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The Division Digest A Newsletter from the Office of the Superintendent

October 2015 Volume 9, Issue 1

Cafeteria Corner , Recycling, School Health, and Technolo-gy

2

Finance & Human Resources, and Remedial and Special Education

3

Curriculum and Instruction 4

Transportation, and

Maintenance

5

School News 6-13

Sports, and Important Dates 14

Inside this issue:

Striving

For

Excellence

Superintendent’s Message

School Board Meetings: Thursday, October 22, 2015 - Regular Monthly Business Meeting - 5:00 p.m.

Thursday, November 5, 2015 - Joint Meeting with Appomattox County Board of Supervisors - 5:00 p.m. Thursday, November 12, 2015 - Regular Monthly Business Meeting and 2016-2017 Budget Public Comment Session - Board of Supervisors Meeting Room at Central Virginia Community College (CVCC) in Appomattox - 5:00 p.m. All meetings will be held in the School Administration Building, unless noted

Dear Staff,

The first nine weeks of school is already complete! Thank you for your dedication and diligence in teaching, supporting, and caring for our students in ACPS. We have much to celebrate with significant improvement in our most recent SOL scores. All schools will be fully accredited by the state. We have another reason to celebrate with leading the area in on-time graduation rates for our students. We have, for the first time ever, a Region 8 Teacher of the Year. ACHS agriculture teacher, Ed McCann will be competing with seven other teachers across the state on October 19 for the title of Virginia Teacher of the Year. These reasons to celebrate are due to your daily hard work with our students. This issue of the Division Digest is chock full of student learning and school events across ACPS. Our students and staff are striving for excellence in academics, extra-curricular events, and sports. We have Flu Mist Clinics gearing up for our students and Flu Vaccine Clinics offered for staff. I would encourage you to take advantage of this resource being offered to stay healthier this winter. We are excited to again receive state funding for the School Security Equipment Grant. We will purchase additional security cameras for all schools and door entry system upgrades. We continuously evaluate and monitor school safety for our students and staff. This equipment will furnish another layer of safety for us. For those of you thinking ahead to winter weather, I have checked the 2016 Farmers’ Al-manac. For our area of the country, it predicts a snowy and unseasonably cold winter. The almanac is “red-flagging” the second week of January and the second week of February for possible heavy winter weather with a long, drawn out spell of stormy weather extending through much of the first half of March. So, if you are a Farmers’ Almanac believer and a winter-weather admirer, it sounds like you are in for a treat! I hope that you can enjoy the many events at the 43rd Annual Historic Railroad Festival this weekend. Sincerely,

Dorinda G. Grasty, Ed. D. Division Superintendent


Volume 9, Issue 1 Page 2

Appomattox County Public Schools Recycling Program!

Cafeteria Corner Niki Kempton, Food Services Coordinator

Reminder: The ACPS recycling program has expanded! We

now accept a wider variety of materials. The gray bins in

each classroom and office can accept mixed paper, cardboard,

plastics #1 thru #7, aluminum cans, glass bottles, steel cans,

and tin cans. They can also accept juice boxes. The recycling

company is asking all items be empty. Once or twice per

week, the contents of the gray bins are collected and sent to

Lynchburg where the recycling company sorts the materials.

In addition to helping the planet, recycling also helps the cus-

todial staff keep the trash containers more manageable.

Technology Brette Arbogast, Director

Cafeteria Corner

AES and AMS are holding a big promotional event spanning this Fall and Winter!! On randomly selected days, beginning October 5th, students will be presented a ticket when they eat a school meal from the cafeteria. At the end of the lunch period at AMS and the end of the school day at AES, a ticket number will be pulled. The student with the matching num-ber will win a coupon for a free snack AND be entered in the drawing for big prizes in December! Prizes include a new bicycle, a bean bag chair, assortment of books, and an art set. As always, if you have any suggestions or concerns with re-gard to the meal program at any school location, please feel free to contact Niki Kempton at the School Board Office at 352-8251, ext. 3, or send an email to [email protected].

Reminder: Appomattox County Public Schools accepts online meal payments. MySchoolBucks.com allows parents to view their child’s cafeteria balance, monitor their purchases and even add money to their cafeteria account.

Visit MySchoolBucks.com for more information.

Appomattox County Public Schools Health & Wellness Commit-tee is beginning another year! Our goals for the 2015-16 school year are:

Continue efforts to incorporate Farm to School in the cafete-ria /nutrition programs division wide.

Coordinate and implement partnerships with student groups for nutritional and physical education programs / curriculum in the primary and elementary grades.

Encourage and promote physical activity for students throughout the school day, incorporating parent participa-tion.

Continue the additional clinic offerings throughout the year, to include flu vaccination & dental clinics.

Obtain grant funding for community enrichment events.

This committee is open to all staff. If you are interested in con-tributing to student wellness, please consider attending. Meetings are held at the SBO in the board room at 3:30 pm. Upcoming meetings are scheduled for December 3, February 24, and May 4.

School Health & Wellness Committee

So far this year, the Technology Department has been busy with many updates and changes. The technicians have completed over 300 work orders that range from a quick five minute fix to work orders that take hours. Here is a quick list of some of the big pro-jects:

All computers for teachers were reloaded this summer and up-graded to thin-client servers to help reduce the latency of the disks for better performance. High school thin client servers will still need to be upgraded.

All labs in the schools, including some laptop carts, were updat-ed with fresh installs.

Five new laptop carts are in the process of being upgraded with new laptops.

Completed an upgrade to our mail system.

Upgraded all school connections to a full 10Gig connection.

Upgraded our internet from 100Mb to 150Mb.

Upgraded the iBoss filtering agent to new hardware.

Upgraded space in our backup solution.

In the process of converting 1st generation iPads to 5th genera-tion.

Rolled out new 5th grade iPads.



Remedial and Special Education Beth Haught, Director

Rolled out 6th Grade iPads.

Added numerous wireless access points through out our schools.

Added new Promethean Boards in the High School Histo-ry Department.

Extended wireless and fiber to reach the field house. - Thanks Timmy Garrett!

Converted school websites to new portal servers.

In the process of upgrading our phone system and hope to have this completed by the end of December.

Upgraded the Division Technology Plan to meet new state goals.

We ask that you please complete work orders when things are not working properly. We know that it’s frustrating when you have a plan and the technology isn’t working. So please let us know with a work order. Our big division push this year will be starting the integration of Microsoft’s OneDrive. This is an in-county drop box that doesn’t use bandwidth throughout the day. Mr. Richardson will be setting up training throughout the division to show you some of the great features this has to offer you and your students.

E-mail Upgrade

The e-mail upgrade that was just completed was necessary to get all updates and patches to our existing system. We did have a few email users experience problems and these have been corrected. We currently have over 1800 e-mail boxes to man-age and the system will need updates periodically. Thank you for your patience during this time. I can’t wait until Exchange 2016 is released in full version. It contains a lot of new fea-tures.

I would also like to thank the web personnel at each school. This is a service for our parents and community that is appreciated. It’s a thankless job but one that is very helpful.

Finance and Human Resources Bruce McMillan, Director

License Renewal Process – In the past few weeks, I emailed all teachers whose license expires on June 30, 2016 (according to our records). This could be those with a Provisional License or those who just need to renew. If you didn’t get that email from me and you believe your license expires in June 2016, please check your license and then contact me. Please make sure you are working with your advisor (principal) to do what you need in order to get your license upgraded or renewed before contracts come out in May.

If your license expires in June 2016, once you have met all the requirements, you may start meeting with your principal in January to go over your recertification file and get signatures.

We pay the cost of renewing your license. However, if you have other changes (adding an endorsement, changing a name, etc.) there may be a small fee for you. If that is the case, I will let you know. Email me if you have questions.

Insurance Update – A new and fresh insurance year star ted on October 1st (all of our medical policies have a plan year that starts on Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30); therefore, your deductibles will start fresh again as of October 1.

Our medical insurance carrier will again be PCHP and our dental carrier will be Delta Dental. If anyone is having issues with their health insurance or dental insurance, please contact PCHP or Delta directly by using the toll free numbers on the back of the ID cards. In addition, please also feel free to contact Tracy Johnson in our office if you have questions related to your insurance at 352-8251.

New Staff

You may have noticed some new faces in the halls of our schools. Valerie Yoder comes to us as a special education teacher at APS with Christen Thomas and Mary Bradley joining the APS special educa-tion staff as teacher assistants. Ashley Scruggs is the latest addition to the AES special education teacher assistant staff and Dana Hale is our new AMS special education teacher along with Sherree Franklin as the new special education teacher assistant. Mahala O’Brien joins the special education teaching staff at Alt Ed. Cathy King and Amy Gonzales have come on board as Title I teaching assistants at APS. AMS has a new school nurse with Bethany Millner now taking charge of the school clinic. Please join me in welcoming these folks to their new homes!

Annual Title 1 / Special Education Parent Meeting

Parents will be invited to attend the annual Title 1/ Special Education Meeting which will be held at AES this year on Monday, October 26 at 7:00 p.m. Special Education and Title 1 Staff from APS and AES will present information about their programs with take-home materi-als being provided for parents following a brief question/answer peri-od. All parents of children receiving special education or Title 1 reading services are encouraged to attend this event.

Special Education / Remedial Education / Title 1 Advisory Com-mittee Meeting

The initial meeting for the 2015-16 Special Ed/Remedial Ed/ Title 1 Advisory Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, October 14 at the School Board Office. This committee meets four times per year and is made up of parents, community members, and staff who are inter-ested in improving educational services for special education and remedial students in our division. Topics such as transition needs, Special Education and Title 1 regulations, Special Olympics, staffing needs, and mentoring opportunities have been included as part of past agendas. Committee meetings are open to the public and any inter-ested parties are invited to attend.


Volume 9, Issue 1

Page 4

Summer School

It is never too early to think about summer school. While you are considering your 2016 summer vacation plans, please mark your calendars for June 6 – 30, 2016. This is the tentative time frame for summer school. As you can see, this is four weeks rather than the previous three weeks that we have used for many years. We would like to provide students a longer remediation period in order to allow more depth and breadth of instruction while not interfering with family vacations. Please consider participating in summer school next year.

Curriculum and Instruction Annette Bennett, Director

ACPS Excels on SOLs

Students in Appomattox County Public Schools showed an in-crease in their academic performance during the 2014-15 school year, according to the VA Standards of Learning Assessments. With exception of the high school science and history scores, all subject areas increased. The highest increases were seen in Math at the elementary and middle school levels, increasing 18 and 21 percentage points respectively over the last three years. The highest scores in the division last year were recorded in our 4th grade VA Studies classes and 11th grade English/Reading.

In comparison to our regional neighbors, ACPS ranked #1 in Writing and #2 in Science, History, and Math among the Region 8* schools. Appomattox ranked #1 among the Re-gion 2000** schools in the areas of Reading, History, Math, and Science and #2 in Writing. APCS exceeded the state average in Reading, Writing and Science.

This fall, celebrations will be held for 68 students who scored perfect scores on at least one SOL test. Ninety-nine (99) tests are reported with the highest possible score.

Congratulations to the students and teachers for all of the hard work represented in these improved test scores!!

*Region 8- Amelia, Appomattox, Charlotte, Brunswick, Buckingham, Greensville, Halifax, Lunenburg, Mecklen-burg, Nottoway, Prince Edward, Cumberland

**Region 2000- Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Campbell, Lynchburg, Nelson

New Professional Development Tool for Teachers

According to the 2014-15 end of year survey, teachers indi-cated they would like to have more control over the profes-sional development topics made available to them. In re-sponse, the division is partnering with an online profession-al development program called EDIVATE/PD 360. This program offers teachers the opportunity to explore thou-sands of topics related to their teaching assignments and can be accessed from anywhere there is internet service. Teachers can customize their learning and receive recertifi-cation points for courses they take or video programs they watch. Administrators are also using this program to pro-vide orientation for new teachers and training for school specific topics such as the new middle school schedule. Principals have assigned specific topics in lieu of additional meetings and there is also a way for teachers to collaborate, communicate, and share information on various topics of interest. We look forward to evaluating this program at the

Page 5


Volume 9, Issue 1

Transportation Matt Lair, Supervisor

Maintenance Timmy Garrett, Supervisor

end of the year to see if it is meeting the needs of our teachers and administrators.

Assessing Reading Skills with PALS

In an effort to provide a consistent measure of reading progress, ACPS has begun to use the PALS Plus Program this fall in grades K-8. PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screen-ing) is a reading and word knowledge assessment program de-veloped by the University of Virginia. Its use has been required of all Virginia students in grades K-3 for many years to identify students who are struggling in the early stages of reading devel-opment.

Recently, the program was expanded to include upper elemen-tary and middle school students. This fall, teachers have learned to administer the assessments, interpret the results, and plan in-struction accordingly. The assessment is given three times a year, at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. Parents will be given their students’ beginning of the year results during Par-ent-Teacher Conferences or through the report card communica-tions.

It was an unusually busy summer for the transportation staff. We had numerous programs during the summer including Sum-mer School, YMCA, Horizons, 4-H Camp, and Camp Meadow-lark. This was in addition to cleaning buses and cars, vehicle maintenance, making route changes, and making changes to our drop-offs and pick-ups at each school due to AMS going to block scheduling.

We changed how we wash the exterior of our buses this year. In the past we have had a crew of two to four people washing the buses on the interior and exterior. This typically took one and a half to two months to complete. We used a truck wash in Lynchburg this summer and were able to wash the exterior of all of our buses in three and a half days which drastically re-duced our cleaning process time.

The morning and evening changes with two schools now on block scheduling have been somewhat of a rocky start. Of course, implementing that along with the normal activities that occur the first week of school made it challenging. It seems now that it is working well. However, if anyone has any sugges-tions on improvements we are always open to listening. We would also like to thank everyone for your patience as we made these changes.

As we move into the fall with winter looming around the corner, I hope that everyone has the same thoughts that I have for the winter. NO SNOW!

Public Comment Invited

on 2016-2017 School Budget

The Appomattox County School Board will hold a public com-ment session on Thursday, November 12, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors Meeting Room at the Appomattox CVCC Satellite which is located at the Carver-Price Educational Complex at 136 Carver Lane, in Appomattox. The purpose of the session will be to solicit comments and receive suggestions from the pub-lic prior to development of the 2016-2017 school budget.

Individuals and organizations with suggestions for the 2016-2017 school budget are encouraged to speak at the meeting. It is not necessary for speakers to request placement on the agenda for this portion of the School Board meeting.

For further information, contact the superintendent

at 434-352-8251.

On October 15, 2015 Appomattox County Public Schools will participate in the State Shakeout Drill. Building level adminis-trators will start the drill at the time designated. This drill is de-signed to test the school’s level of preparedness in the event of an earthquake. The National web site for information pertaining to this drill is http://www.shakeout.org. Please visit this site for information pertaining to this drill. School Board Administration will be out in the schools completing a check off list and evaluat-ing the schools’ responses.

Maintenance Department staff have been chasing roof leaks during the past few weeks and working to repair roofs.



School News

APS NEWS

ACPS Leads in On-Time Graduation Rate

Information released by the Virginia Department of Education shows the On-Time Graduation Rates for each school division in the state. A closer look at our scores shows that not only have we surpassed the state average percentage, we have the highest reported rate in comparison to all Region 8 and Region 2000 divisions. Appomattox’s 94% 2015 On-Time Graduation Rate is up from 91.4% in 2014.

Congratulations to all those who have worked so hard to im-prove the graduation outcomes for our students in Appomattox County.

APS New Staff Members 2015-2016

Pictured L to R: Laura Page (Teacher – Grade 2), Valerie Yoder (Teacher – Special Education), Mary Bradley (Teacher Assistant), Christen Thomas (Teacher Assistant), Ami Gonza-les (Teacher Assistant), and Daniel Wooldridge (Teacher – Physical Education)

We would also like to welcome Mrs. Lecco, Mr. Demuth, and Mr. Bass. We are family!

“Saddling Up for Success” is APS’ theme for the 2015-2016 school year.

Volunteering at APS:

We are fortunate to have so many parents and family mem-bers who are willing to serve the students and staff here at APS. Our Volunteer Brunch was a huge success and many parents and community members came to learn more about the opportunities available. We have 129 Lunch Buddies who participate in our Lunch Buddy Program.


Volume 9, Issue 1

Page 7

We are working to promote reading progress with the Walpole and McKenna Reading approach in grades K-2. During the first lan-guage arts hour of instruction, students rotate through 15 minute groups where teachers, reading specialists, and para-professionals work with children to build phonemic aware-ness, word recognition, decoding and fluency. Instruction targets a particular area of the child’s needs.

Bright Beginnings – PRE-K….

Bright Beginnings students are busy learning letters, colors and shapes. They have also found time to make new friends and enjoy hands-on learning centers.

The month of September was School Attendance Awareness Month! Our students completed an activity and wrote a response to the prompt: “I like school because…” Some of the artwork will be featured in our communi-ty and on the walls of the School Board Office. A prize was awarded each Friday of the month and banners were placed at each school in the county.

Kindergarten News….

In Kindergarten, we are learning about so many fun things! So far we have learned our alphabet, rhyming words, colors, shapes, and numbers. Some-times, we get to play with paint, cut and glue activity papers, and sort pic-tures on the Promethean Board. For our community unit in Social Studies, we met many of the wonderful community helpers who live in Appomat-tox and experience firsthand what it’s like to be in their special vehicles or use their cool tools. Officer Greg Smith came and told us how great it is to be a police officer. We learned that a police officer is there to help us when we need him. He showed us his badge, his uniform, but most impressive, our students got to tour his police car and witness all of its bells and whis-tles. The Appomattox Volunteer Fire Department sent us a few firemen and a firetruck. The firemen went over what they wear when they enter a fire, sounded their siren, raised the ladder, and showed us how the water hose works. Appomattox Volunteer Rescue Squad came and showed us the stretcher and other interesting medical tools. The children also got a per-sonal tour of their ambulance. Miss Missy Jarvis is a nurse at Lynchburg General Hospital. She came and shared what happens after the rescue squad brings a patient to the hospital. Our students are very fortunate to live in such a great community that is rich with resources and talent. The children enjoyed seeing all the community helpers and many were inspired with dreams of their future careers.

Noah Richardson was excited to be a model for the Appomattox County Volunteer Rescue Squad. The para-medics strapped Noah to the stretcher to show the Kindergarten students how they help injured peo-ple.



First Grade News…..

First Graders were excited to go on their fall field trip on Mon-day, October 5 to Johnson’s Apple Orchard in Bedford.

Second Grade News…..

The Second Grade Teachers would like to thank everyone who came to the PTO Open House! In October, second graders will be learning about seasonal changes, habitats, and fossils.

The Second Grade Parent Orientation took place on Monday, August 24, 2015. Our Second Grade Teachers welcomed par-ents and shared information about our schedule, routines, ex-pectations, and the curriculum.

Family Fun Night – FAST Program… Appomattox Primary School is offering an eight-week Family Fun Night Series this fall. The events take place weekly on Thursday nights from 5:00 pm -7:30 pm, and began September 24th. Families who signed up to participate and enjoy family-oriented fun and games while making friends, communicating, and having a great time at APS. Each family in attendance is eligible for weekly prize drawings. Gifts will be awarded to the families who successfully complete the eight-week series. For more information contact Mrs. Haskins, 2nd grade teacher, Room C109, 352-5766 ext. 4464. Don’t miss out! Hope to see you there!

Art to Remember

Our school is participating in a healthy, creative fundraiser with Art to Remember. Children are busy creating colorful and fun artwork. Our art teacher and volunteers are uploading stu-dent artwork to Artsonia, the largest Online Web Art Museum for school-age children. Students have been exploring under the sea, western theme art, and describing what they like about school. Currently, student art work is featured in the showcase near the APS office.

APS PTO Night – Back to School –“Round-Up Event”

The APS PTO Open House and Back to School – “Round-Up Event” was a huge success. Our staff pitched in and made dinner bags for the parents/students. Each bag included a bag of chips, water, and something sweet. The staff also cooked hotdogs and served the parents and students. Parents/guardians were able to visit the classroom and see what their child has been doing since the beginning of school. We had 250 students and parents attend the event.

The fall APS PTO Fundraiser began on August 25, 2015 with a kick-off assembly in the cafeteria.

APS students and families participated in the IDENT-A-KID program on Tuesday, August 18, 2015.

Longwood Partnership

We have 8 students from Longwood University placed with teachers here at APS. Our APS teachers model effective teaching and mentor students through our partnership. Thank you, teachers, for accepting a student from Long-wood University into your classroom.

Science Inventions

Students showed off their creation in second grade. A group of second grade students designed and created their own nametag that would stand and hold a pencil.



AES News

APS Relay for Life Team

Our APS Relay for Life team kicked off the school year with an awesome fundraiser! The funds we raise truly make a differ-ence in the fight against cancer.

New Friends to AES!

Forty new students have joined the Appomattox Elementary School family this school year. They are pictured here sharing what they like best about AES so far! What WE like best are their encouraging smiles and enthusiasm about being part of our learning community!

AES Staff Team Up for Campus Beautification

There is no horticulture class at AES, so staff members arrived early before Open House, armed with shovels, rakes, picks, and wheel-barrows to clean up our gardens and get them freshly spruced for the first day of school. It is important to note the temperature was 98 de-grees at 7:30 a.m. that day! However, please note that every member of the team is still smiling!

Fourth Graders “Discover” a New World!

On September 18, 2015, AES fourth graders visited Jamestown to tour replicas of the three English ships carrying English explorers to Virginia, the English Fort, and the nearby Powhatan Village. Students impressed their tour guides by their knowledge of facts related to Jamestown, all due to the lessons they are learning in their history classes!

Third Graders

Fourth Graders

Fifth Graders



AMS News

Fifth Graders at AES Roll Out IPAD 1-to-1 for a Year 2 Implementation!

Last year’s fifth graders were the first to participate in the 1-to-1 IPad initiative. Because of its success, this year we are embark-ing on Year 2! Pictured above is ITRT Stephanie Totty working with a group of fifth graders to introduce and get them familiar with their new IPads. IPads are used during the day for a variety of instructional supports.

Grandparents are Special at Appomattox Elementary

School! During the week of September 14-18, grandparents were invit-ed to eat with their grandchil-dren. AES students from Mrs. Ranson and Mrs. Ferguson’s classes served as hostesses for our guests. We were honored to have many visitors that week, and we are very appreciative of the support our children’s grand-parents provide for them. In every way, AES strives to en-courage family involvement.

A Heart for Harper!

When the infant sister of one of our AES students was facing open heart surgery, and in need of a pacemaker at birth, students and staff banded together to show their support by wearing pink in her honor. The “H” was created to show the Harrison family and Harper they were in our thoughts and prayers on this special day!

AMS New Staff Members 2015-2016

Standing: David “Moose” Pierce (Assistant Principal), Ca-sey Henry (Teacher – Language Arts 8), Dana Hale (Teacher – Special Education), Caitlyn Ondrick (Teacher – Life Sci-ence 6), Ashleigh Gilliam (Teacher – Language Arts 8), Amanda Shapard (Teacher – Language Arts 6 & 7), and David Spence (Teacher – Language Arts 7)

Sitting: Debbie Barksdale (Secretary), Alex Moreno (TA and Teacher – Spanish), Emily Wilson (Teacher – Language Arts 7 & 8), Susie Hemler (Teacher – Math 7 and Algebra I), and Bethany Millner (School Nurse)



Appomattox FFA Attends State Leadership Camp Appomattox FFA members travelled to State FFA Leadership Camp during the summer. The camp was held at Graves Moun-tain Lodge in Syria, Virginia. Over the course of five days, FFA members participated in a variety of activities and took a break from technology as they made new friends. Each day, campers participated in classes on leadership, public speaking, food sci-ence, horticulture, and teamwork. Camp participants donated and packed school supplies for a needy school in Haiti, as well as contributing food to a local food kitchen. Throughout the week, members participated in group sports and reflections pre-pared by the State FFA Officer Team. Appomattox FFA was also represented in the creed speaking, prepared public speak-ing, and extemporaneous public speaking contests. Appomattox FFA members hope to make FFA Camp an annual tradition in the future.

FFA members (from left to right) Kelly Price, Caylan Moore, Oralia De La Cruz, and Chris Wilkerson represent Appomattox at Graves Mountain Lodge for FFA Leadership Camp.

Band director, Bryan Allgood and his 7th grade band mem-bers conducted an impromptu band concer t for their fel-low classmates at Appomattox Middle School

Creating Greek style vases was lots of fun! Mrs. Evans’ 6th Grade Art students used paper -mache and a decoupage tech-nique to create their own 3-D vases inspired by Ancient Greece. Students enjoyed learning about the culture of Ancient Greece and creating the vases.

Inventions and Innovations – A 7th grade encore class completed their course work on draft-ing with the final project being the design and construction of a house. Students explored architecture of the world and dis-cussed architecture as a career. Students worked as architec-ture design teams to research home design, then drew the floor plans for their preferred home. Not ending there, students then constructed a framed house to scale. The lesson introduced students to the use of proportional thinking and an understand-ing that ratios are used to create scale models of buildings. Stu-dents gained experience in measuring, using percentages, com-puting area, and applied problem solving.


Volume 9, Issue 1

ACHS News

Page 12

Appomattox Middle School Goes to Florida -

Eight students, one parent, and Ms. Simpkins went with World

Strides Educational travel this summer for Science in Motion.

They flew into Orlando and had a jam packed four days of hands

on science. Our students were able to design their own cars and

roller coasters and then ride them in virtual reality! They were

able to kayak and dip net in the Gulf of Mexico, have lunch with

an astronaut, and dissect a shark! Touching an alligator, tiger

shark, and boa constrictor were other highlights. New friends

were made, memories will never be forgotten, and the hands on

learning was amazing!

The Rockin’ Raiders hosted the school’s first dance of the year. All proceeds from the dance went to the American Cancer Socie-ty. A total of $602 was raised for cancer research.

ACHS New Staff Members 2015-2016:

Front Row: Mahala O’Brien (Teacher – Alternative Educa-tion), Jennifer Querry (Teacher – Math), Alexis Manuel (Teacher – Math), Brooke Mlaka (Teacher – English), Andy Cox – Teacher – Alternative Education)

Back Row: Chad Haiar (Teacher – French), Josh McGowan (Teacher – Math)

In March of 2015, six ACHS students attended Model General

Assembly (MGA) in Richmond, Virginia. After a weekend of

mock debating student written bills and learning the workings

of our Virginia state government, MGA participants were nomi-

nated to go on to the Conference on National Affairs (CONA)

based on their exemplary performance. CONA is a week-long

conference at which delegates from forty of the fifty states trav-

el to the Black Mountain YMCA Conference Center in North

Carolina to debate national and international issues. Whitley

Drinkard, a current senior, was nominated and attended CONA

in June after months of researching and preparing her proposal

and speech about post-secondary education institutions. Each

delegate is required to write a proposal which begins debate in

first committee and travels through two more committees be-

fore moving on to General Assembly and then Plenary session,

a day-long debate constituting approximately six hundred

CONA attendees. Drinkard’s proposal did not make it as far as

she would have liked, but she was able to participate in debate

by asking many key non-debatable technical questions on other

proposals as well as giving a con

speech in General Assembly. “The

week I spent at CONA was one of

the best experiences I have been a

part of, not only did I get to voice

my opinion to others who feel

strongly about their own beliefs,

but I was also able to meet people

from all over the country,” said

Drinkard. The Government Club

of ACHS plans to attend MGA again this coming spring.


Volume 9, Issue 1

Page 13

Pictured:

Mrs. Rog-ers’ High School Physics Class.

Physics students at Appomattox County High School used

Newton’s Three Laws of Motion to design and create a car.

The rules required that the cars have at least two axles, three

wheels, be balloon powered, and the wheels had to remain on

the floor. Additionally, the students couldn’t use any parts of a

toy car, and the car had to travel at least five meters. Each

student also had to write a summary paper explaining how

they applied Newton’s Three Laws of Motion to their car de-

sign. Students measured distance, speed and velocity, and ac-

celeration. Winning categories included: Greatest Speed,

Greatest Distance, and Most Creative Car.

The class winner for Greatest Speed Car was: Johnny Wilborn (holding

his car “The Wings of Freedom”)

The class winner for Greatest Dis-

tance Car was Ca-milla Rodrigues (holding her car “Baby Ferrari”)

The class winner for Most Creative Car was Kendra

Fetty (holding her car, “Chocobo”)

Students and faculty had a great time experimenting with the

new green screen technology in the ACHS Library on character

day. Students selected a background appropriate for their char-

acters. Doink Green Screen App was used to take a picture in

front of the green screen to merge the background and the char-

acters together, making it appear as if they were part of the sce-

ne. Check out Mrs. Voorhees performing in her secret life as an

NCIS agent or Emily Giuliano and Alison Harris as crocodile

hunters or Harry Caldwell as Billy Idol.

McKinley Cardwell, a former student of ACHS, ran for

Freshman Class President of Liberty University. He had Mr.

Mawyer’s Marketing Class create a campaign poster that he

used to market himself during the campaign. While all mar-

keting students submitted campaign posters, McKinley

choose Kendrick Sadler’s as the winner. Avery Mundy and

Mike Ryan created the slogan McKinley used while cam-

paigning. The slogan was featured on the poster created by

Kendrick. Unfortunately, McKinley did not win the election,

but he said it was a good experience for him and he plans to

run again next year for

Sophomore Class Presi-

dent. For Mr. Mawyer’s

marketing class, it was a

valuable learning experi-

ence, as this project simu-

lated real life in terms of

having to go back and

forth with a client to make

sure they created the ad

that McKinley had in mind

and felt best represented

him.

2015 Balloon Powered Car Race

Striving for Excellence

*Upcoming Important Dates*

1) October 8 – End of 1st Nine Weeks - Early Dismissal – 1:00 p.m. - Parent / Teacher Conferences: 4:00 – 7:00 p.m.

2) October 9 – Teacher Workday – Student Holiday

3) October 12 – Columbus Day Holiday – No School

4) October 16 – Report Card Day

5) October 22 – School Board Meeting – 5:00 p.m. – SBO

6) November 3 – Regular School Day for Students and Staff

7) November 5 – Joint Board Meeting of School Board and Board of Supervisors – 5:00 p.m. – SBO

8) November 12 – School Board Meeting – 5:00 pm – CVCC – FY17 Budget Public Comment Session

9) November 16-20 – American Education Week

10) November 25-27 – Thanksgiving Break – No School

Sports

Chris Dodge, Athletic Director



The Appomattox County High School Athletic Department

would like to recognize the Appomattox Scholastic Sports Hall

of Fame Class of 2015: The members of the 1987 State Champi-

on Softball Team: Robert West, Steven Almond, Stephen Totty,

Charles Wilkerson, and Kenny Scott. This class will be formal-

ly inducted at halftime during the varsity football game on Octo-

ber 23, 2015.

The Fall Sports Season is well under way for the ACHS Raiders.

The Varsity Football Team is currently 5-0 having wins against

Buckingham County, Rustburg, Heritage and William Campbell.

They are currently ranked #1 in Region 2A West. Their next

home game will be on Oct. 9th against Dan River.

The Varsity Volleyball Team is currently 9-4, and are 6-1 in

Conference 37 matches. They will play at William Campbell on

Oct. 8th. They will be at home again on Tuesday Oct. 13th

against Gretna.

The Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams have been represent-

ing Appomattox County well in their meets and compete against

all of the other Dogwood District teams. They travel to Altavista

on Oct. 14th. This year we have been asked to host the Confer-

ence 37 Cross Country meet. This will be held on Wednesday

Oct. 28th on the trail at the Police Tower Road facility. The Girls

will start their race at 3:00 p.m. and the boys will start their race

at 4:15 p.m.

The Competition Cheer Team has been to one Invitational Com-

petition, the Stinger Classic, held at Brookville High School and

did very well against schools that were much larger than ACHS.

The team will travel to Amherst County on Oct. 10th for another

invitational competition. ACHS will be hosting the combined

Region 1A/2A Competition Cheer competition. The tentative

date is Oct. 24th at 10:00 a.m.

The Golf Team has had another successful regular season. They

just competed in and defended their Conference 37 Champion-

ship on Sept. 28th. Coach Marshall was named Coach of the

Year, and Chase Mayberry was named Golfer of the Year after

beating teammate Bruce Shober in a playoff after being tied

when the 18 hole match was finished. The team also defended

their Region 2A West Championship on October 7th at Falling

River Country Club. Bruce Shober was named Region 2A

West Player of the Year, and Coach Marshall was named Re-

gion 2A West Coach of the Year. The team will travel to Irn-

ington to compete in the 2A State Championships on Monday

and Tuesday Oct. 12th and 13th in the hopes of defending their

State Championship title from last year.

The Winter Sports Season is just around the corner. Practice

for winter sports can begin on Monday, November 9th. Just a

reminder to winter & spring sports athletes that you MUST

have a completed VHSL physical turned-in before you can start

to practice. This includes participating in any out of season

practices.

The “Dead Period” at the beginning of winter sports is from

November 9-18th. All other sports besides winter sports and

fall sports that are still competing cannot practice/condition/

have any communication from coaches during this period.

Documents

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