NBC 29’s Paul Merrill broke the story last night that Caroline County Assistant Superintendent Rosa Atkins has been offered the position of Charlottesville School Superintendent. She has reportedly submitted her resignation to her current employer, which seems to indicate that it’s a deal.
The city will hold a press conference this afternoon to make the announcement.
6:30pm Update: It’s official.
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on four six and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #
Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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I’m certainly not surprised by the outcome. Is anyone really? Selecting a candidate who was anything other than a black female, would’ve opened up the school board up to more criticism by the local race hustlers, and by default continued the Scottie Griffin nastiness.
At least this now allows everyone the opportunity to put all that behind, move forward and focus on what was really important to begin with- improving the quality of education for students who may otherwise be falling thru the cracks.
Heh…nope. Once we had an idea of the finalists, it was a very easy call. Many people noted at the time that this would be the obvious price of ridding ourselves of Griffin, that there would be a ‘litmus test’ this time out.
Time will tell what Ms. (?) Atkins turns out to be as a super. I would make the following observations: she appears to have good job stability; a record of very steady advancement up through the ranks; a history in a very comparable system, close enough for people inside and outside our system to check her out via informal networks; and finally, someone we are catching ‘on her way up’ – probably the only type of quality candidate we can realistically afford. I know all this is a kind of Pollyanna tea leaf reading.
This will be Atkins’ first time in the big seat, so I’m betting (and hoping) we get a lot, lot less of the ‘my way or the high-way’ nonsense – hopefully she will genuinely take input from Thompson, Purnell and Ivory, but most importantly, from the Principals. The accepted widsom of the “community” notwithstanding, the poor performance of some students, the “GAP” and challenges to AYP are not the result of racist incompetents that can be fixed by ‘cleaning house’. There are a number of people inside the system who have a solid, nuanced understanding of the challenges, and some ideas for addressing them. The progress over the past year, in spite of Griffin, demonstrates that.