Julie Rechel, age 20, of the University of Richmond, finished as the first place female at the Twenty-12 Talent Identification Triathlon in Tuscaloosa, Alabama this weekend. She won the race with at time of 1:06:57.
Sunday’s race was a chance for USA Triathlon or USAT officials to scout and develop talent for the Olympic Games in 2012 or 2016.

Rechel, a student at the University of Richmond, said she didn’t expect to be out front on the bike in the women’s race. “I just held on and brought it home on the run,” she said.

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Fred S. Morton IV, superintendent of Henrico County Public Schools, has been elected to serve a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the American Association of School Administrators, starting July 1. AASA is the professional organization for school superintendents and other school system leaders nationwide.

As a member of the AASA Executive Committee, Morton will review and approve the association’s strategic plan and budget. The Executive Committee meets four times each year and conducts the ongoing business of the organization. The Executive Committee works with AASA’s Governing Board, which sets the policy agenda for the association.
AASA, founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more than 13,000 educational leaders across America and in many other countries. AASA’s mission is to support and develop effective school system leaders who are dedicated to the highest quality public education for all children.

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The location of the April 10 symposium kicking off the inauguration of Edward L. Ayers as president of the University of Richmond has been changed to accommodate high demand for tickets.

“New Perspectives on the American Civil War” will be held on campus at the Robins Center at 4:30 p.m. April 10. A book-signing by the three panelists — Ayers, Harvard University president and history professor Drew Gilpin Faust, and University of Virginia professor of the Civil War Gary W. Gallagher — will follow.

Ticket requests have significantly exceeded the capacity of the originally scheduled location, 600-seat Camp Concert Hall, and continue to come in. Admission is free and open to the public, but advance online registration is required at inauguration.richmond.edu. For more information, call 804-287-1800.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak at the University of Richmond tomorrow. Let’s hope he has something good to say about the economy! As for me, my entire tax refund and economic stimulus check, and vacation allowance will be going towards a new $3,000 transmission in husband’s car. Wonder how much that will do for the local economy.

The national spotlight will be on Richmond tomorrow when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak to the World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond.

About 235 business representatives are expected to attend the sold-out luncheon at the University of Richmond. An overflow room for students and others also will be filled, said council President Randolph Bell, former U.S. ambassador at large.

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As a recipient of the Mary Munford PTA emails, I received this message from our school board rep, Kim Bridges. Sounds like she’s taking things in the right direction. What do you think?

Message From Kim Bridges, 1st District Representative to the RPS School Board
Dear 1st District community and other RPS stakeholders,

As you know, the long-awaited results of the city auditor’s review of RPS Purchasing and Accounts Payable came out last week. As you also know, it wasn’t pretty. After a preliminary review, it’s been my weekend study, and with the turn of nearly every page my heart sank. Now, the only bright side of this audit is that the school board and superintendent had requested this audit last April and began the revamping of Finance & Operations six months ago. Lots of change has taken place since then and I highlighted some of that in my last update. For the audit, we knew that the findings would be very similar to the audit of the city’s procurement services, so the superintendent and interim chief of Finance and Operations started work on many recommendations well before the audit was done. As a result, 21 of the 102 recommendations have already been addressed and a plan is in place for over half of the recommendations to be implemented by summer.

If you’ve read any of my previous updates, you know I am a huge supporter of public education and of RPS in particular. I have two children in the school system because I truly believe that they can get a wonderful education here and have opportunities equal to or greater than their peers in surrounding systems or private schools. I know many other families like my own who have chosen to be a part of this school system for the same reason.

Over the past fifteen months, I have found and worked for progress in RPS. I believed (and still do) that this system is at the tipping point of a much brighter future. Yet, being proud of this system is a difficult prospect when the community’s predominant mental picture is one of corruption, incompetence, fraud, or waste.

I don’t often use the first person in school board meetings because every decision we make must be a collaborative one. Taking personal credit doesn’t do too much to advance our work, but taking personal responsibility does. I want you to know that I am responsible as a leader of an environment where corruption, incompetence, fraud or waste can pervade such a major function of the system. I am responsible for having the internal controls in place to catch errors before they become regular practice. And to the thousands of kids, parents, mentors, teachers, principals, and support staff who show up everyday to do their best to build something worthy of pride, I am sorry.

I assure you that I will work hard, with my colleagues, to fix this mess. In the near term:

Today at 1:30, the newly-formed Internal Audit committee, to which I was appointed chair, will identify what we need to do to have a “systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of the system’s risk management, control, and governance processes” (decription from the Institute of Internal Auditors.)

Tonight (Monday) at 6:00 p.m., the board will produce its audit response plan.

Thursday at 2:30 p.m., the administration will update the board and public about its improvement steps at a special meeting of the Facilities and Operations committee.

Many more changes are ahead for RPS. I vow to do my best to ensure that change means progress—not just change for appearance sake—and that the stability and confidence our staff and students need will accompany the necessary improvements.

I value your feedback; your suggestions and assistance are more crucial than ever to help replace negative images with positive reality–Kim Bridges, 1st District School Board representative

Henrico County Public Schools kindergarten registration will be held April 29 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at every elementary school in the county.

Children who will be 5 years old on or before Sept. 30 are eligible to attend kindergarten in the 2008-09 school year.

Parents must bring their child’s official state birth certificate and proof of residence to registration. To show proof of residence, parents must bring three items — a current utility bill, a picture identification and one of the following: a house contract, lease agreement, rent receipt, mortgage statement or tax assessment.

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The Compass Club of Mary Munford is sponsoring a pancake breakfast, Featuring Mr. Muzik’s famous Buckwheat Pancakes to raise money for children in Southeast Asia.
Also, come help clean up the Munford playground, you know you’ll likely have lots of energy to burn after eating all those pancakes!
Date: April 26th
Time: 8 a.m. - 10 a.m.
Cost: $5 for adults, $4 for children
Come enjoy Principal Muzik’s Buckwheat Pancakes, Sausage and Orange Juice
This is a fundraising even for Munford’s Compass Club. During the breakfast, the children will educate people about the plight of children who live in the developing world.

University of Richmond police are investigating the simulated lynching of a miniature black doll as a possible hate crime.

“When I actually saw what had been done, it took my breath away,” said Walter Schoen, chairman of the university’s department of theater and dance, who discovered the figure hanging by a noose in a small studio theater.

Schoen described the green and red elf-like character as a Christmas decoration that has been around for at least the past two years. It was brought to school by a student as part of a fraternity initiation ceremony that involved giving a present, he said.

Just under 2 feet tall and considered female, the figure had become a good-luck charm, Schoen said, that was kept in the lighting booth.

“Some of the kids would even talk to it,” Schoen said.

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The University of Richmond held the first of two public hearings last night regarding the new football stadium proposed on campus. Neighbors are concerned that traffic for the stadium, which will hold almost 9,000 people, will be a problem.

NBC12 reports:

Right now, the Spiders play at the hard-to-fill stadium near Carytown. Construction on the new campus stadium can’t begin until the city of Richmond approves a special-use permit - which likely won’t happen until early June.

The Spiders hope to take to the new field in fall of 2010. A second public meeting is scheduled for April 29 at Weinstein Hall.

An article in yesterday’s Richmond-Times Dispatch is about how Tuckahoe Middle School  students may be refusing to wash their hands because there is no warm water in the bathrooms. Between the ice cold water and that they have to exit to the outdoors instead of a hallway on the campus-style school students are sometimes skipping washing their hands on the coldest days. Some say that could be contributing to more sickness. 

There’s a dirty little secret at some area schools.

Kids are not washing their hands after using the restroom — which, admittedly, is not breaking news.

But there’s an explanation.

One student at Tuckahoe Middle School in Henrico County, who wishes to remain anonymous lest her friends and parents think her unclean, admits it: If it’s too cold outside, even ordinarily fastidious students won’t wash after using the restroom.

Tuckahoe, like several other schools in the county, does not have warm running water in the restrooms. The campus-style architecture means students go directly from classrooms or restrooms to the outdoors. There are no interior halls. Three middle and three high schools are affected.

On chilly mornings, the choice between cleanliness and warmth can be difficult, and many prefer a few germs to icicles.