Dive-rescue team responds to man in two feet of water in a creek. #
Twice as many students drop out of CHS than county schools, Rachana Dixit and Brandon Shulleeta write in today’s Daily Progress. The state Department of Education has just released the results of a four year longitudinal study, and some of the results are a bit different than conventional wisdom. 13.2% of kids who entered CHS in 2004 have left without a degree, compared to a state average of 8.7%, and a county rate of 6.5%. Turning the statewide standard on its head, females at CHS are slightly more likely to drop out than males (13.3% vs. 13%). In the county, black and white students drop out at the same rate, which is significantly different than the 12% and 6% dropout rates, respectively, statewide. In the city, 15.4% of black students drop out, which is slightly higher than the overall rate.
Spokeswoman Cass Cannon tells the Progress that the city schools are already working on the problem:
We certainly have moved to address our dropout rate and we’ve more than doubled our programs to support high school graduation. We have things in motion to address what we’ve known, but that won’t show up for years to come.
Mayor Dave Norris suggests that the problem may actually be worse than this, telling the paper that he’s heard of kids dropping out after middle school.
This method of tracking is totally new. Dropouts used to be tracked annually, rather than in four-year groupings. So if a kid finished his freshman year, and didn’t come back in his sophomore year, he wasn’t recorded as a dropout. This new methodology is designed to address that problem.
The city is having second thoughts about shutting down the McIntire Park wading pool, Rachana Dixit writes in today’s Daily Progress, in response to citizen complaints. It’s all because of the The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, a 2007 bill that actually failed in congress, but passed when lumped into a comprehensive energy bill. The new law requires “anti-entrapment drain covers” in pools and spas, addressing the approximately one death annually from children who get hung up in the drains. Pools around the country are hustling to upgrade their drains to be compliant, since the law went into effect in December. The city figured it’d cost $15,000-$20,000 to make the upgrades. In addition, the ancient pool has a serious leak (the 67,000 gallon pool had 275,000 gallons put into it last year), and it’s going to be awfully close to the planned bypass/McIntire interchange.
Mayor Dave Norris wants to reconsider the whole thing, though, and is putting it up for discussion and a vote at an upcoming City Council meeting. Hawes Spencer, of The Hook, was apparently dubious of the cost of the drain upgrade, and did a little shopping around—he found that the hardware should cost closer to $2,000. That still leaves the questions of the proximity to the interchange and the leak, which is presumably what Council will be sorting out at their next meeting.
North Garden Democrat Madison Cummings intends to run for the Samuel Miller seat on the Board of Supervisors, Brian Wheeler reports for Charlottesville Tomorrow. That’s the seat currently held by independent Sally Thomas, who hasn’t yet said whether or not she intends to run for reelection. Lisa Provence talked to Thomas for The Hook, and Thomas reiterated that she isn’t going to say a thing until after the budget is finalized on April 8. It seems unlikely that Cummings would run against Thomas, so either this means that he’s got some inside knowledge that she won’t be running for reelection, or he’d drop out if she decided to run after all. Wheeler asked the retired pharmacist that most important of questions for a candidate—why he’s running—and Cummings responded:
I love Albemarle. I think it is a great place. We have a lot of great things going on and I don’t want to see us go backwards. Education and social service issues are very important to me, but so are public safety matters. I want to see us keep making progress and going forward
You’ll recall that Republican John Lowry is already in the race, though he’s not said if he’ll be affiliated with a party. Thomas told The Hook that “there are at least three Democrats” considering running for her seat, and that a Republican may be thinking about running, too. This may prove to be a very lively race.
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