Pulaski Southwest Times (Newspaper) - February 11, 1996, Pulaski, Virginia Sunday February 34 Charter schools are dead again By MARTHA SLUD Associated Press Writer RICHMOND A proposal to allow teachers or other groups to launch untraditional public schools free from some state regulations has died in a House of Delegates Charter school legislation has failed the last few years in Vir Twenty other states have passed laws authorizing similar types of schools since The Education Committee split 1111 on the with Republicans generally voting in favor and Democrats Co sponsor Phillip said the vote likely dooms charter school legis lation for this He said critics were sarily wary of the The only thing I can think of is people are afraid it will Hamilton When you empower people and you hold them accountable and it that begs the why havent we been doing that all along But charter school opponents questioned whether the schools are If state regulations are too they should be removed for the entire public school they I see this as perhaps a chip ping away at that said Linda Other critics were the Virginia School Boards the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties They said charter schools would siphon money and the best teachers from regular The also sponsored by Paul would have authorized local school systems to approve spe schools that are not reli or The prohibited private schools from converting into charter The resulted from a study commission set up after the 1995 General Assembly killed a broader introduced on behalf of Republican George Weddle gains area AEP post Joseph Weddle has been named Pulaski district manager within American Electric Powers Southwestern Virginia Tennessee with responsibility for customer service and in Pulaski r 90th YEAR 19061996 Newspaper and Wythe The announcement was made by AEP Regional Manager David A native of Weddle holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute State University and also an as degree in business admin from New River Com munity He has attended Please see page A3 Staff photo by Dee Ann Pulaski County Library employees Sharon Rupe left and Wanda Saunders check collection box for food items Food for fines County libraries will take just bring back those long overdue books By WAYNE QUESENBERRY Lifestyles Editor Long overdue materials at the Pulaski County Library and the Free Memorial Library have been a recurring problem for It is costly to the facilities and the For the remainder of this the two libraries are offering a simple way for patrons to return overdue books and help a local project at the same The Food for Fines overdue policy allows library users to return any except with of canned goods or other non perishable This means that any mate rials a person with the exception of and regard less of how long overdue mate rials they may be returned Story with a donation of stated Pulaski County Librarian Duncan The fine will then be taken care The patrons name will be removed from the overdue list and the materials will be able to be put back into circulation for use by other According to the library always has had a liberal return There is a grace period for books and magazines but no grace period for videos before fines Fines are five cents per day per day for videos with the maximum being for hardcover books and 50 cents for paperbound Long overdue materials are still subject to the same fine schedule one dollar as the maximum Many patrons seem to not realize this and are reluctant to return a book which they have had for an extended period of this reminder and our Food for Fines policy will alleviate that Parson He noted the library loses 300 to 850 books per year on the average because of overdue materials which are not returned or have been The average cost to the library is per This translates into to of taxpayers money and state Please see page A3 Keep sch we have majority says Staff Writer Keep the schools weve That seemed to be the con sensus of opinion from most of those attending Thursday nights community dialogue meeting at Pulaski County High Although Pulaski County school officials have been working on and studying the journey for county schools into the 21st there are no predetermined methods or Only a Thursday nights community dialogue meeting was the latest stop in this journey which really got started in August 1993 when school and county officials named a 41member task force to study school building From input gathered from 300 or more county residents Thursday staff of The Moseley McClintock Group and those working with them will bring back options for schools and needs in the The community dia logue meeting is set for March a at which time par will focus on the built from the individual responses to a questionnaire and consensus derived from some 2530 groups at last weeks Todays Weather Inside a f y Participants were asked to mark or rank various aspects of optimum class whether there should be eight elementary schools or whether some should be consoli whether there should be two or one middle rank the importance of Please see page A3 teens get chance to talk at PCHS Staff Writer Adults and young people will have an opportunity to talk during a get together Tuesday at Pulaski County High beginning at 7 leaders and others are invited to attend the talk ses sion sponsored by the Pulaski Partnership with support from The Community Response Dialogue A Gathering of Teens and will center around teen and parent relations and give both an opportunity to talk in a setting with other teens and Rick prevention specialist with the New River Community Services Participants will be encouraged to talk about expectations between parents and their chil Please see page A3 County fixup cost put at million By DEE ANN LINDSEY Assistant Editor Stiff photo by Do Ann County Administrator Joe left talks with Supervisors Frank Conner center and board chairman Joe Sheffey Thursday at the Drapers Mountain Wayside during the boards tour of the county A bond issue of million may barely cover the work needed for buildings belonging to Pulaski This includes work needed at all of the as well as other structures such as the Pulaski County Sheriffs That was the assessment of members of the Pulaski County Board of Thursday after touring county Draper Supervisor Charles Cook said of the it con firms what weve been Schools are over crowded and there is some structural damage at some schools due to the buildings These building werent built to handle the equipment now used in the technological era we are said Supervisor Frank Conner there seems to be a real problem and were going to probably have to add money to the capital improvements budget down the Im a little con cerned about how these build ings got into the shape they are Both Conner and Cook are new to the board this year and were getting their first official look at what the county is Supervisor Bruce Farias summed it up we need a lot of In order to have enough money to cover improve Fariss predicted the need for a bond A task force in 1994 identified about Please see page A3
