November 2012
The Greater Raleigh Court Civic League
www.grccl.org
R a l e i g h C o u r t — A H i s t o r I C A L N E I G H B O R H OO D L OO K I N G F O R WA R D
Education is Not a Spectator Sport
By Parke Loesel
On November 8, we are pleased to host Dr. Rita Bishop, Superintendent, and David Carson, School Board Chairman, of the Roanoke City Schools as guest speakers. We look forward to another lively assessment and overview of the city schools’ educational programs. City school students began their academic year in August and have already finished the end of their first grading period. Athletic games have begun, bands are playing, students’ clubs have meet, PTA’s and fundraisers have been announced, testing dates are scheduled, college visits abound and a swirl of activity sets the stage for another year of challenges, growth, some anxiety for students, teachers, and parents alike as well as a renewed sense of responsibility. What does this mean and where is education going? Education is not a spectator sport. In this electronic age, students are plugged in, and their fingers are able to walk across the world every day. With schools investing in computers and smartboards, everyone has greater access to worldwide learning and teaching. The Roanoke City School website, www.rcps.info mentioned that the first districtwide conference of (ELL), English Language Learners was held for parents in September. Mobility is a way of life and
Inside This Issue President’s Message..................................................... 3 Roanoke City Schools Grant Program.......................... 4 Things You Need to Know........................................... 6 Education is Not a Spectator Sport (Con’t).................. 7 “Salvage Dawgs” Set to Premiere................................. 9 The Dan Wright Trailhead Unoficially Adopted......... 10
a rewarding investment is welcoming students of differing cultures, language, and backgrounds into the school system. There are many challenges in today’s school environment, and just as many acronyms to learn such as (ESEA) the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, (AMO) annual measurable objectives, (GCI) Graduation and Completion Index and (SOL) Standards of Learning. There are indexes, benchmarks for test scores, grade levels rates, graduation rates, measures, high scores, low scores, improvement rates, achievement gaps, “priority schools” and, thank goodness, improved student performance. If you would like to absorb more information on schools, the Virginia Department of Education website, www.doe.virginia.gov/ contains additional material. In the school enriched environment, teachers, students and volunteer parents work together in creative and exciting programs. Tutoring, library assistance, clothing drives, computer lab partners, business partners, Congregations in Action partners, and school supply drives all contribute to educational needs and become a unifying commitment to education. And we are all aware of or have attended student art shows, plays, concerts, and other events which make for a well-rounded educational system. (continued on p.7)
Meeting Announcement Neighborhood Meeting to Focus On Schools
What’s new and different in our city school system? Are we adding more technology? Are students going off to college in larger numbers? What about classroom size? Those questions and more can be asked of our guest speakers at the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League meeting on Thursday, November 8 at 7 pm. Dr. Rita Bishop, Superintendent, and David Carson, School Board Chairman, of Roanoke City Schools will be guest speakers. The meeting will take place in the Fellowship Hall of Christ Lutheran Church at the corner of Grandin and Brandon Avenue. The meeting is open to the public.
Greater Raleigh Court Civic League Officers 2011-2012 OFFICERS
Jenny Prickitt
President: : Jake Gilmer
antiquesbuyjenny@aol.com
jake.gilmer@gmail.com
Immediate Past President:
Vice-President: Vacant Treasurer: Chad Braby – Interim chadbraby12@gmail.com Recording Secretary: Cassandra Van Hyning cvanhyning@spectrumpc.com Corresponding Secretary: Vacant
Directors at Large: Parke Loesel
chadbraby12@gmail.com
COMMITTEE CHAIRS:
Adopt-a-Highway: Derek and Stacy Lam lam324fam@gmail.com
Web & Social Media: Vacant
Program: Parke Loesel JKPLoesel@aol.com
Matt Pritts
Jake Gilmer - Interim
mgraves@wdbj7.com
Grandin Road Merchants Liaison: Jenny Prickitt antiquesbuyjenny@aol.com
Membership: Martha Graves
Newsletter Editor & Advertising::
Martha Graves
Building Management: Carl Cress carl.cress@edwardjones.com
Chad Braby
JKPLoesel@aol.com
pritts@woodsrogers.com
Greenways: Mike Urbanski mike_urbanski@cox.net
Special Projects: Tony Stavola astavola@carilion.com
The Court Reporter is published by the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League five times a year on or about the first week of September, November, January, March, and May.
Project2
page 2
8/3/11
10:18 AM
Page 1
From the President My family and I moved to Roanoke and the Raleigh Court neighborhood in 2005, and since then have experienced some major changes to our schools. During the first couple of years we chronicled the demolition of the deteriorating Patrick Henry High School and its transformation into a unified, state-ofthe-art facility. We now look out each day to a beautiful campus that welcomes students and anyone passing through our neighborhood. Next was the construction of the Patrick Henry High Stadium, which came after much debate and community discussion. It is now home to packed crowds on Friday nights and a multitude of other sporting events throughout the year. Lastly, I have seen the closure of Raleigh Court Elementary and the redrawing of attendance zones across the city. Each of these changes has had both short- and long-term effects on the education of our children and we look forward to hearing about the state of our schools at our November 8th neighborhood meeting.
Station #7 on Memorial Avenue. Big Dog is a giant sculpture of a Dalmatian, which stood for nearly two years in our neighborhood and is now to be re-installed as permanent public art.
Lastly, many of your will receive a mailing later this year reminding you to renew your annual memberships dues. If you haven’t heard, dues expire at the end of the December and should be renewed early in 2013. Joining or renewing is easy at grccl.org/membership or you can use the membership form on the back page of the newsletter. Have a great Autumn!
Speaking of neighborhood events, there are several past and upcoming ones that I would like to highlight. The Civic League is proud to have co-hosted the secondannual Grandin Chillage series with the Grandin Village Business Association. The August, September, and October Chillage’s were a great success with over 1000 people attending and raising funds to support the Grandin Village Community Market. The event also brought additional energy and patrons to support village businesses. We would like to thank Carey Shaffner for his leadership in organizing the Chillage and look forward to another great season next fall. In only a few weeks (November 17th), we will again partner with the business association coordinate the Grandin Children’s Holiday Parade, which invites families and children from throughout the region to “parade” down Grandin Road. We are proud to announce that this year’s event will feature the return of our beloved “Big Dog”, who will “chase” Santa’s fire engine all the way to his home at page 3
Calendar Green Living & Energy Expo Fri. & Sat., Nov. 4-5 – Roanoke Civic Center
Election Day Tue. Nov. 6
Raleigh Court Neighborhood Meeting Thurs, Nov. 8, 7:00 pm
Alternative Gift Fare
Sat., Nov. 3, 10AM-2PM – Raleigh Court United Methodist Church
Grandin Children’s Holiday Parade Sat, Nov 17, 11:00 am
Roanoke City Schools Grant Program
By Chad Braby
One of the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League’s success stories of the past several years is the creation of the Roanoke City Public Schools grant program. In an effort to continue and enhance our partnership with local schools, we set aside money in our budget to do… something. As usual, the devil was in the details. With advice from school Administration, we came down on creating one $1,000 grant to be awarded to a neighborhood school classroom, and one $500 award to be given to a teacher in a neighborhood school. To keep things a little simpler in the first year of the initiative, we decided to limit the grant and award to our four neighborhood elementary schools; Grandin Court, Virginia Heights, Wasena, and Fishburn Park. We set a goal of including the secondary schools in the future if the program grew wings. Last October, an informal committee came together and worked out some of the details. It was important that the grant and award both have a component of instilling the values of community to students. After all, GRCCL is all about building community. Applications were created, and with the assistance of RCPS, distributed to teachers and administrators. In addition to demonstrating a commitment to community, we requested that grant applicants show that the funds would be used for a project that could benefit current and future students. We also crafted application questions to direct teachers toward a project or use that promoted environmental stewardship. We were very pleased with the submissions. We received a number of applications from each of the four schools, and heard some extremely creative and exciting project proposals. Perhaps the most challenging part of the initiative was choosing only one recipient out of the
many deserving applications. In the end, one stood out. Lynn Pagans, the librarian at Fishburn Park Elementary, wrote a proposal to purchase books for their library. The books would be environmentally themed, and Ms. Pagans committed to our desire to build community via a mantra of “Think globally, act locally”. We staged a surprise award announcement in her library in early January and received some quality coverage from several local media outlets. We also received nominations for the Teacher Award, using similar criteria. The winning nominee was Tracy Nielsen, Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Virginia Heights Elementary. Her glowing nomination detailed Ms. Nielsen’s tireless effort in working hearing impaired preschool students. We presented her our award at the City’s Teacher Recognition Banquet in May. It was a fabulous event, and we were fortunate to have the opportunity to contribute to the recognition of RCPS’ outstanding teachers. In whole, the first year of the grant program was an unqualified success. We accomplished our goal of strengthening ties with Roanoke City Public Schools and provided funding for a project that will serve current and future students. For icing on the cake, we received enough recognition for a job well done that a benefactor provided a challenge donation to expand the program in subsequent years. We’re proud to announce our Board has agreed to meet the challenge, and allocated $2,500 for this year’s grant program. Again, the devil is in the details, and the details are still being finalized, but we anticipate including James Madison and Woodrow Wilson Middle Schools and Patrick Henry High School in the fun this year.
page 4
1316 Grandin Rd. Roanoke VA 24015 Open Tuesday through Sunday
981-1340 Dine-In or carry out
Online ordering gracesplacepizzeria.com
healthy choices 1319 Grandin Road Roanoke,VA 24015 (540) 343-5652 8 am - 9 pm, Every Day www.roanokenaturalfoods.coop
Your Insurance Agent Should be Down to Earth, And Down the Street!
CommonSenseBanking FOR THE WAY YOU LIVE
Do you buy your insurance from an agent that “SELLS” insurance or do you buy it from a Trusted Advisor that “KNOWS” insurance? Auto Home Life Health
OutrageousRewards FOR THE WAY YOU BANK
Lisa Wright (540) 342-2626
Roanoke County Farm Bureau 1422 Grandin Rd, S.W. Roanoke, VA 24015 www.farmbureauadvantage.com
Call Today
Member FDIC
Research all the benefits of MyLifestyle Checking by visiting our website www.myvalleybank.com page 5
Lisa KNOWS insurance Anthem Health Plans of Virginia, Inc. trades as Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia, and its service area is all of Virginia except for the City of Fairfax, the Town of Vienna, and the area east of State Route 123. Independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ® ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
Things You Need to Know City of Roanoke Bagged Leaf Collection Schedule
Your Vote Counts on November 6, 2012 This year, Election Day falls on Tuesday, November 6 with polls opening at 6 am and closing at 7 pm.
Loose leaf collection is not provided by the City; however they will collect bagged leaves. This fall’s bagged leaf collection will begin the week of Nov. 12th and is scheduled on your regular trash collection day. There will be three pickups on alternating weeks until December 14th. More information can be found at roanokeva.gov.
Virginia registered voters received new voter ID registration cards by mail from the State Board of Elections. Voters also learned of a new polling location for Raleigh Court #4, Precinct which was formerly the Raleigh Court Elementary School. The new precinct location is the Lakeland Masonic Lodge #190 at 2742 Grandin Road. This occurrence was due to electrical problems at the old school gym and was the only precinct change for this upcoming General and Special Elections according to personnel in the Roanoke Registrar’s office.
Alternative Gift Fare The Raleigh Court United Methodist Church is hosting its annual Alternative Gift Fair on Saturday, November 3 from 10:00-2:00 pm. There will be a variety of handmade items for unique gifts as well as local charities in which a donation can honor friends and family. All proceeds will go to support UMW mission projects. Lunch will also be available.
“Salvage Dawgs” Set to Premiere Nov. 8th on DIY Network Don’t miss the premiere of Salvage Dawgs, featuring Black Dog Architectural Salvage! Set your DVRs Episode 1 will air: Thursday 11/8 @ 11pm, Friday 11/9 @ 9pm and Saturday 11/10 @ 8am on the DIY Network - use this link to find your local channel: http://diynetwork2.viewerlink.tv/
Registered voters can also display other forms of acceptable ID on Election Day for voting purposes. This includes a valid driver’s license, or a valid employee ID with photograph. More information on acceptable forms of ID and voting is available at www.sbe.virginia. gov One way to view an official copy of the sample ballot for Election Day, November 6 is by visiting Roanoke’s website, Roanokeva.gov. Click on Residents, then drop down to Registrar and on the left is a menu. On this year’s General and Special Elections ballot, voters will see listed Republican Party and Democratic Party candidates for President and Vice-President as well as the Constitution Party, Libertarian Party and Green Party candidates. Also, the ballot will list the United States Senate candidates and the House of Representatives --Sixth Congressional District --candidates. Two proposed constitutional amendments will be listed on this year’s November 6 ballot.
Grandin Children’s Holiday Parade Will be held Saturday November 17 at 11 am. The event is organized by the Grandin Village Business Association and the Civic League assists with providing volunteers for traffic control at the closed cross streets. We need volunteers. It’s easy, you can watch the parade with your family while wearing a snazzy orange vest. Contact Chad Braby at chadbraby12@gmail.com. Thanks!!
page 6
Education is Not a Spectator Sport
Interested in Advertising with us? Please contact:
J ake G ilmer
(continued from p.1)
jake.gilmer@gmail.com • 540-904-2051
At the same time, we have read and heard about the troubling aspects of student behavior which are a challenging part of school life. Sometime, school personnel must deal with the reality and effects of drugs, alcohol, or teen pregnancy. As one who has been a classroom teacher in another Virginia locality, and, as a parent, who has served on PTA boards, County Council, advisory committees and as PTSA President, I have experienced both sides of the educational system. Today’s students are leap years ahead of my time in the classroom and new learning opportunities abound for the students of tomorrow.
Consignment Boutique
Furniture, Clothing, Art, & More What was once Out is now back In!!! For the Latest Trends, Shop at
1322 Grandin Rd • 540-982-2022
Behind Reid’s Furnishings Where quality and service still exist.
Owner Geoff Jennings (formerly with Frank L. Moose) With 39 years experience, offers exceptional quality and service
1919 Westover Avenue, SW 540-345-8881 Mon. by Appt.; Tues-Fri 10am-5:30pm; Sat. 10am-3:30pm
page 7
•Aeration •Mowing •Mulching • Tr i m m i n g S h r u b s • Tr e e W o r k
page 8
“Salvage Dawgs” Set to Premiere Nov. 8th on DIY Network Architectural enthusiasts and fans of Virginia-based Black Dog Salvage Inc., Sally the “black dog”, and lovers of historical treasures have a new way to share their passion when the DIY Network premieres the original documentarystyle series, Salvage Dawgs, Thursday, Nov. 8 at 11pm EST. and again Friday, Nov. 9 at 9pm EST. Co-produced by Trailblazer Studios and Figure 8 Films, Salvage Dawgs chronicles the adventures of Robert Kulp and Mike Whiteside, owners of Southwestern Virginia-based Black Dog Salvage. Each episode leaves audiences laughing, inspired, and amazed as they stay just ahead of the wrecking ball to reclaim a wide range of vintage architectural elements and oddities. The salvaged materials go in a dazzling number of directions, from being incorporated into new “old” houses to being transformed into one-of-a-kind furniture and art featured on their warehouse floor and website.
“We are saving America, one house part at a time,” said owner Robert Kulp. “It’s satisfying to know that these architectural treasures will live on and be appreciated across the country.” In the premiere episode of Salvage Dawgs, the Black Dog crew salvages the Izard House, a 14-room farmhouse built in the 1890s that was said to have served as a schoolhouse and post office; the center of a long lost farming community in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. Throughout the series, Kulp strives to run a tight ship with his eye on the bottom line -- while spirited Whiteside wreaks havoc, tearing through old homes and buildings – finding treasure in the most unexpected places and making things happen – even under the most challenging circumstances. “Architectural salvage is not just about sledgehammers – sometimes it’s about surgical precision,” says Kulp. Whiteside adds, “I’ll stick with the big hammer.” Both Mike & Robert demonstrate a natural talent for horse trading, an exuberant love of history and a creative vision for turning old relics into treasure. DIY Network will air the first episode of Salvage Dawgs on Thursday, Nov. 8 at 11pm, again on Friday, Nov. 9 at 9pm and Saturday, Nov. 10 at 8am, EST. Check your local cable or satellite provider for times and channels.
page 9
The Dan Wright Trailhead – Unofficially Adopted Retired, Well Not Exactly Bill and Anne Hackworth recently “retired” and chose to stay in our beautiful neighborhood. Not only are they staying, but they have unofficially “adopted” the Dan Wright Trailhead as one of their many retirement projects. In recent months, they have chopped down weeds, cleared out the flower beds, spread two dump truck loads of mulch, trimmed the trees, installed a waterbar on the trail, removed the debris pile that was there, and painted over some graffiti. Raleigh Court is blessed to have them and we thank them for all their help.
Marching to a Different Tune The rakes were out. The spades and hoes were pummeling the ground as members of the Woodrow Wilson Middle School band dug out weeds and discarded debris strangling the trees and native plants at the trailhead of the Murray Run Greenway. The group included sixth through eighth grade students, parents and Band Director, Victor Tuck, who spearheaded the effort. They worked energetically on this project for two hours on a recent Saturday in October. The work included clearing weeds at the entrance sign honoring Dan Wright. Sponsored by the Civic League, this partnership benefits our community, the school and its students.
page 10
page 11
Greater Raleigh Court Civic League P.O. Box 3092 Roanoke, VA 24015 Address Service Requested
Membership Form
q new member q renewing member
New members are welcome to join the Civic League at any time. Your mailing label shows when it’s time to renew your membership. You may pay your dues at the next membership meeting. Multiyear or life memberships are welcome! The Civic League is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. Donations may be claimed as charitable deductions for tax purposes. Please mail your membership dues ($10 family, $15 business, or $100 life membership) or gifts to: GRCCL, P.O. Box 3092, Roanoke, VA 24015 Or go to www.grccl.org and click on “JOIN US” to fill out a membership application online. Name Address
E-mail Address
City
State
Home Phone
Business Phone
Amount Enclosed I’d like to help out with:
ZIP
Donation q in memory of q in honor of