Staunton News Leader - 04/05/2016 Page : A01

Copyright © 2016 Staunton News Leader 04/05/2016April 5, 2016 10:42 am (GMT +4:00) Powered by TECNAVIA

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MEGAN WILLIAMS / THE NEWS LEADER

Stuarts Draft Elementary School is one of two area schools that has aclassroom for students with autism. There are nine students, a teacher andfour aides.

News Leader education reporter Megan Williamswill be visiting all public schools in Staunton, Augus-ta County and Waynesboro over the next eight weeks.Follow her progress online at newsleader. com or onTwitter @NL_Learn.

STUARTS DRAFT — Whether it’s choosing an artstudent of the month, or hosting a play every Springfor 125 fifth graders, or starting a running club forgirls to promote leadership, the teachers at StuartsDraft Elementary School take what they are pas-sionate about and go above and beyond to use that torecognize and highlight student achievement, saidPrincipal Phil Coltrane.

The lobby of the school is a testament to this phe-nomenon. Every where you look, student art work,

STUARTS DRAFT

Megan Williams MWILLIAMS@NEWSLEADER.COM

These teachers ‘make school look good’

See School, Page 2A

TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016 • WWW.NEWSLEADER.COM

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Shaq and Allen Iverson hightlightthe 2016 basketball Hall of Fame

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STAUNTON — Three local planningorganizations are looking for public in-put on the possibility of a commuter busservice along the Interstate 81and Inter-state 64 corridors.

The Harrisonburg-Rockingham,Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro andCharlottesville-Albemarle metropolitan

planning organizations are seeking pub-lic input for the possible public transpor-tation expansion between Harrisonburg,Staunton, Waynesboro and Charlottes-ville, a release said.

“In a public survey completed as acomponent of the recently adoptedStaunton-Augusta-Waynesboro TransitDevelopment Plan, respondents refer-enced the unmet need for transit servicein the I-81 and I-64 corridors connectingHarrisonburg, Staunton, Waynesboroand Charlottesville,” said Nancy Gour-ley, transit program coordinator for theCentral Shenandoah Planning District

Commission.Specifically, people wanted to con-

nect jobs, colleges and universities, med-ical services and Amtrak and Greyhoundservices, Gourley said.

Now with funding from all three met-ropolitan planning organizations (MPO),a study is underway. In addition to thethree MPOs, a steering committee repre-senting them, the four area transit agen-cies and the two major universities haveassembled to work with the consultant toguide the project, Gourley said.

The study includes: a survey of com-muters and park and ride lot users, stake-

holder outreach, land use and populationanalysis — with a particular emphasis onemployment and commuting patterns.The study will also look at the demand es-timation, development of service and or-ganizational and funding alternatives.

“A bus service would provide an alter-native to the single occupancy vehiclefor commuters in this corridor, alleviatesome of the congestion and provide mo-bility for those who cannot or choose notto drive,” Gourley said.

Commuters and residents can take asurvey by going to www.surveymonkey.com/r/I81_I64 until May 1.

Transit buses may run on interstatesPlanners are seeking inputfrom public on proposalLAURA PETERSLPETERS@NEWSLEADER.COM

RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. TerryMcAuliffe vetoed a bill Monday thatwould force schools to warn parents iftheir children will be assigned bookswith sexually explicit content, saying it’sunnecessary and lacks flexibility in la-beling literary works.

The Democratic governor said the billisn’t needed because the state Board ofEducation is already examining such apolicy. He also said curriculum manage-ment should be left to local schoolboards, which he said are best positionedto make decisions about their students.

“Open communication between par-ents and teachers is important, andschool systems have an obligation to pro-vide age-appropriate material for stu-dents,” McAuliffe said. “However, thislegislation lacks flexibility and would re-quire the label of ‘sexually explicit’ to ap-ply to an artistic work based on a singlescene, without further context.”

The measure, which is backed byGOP House Speaker William Howell,was brought to the General Assembly bya Fairfax County mother who protestedthe use of Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ inher son’s high school senior class. The1987 novel set in the post-Civil War eraincludes scenes depicting sex, rape andbestiality.

The bill initially flew through theGOP-controlled House with unanimoussupport. But outcry from Democrats andfree-speech groups grew as the bill re-ceived more attention. The 22-17 vote inthe Senate means there’s likely notenough support to override the gover-nor’s veto in that chamber.

James LaRue, director of the Officefor Intellectual Freedom at the Ameri-can Library Association, has said thatVirginia would be the first state in thecountry with such a law.

The bill would direct the state Boardof Education to create a policy on sexu-ally explicit books for elementary andsecondary schools. Under the policy,schools would be required to provide analternative to the sexually explicit bookif a parent objects.

Republican Del. Steve Landes, who

Del. Steve Landes, R-WeyersCave, who sponsored thebill, called McAuliffe’s vetodisappointing and vowed toreintroduce the bill nextyear.

Sexuallyexplicitbooks billgets vetoASSOCIATED PRESS

“Parents make decisions

every day about what video

games kids play, what

movies they watch, and

what material they consume

online. They should have the

same opportunity within

the classroom.”

STEVE LANDESREPUBLICAN DELIGATE

See Books, Page 2A

Detail duty

MIKE TRIPP / THE NEWS LEADER

Firefighter Cory Smith with Augusta County Fire and Rescue cleans some of the gauges on the side of the fire truck as they wash itoutside Preston L. Yancey Station in Fishersville on Monday. “It takes about 20 minutes to wash the truck with everybody helping,”says Lt. Shawn Brown. “And once a week, we'll get inside and detail it completely. You know, vacuum it out, wash the windows ...that kind of thing. That normally takes an hour to an hour and a half.”