campus. The school argued that they thought the shootingdeaths were isolated incidents.

The school has already filed an appeal. The other victims’s families settled out of court.

I am simply not sure how I feel about this jury award.  I just don’t know.  31 more people were killed within the next 3,5 hours after the first shooting.  Had students been warned and gone in to lock down, could lives have been saved?

Read more at the Richmond Times Dispatch.

PWC School Board Disses the Math Department

 

School Days School Days….dear old golden rule days.  Readin’ and Ritin’ and Rithmetic…Taught to the tune of a hickory stick…

There is a nasty little rumor circulating around PWC schools.  That rumor deals with the School Board and the Math  Textbook Selection  Committee.   Rumor has it that the school board selected its own text books and disregarded the work of a committee that had spent 5 months meeting and collaborating.  When one hears rumors like this, it’s best to   turn to videos to see if the rumor is true.

On February 1, the PWC  Math Department  presented the recommendations of the math  textbook adoption  committee  to the PWC School Board.  Mrs. Knight, math supervisor for the county,  gave a  slide presentation which included committee history, methods utilized, and recommendations.  School Board members asked  questions  for clarity regarding the process and the recommendations.   Mrs. Knight answered a continual stream of questions regarding method, participants, conclusions. Her answers appeared honest and direct.

The Textbook Committee involved well over  100 teachers, principals, and parents representing all different grade levels.  There were sub committees that matched content from each  text book series to the curriculum, compared and contrasted  grade level content , evaluated vertical strands, and held on average 16 hours per person of collegial discussion  about the text books being scrutinized.  Evaluations were put in rubric form and recorded anecdotally.

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