Near West End

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – Mandy Friend used her junior season to set new standards for the Richmond women’s lacrosse program.  Friend has been named to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Association’s All-South Regional Second Team.  The native of Canandaigua, N.Y. also set six new records this season as a Spider, breaking four single-season bests and two career highs. 

 This is the third-straight IWLCA All-Regional honor for the midfielder.  Friend was named to First Team in both her freshman and sophomore seasons.  Also in her first two years at Richmond Friend picked up Third Team All-American and Rookie All-American honors her first year along with a spot on the All-American Second Team as a sophomore.

 

Besides earning national recognition for her play in 2008, Friend has set six new school records at Richmond.  The junior is now the owner of three single-season records in Spider history.  In 2007, Friend scored 62 goals, taking over the top spot from Caroline McGuire.    

 [via UR press release]

The Richmond School Board tentatively approved the Patrick Henry Charter School last night. Hills and Heights has a play by play of the meeting. And the Times-Dispatch covers it in today’s paper as well.

Voting in favor of the application were Dawson, Bridges, Carr, West, and Braxton. Voting against were Smith and Wilson. Wolf abstained.

SHIRLEY VALENTINE and DRIVING MISS DAISY — Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern announces open auditions for both of these shows tomorrow, 7 to 9 p.m. at Barksdale Theatre’s Willow Lawn location, 1601 Willow Lawn Drive. (Both shows will be presented at Barksdale Theatre’s Hanover Tavern location.) All roles are open, and actors are paid. No appointments necessary. Those auditioning should come prepared to read from the scripts. For details, call (804) 783-1688 ext. 13.

“Shirley Valentine” by Willie Russell will run July 11 through Aug. 24. Barksdale is looking for one woman who can play a 42-year-old British housewife. “Driving Miss Daisy” by Alfred Uhry will run Sept. 19 through Oct. 26. Barksdale seeks one white woman who can play a Southern woman age 72 to 97, one black man who can play her chauffeur, age 60 to 85, and one white man who can play her son, age 40 to 65.

[via]

Hi all. As you may know, the NWEN blog has a Twitter account that sends updates to everyone following it every time we post an article on the blog. Great way for those in the “Twitterverse” to keep in touch with news and events going on around the NWEN community.

I’d like to also mention a new Twitter group account that allows follows to send dog-related playgroups and events to the group’s followers. Been using it a lot to let everyone know about related events around the NWEN area. However, it’s cool to use for letting everyone know about events all around the RVA metro area too!

The name of the group is RVADogPlayGrp. Simply follow it and you’ll have to the ability to let everyone know events by sending a “DM” (direct message) to the group. More details/how-to’s here.

Happy “play dog grouping”! :)

Deborah Jewell-Sherman, Richmond Public Schools Superintendent was just named the  Virginia Superintendent of the year.  And, if you blinked you might not have noticed the local coverage as  School Board Rep, Kim Bridges points out. 

Here is a message that she sent out to the Mary Munford community via the PTA e-newsletter:

*** Message from Kim Bridges, 1st District School Board Representative ***
Bridges For Schools Update - May 2008

It’s official:  Richmond has the best in Virginia
If you blinked (or didn’t read all the way past the obituaries) you might have missed it, but Dr. Jewell Sherman was named Virginia Superintendent of the Year on Tuesday evening.  
After being selected as one of eight regional finalists, she was chosen by a group representing superintendents, PTA, the state Department of Education, the Virginia School Boards Association, and the business community.  It’s quite an honor, and Richmond’s superintendent will now proceed to the national award level along with the best of the best across the nation.  She deserves our congratulations and thanks–and if you feel so inclined, you may reach her at djewell@richmond.k12.va.us.

A Tale of Two Systems?
The statewide recognition illustrates a point that has been vexing me for some time.  The current status of Richmond Public Schools could be, to borrow from Dickens, “A Tale of Two Systems.”  (Even the first line of A Tale of Two Cities rings true for RPS.  Extra credit to any fellow English major or avid reader who can prove your recall of the novel’s opening–no googling allowed!)  It’s not just me; others have noticed that the state and national perspective of RPS differs considerably from the local perspective.   I’ve been examining that disconnect and have asked Councilman Tyler if we could delve into it at the next 1st District Town Hall meeting on May 28.  Please join us at Mary Munford that evening at 7:00 p.m. for a dialogue on “Perception and our Public Schools.”  I’ll be inviting members of the media to attend as well, as a number of 1st District folks have approached me to ask, “What’s up with the coverage of RPS?”  I think it will be an interesting and productive discussion - please come.

More chances to talk
Speaking of dialogues and the attributes of a successful superintendent, the school board is hosting several public forums to hear from the community about what we want in our next superintendent. These four public forums will be a critical first step in beginning the superintendent search process.  The 1st District will host the forum at TJ on May 14 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and I’ll share the other dates below.

Progressing Procurement and Improving Infrastructure
Hopefully you got the chance to read about the actions taken so far to improve the school system’s procurement woes.  

The statewide expert has begun his work to “reengineer” the entire department.  With his guidance, that process should be done by July 1.

I received another promising report at yesterday’s school board Facilities and Operations committee meeting.  With city council’s support in the upcoming budget, RPS is looking ahead to an unprecedented level of capital projects for ADA upgrades, City of the Future new/renovated school construction, and yearly maintenance/critical repairs next year.  The list of schools that need funds for HVAC, roof and other repairs are the most critical and time sensitive of the maintenance projects–not niceties but necessity to keep children protected from the elements during the school day.  These old buildings may be solid and beautiful, but they need on-going care to keep them functional.  Please thank council members for putting the funding in place for these projects as they finalize the city budget.

Don’t sit on the sidelines!
There’s much more to talk about, but I’m going to end with upcoming school board dates and a promise to touch on additional topics in the days ahead.

May 14 @ 6 p.m. - Public Forum on our superintendent search at TJ
May 17 @ 10 a.m. - Public Forum on our superintendent search at Lucille Brown
May 19 @ 6 p.m. - School Board meeting
May  21 @ 6 p.m. - Public Forum on our superintendent search at Franklin Military Academy
May 28 @ 6 p.m. - Public Forum on our superintendent search at Holton
May 28 @ 7 p.m. - 1st District Town Hall meeting featuring discussion of “Perception and our Public Schools”