Month: April 2022

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HSLDA President Mike Smith Announces Retirement

HSLDA President Mike Smith Announces Retirement

HSLDA’s Vice President of Litigation, James R. Mason has been appointed to succeed Smith as president

Purcellville, April 04, 2022 (World NEWSWIRE) — Purcellville, VA – Right after serving in excess of 20 a long time as the leader of the most significant homeschool legal advocacy team in the United States, Mike Smith, president of House Faculty Authorized Defense Association (HSLDA), has announced his retirement. Smith mentioned he is also stepping down as president of HSLDA Motion (a sister group targeted on coverage advocacy).

“I will keep on serving on the HSLDA Board and assistance homeschooling,” Smith reported in an e-mail to member family members. “But I’m also on the lookout ahead to spending extra time with my wonderful wife, Elizabeth—and it’s possible acquiring in some golfing, way too.”

Under Smith’s leadership, HSLDA’s membership has topped 100,000 people throughout The united states, and HSLDA continues to assistance the growing homeschooling movement about the globe, endorsing homeschool freedom for hundreds of thousands.

“Serving as president of HSLDA has been a large privilege,” mentioned Smith. “As I replicate in excess of the previous a long time, I’m so grateful for the possibilities I’ve had to share the fantastic academic selection of homeschooling with many family members and motivate them on their journey. And acquiring to see the quantities of homeschoolers in the US increase from 20,000 homes in the early 1980s, to possibly 11 million homes today—what a impressive trajectory!”

Given that Mike Farris (now HSLDA’s board chairman) and Mike Smith co-founded HSLDA in 1983, the firm has been pivotal in legalizing homeschooling in all 50 states and fostering the homeschool movement. HSLDA’s lawful advocacy for homeschool households and active position in shaping legislative plan to aid educational alternative has manufactured it 1 of the most influential imagined leaders in homeschooling.

“Mike has faithfully led this corporation. He has beloved this crew at HSLDA in a superlative trend and has been instrumental due to the fact day 1. Mike has completed an totally terrific task, and we are so very pleased of his support to HSLDA,” mentioned Farris.

HSLDA’s Board of Directors has chosen Vice President of Litigation James R. Mason III to realize success Smith as president.

“Jim is a expensive buddy and colleague,” Smith wrote to HSLDA customers. “He has been HSLDA’s guide litigation counsel for around 20 several years, and has served as a vice president because 2015, so I am extremely confident in his means to guide HSLDA into the coming years although staying accurate to our founding mission.”

“I are unable to genuinely specific how much Mike Smith has intended to me around the a long time. We are heading to miss him enormously,” mentioned Jim Mason. “Searching ahead to the long term, I am psyched for equally the homeschooling motion and for us as an organization. The mantle that Mike Smith is passing on to me is that we stand for liberty, and we advance liberty for homeschooling.”

About HSLDA

Residence School Authorized Defense Association (HSLDA) is America’s greatest and oldest homeschool advocacy team. Established in 1983 with the mission to make homeschooling achievable for all households, the corporation has aided empower millions of homeschooling dad and mom and learners. As a membership corporation for people homeschooling their youngsters, HSLDA presents a myriad of means from lawful assistance to academic consultants to aid member households by every single step of their homeschool journey. Understand more about HSLDA at https://hslda.org/

Speak to:

Sandra Kim

703-608-4792
[email protected]

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Get hold of: Sandra Kim HSLDA 7036084792 [email protected]
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Valley News – Forum, April 10: Beware Upper Valley housing concentration

Valley News – Forum, April 10: Beware Upper Valley housing concentration

Published: 4/10/2022 5:01:16 AM

Modified: 4/10/2022 5:00:05 AM

Beware Upper Valley housing concentration

A recent short article in the Valley News explained the commuting difficulties faced by a lot of who work in Lebanon, Hanover or Hartford, but stay in the more compact, extra rural towns surrounding the core spot (“Commuters go the further, costly mile for Higher Valley jobs,” April 3). The report noted the deficiency of very affordable housing in the 3 core communities as a person of the good reasons for these prolonged commutes, and to some extent this is appropriate. Even so, the resolution to the difficulty is a lot more intricate than only constructing more housing shut to key employers.

In new several years, the reaction to the shortage of housing in the Higher Valley has focused on the design of substantial blocks of rental flats, generally in Lebanon and to a lesser extent in Hartford. For case in point, Mt. Help Road in Lebanon will soon have upwards of 1,000 residences, exactly where there were being virtually none a ten years back. This quick charge of growth will inevitably have major impacts on the town and its latest people.

Let’s think for a minute that many of the new apartments are intended to home present employees who presently commute long distances. Why would these staff members relocate — to help you save fuel, for comfort, or possibly for the facilities involved with residing in a far more urban environment? Potentially, but I would argue that for many people the rewards of possessing their own property in a much more rural setting extra than offsets the charge and inconvenience of commuting. They might not want to transfer! We ought to also consider the damaging ramifications to modest towns from mass migration to the main regions, this kind of as troubles in recruiting volunteer firefighters/EMTs or not acquiring enough young children to assist a area college.

Attracting and retaining the workforce essential to maintain a vivid nearby economic system will certainly demand supplemental housing, but it can not be concentrated in one or two communities, and can not be minimal to large apartment complexes. To realize success, we should have a coordinated regional technique to incentivize housing building a lot more broadly and equitably. This will gain all our communities.

Tim McNamara

Lebanon

McNamara is Lebanon’s mayor

Defend Croydon children’s instruction

Thomas Jefferson advocated for public training mainly because he said it would prepare our young children for citizenship. I, too, am an advocate for public instruction. In my feeling dad and mom try to do what is very best for their youngsters. It may possibly be public education, parochial university, dwelling education or personal faculty. Mothers and fathers with the indicates and want ought to pick whatever they think is best for their kids. Not all parents have the suggests for possibilities other than community training. But I sense strongly that it is by means of public education and learning that we learn how to reside in a civilized environment. It is through range that we master about just about every other and ourselves. It’s through understanding with many others that we discover endurance, compassion, crucial considering, perseverance, dilemma fixing and creativeness.

I have faith that the citizens of Croydon will show up at the special school district meeting on May possibly 7 at 9 a.m. at Camp Coniston. Let us help our small children and perspective their education by way of the lens of furnishing just about every little one with the understanding atmosphere that very best suits their require. Our little ones are our foreseeable future. We have to stand up and help them.

Rev. Donna Leslie

Croydon

U.S. silence on war crimes speaks volumes

A couple months or so in the past, a reporter caught Joe Biden and questioned him if he considered Russians ended up committing war crimes in Ukraine. To this question, he could have only replied “The whole war towards Ukraine is a crime” and he would have been proper. But he did not. He hedged, stating some thing like “We will be wanting into that.” Why?

Nullum crimen sine lege: no crime with no law. A person issue Russia and the United States have in common is that neither is a bash to the treaty that gave rise to the Intercontinental Court of Justice (ICJ). This court has jurisdiction in excess of war crimes. It concerns arrest warrants. It tries and punishes war criminals. No 1 else does. Is there then this kind of a matter as a war criminal offense in The us, if The usa does not figure out the authority of the Global Court docket of Justice?

A single point President Biden has in popular with President Trump apparently is that neither recognizes the International Court of Justice. Trump renounced the treaty and blocked all U.S. cooperation with the ICJ. Joe Biden has nevertheless to reverse this conclusion. Why? The reply is a pretty unhappy commentary on America.

Tyler P. Harwell

Weathersfield

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Williamson County parents speak out against closing virtual school

Williamson County parents speak out against closing virtual school

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BuildFest 2022 brings games, fun and learning to Watauga children | Local News

BuildFest 2022 brings games, fun and learning to Watauga children | Local News

WATAUGA — If you build it they will come, and the Children’s Playhouse accomplished just that with a jam-packed celebration of childhood fun and learning at BuildFest 2022.

Free to all families, BuildFest welcomed children ages 2-12 to the Watauga High School campus for a Saturday filled with wall-to-wall, hands-on science, technology, engineering, art and math activities. Sponsors from community organizations and members such as the Children’s Council of Watauga County, local elementary schools and Appalachian State students gathered to create seemingly unlimited numbers of activities for children to join throughout the day.

In the gymnasium, robots circled around a mat in one corner while an ever-growing labyrinth of cardboard boxes consumed the other end. In the cafeteria, children engaged in painting activities, built a brain-cap to wear or played in other sensory-engaging activities.

Many parents reported their children had yet to attend a BuildFest due to the pandemic, and the sheer volume of activities meant there was no shortage of learning and play throughout the day.

Children of all ages took advantage of the variety of activities, sunny weather and opportunity to play together at BuildFest.







buildfest cardboard kingdom

Children use their imaginations to build a kingdom out of cardboard boxes in the gymnasium of Watauga High School.










buildfest screen printing

Representing Two Rivers Community School, April Flanders, professor of studio art at App State, and App State art senior Will Christ help April Flanders use green paint to print a picture.










buildfest outside 2022

Outside Watauga High School, multiple stations are set up one after another for kids to take place in a variety of hands-on activities.










buildfest games 2022

Allison, Lacey and Lachlan Saine enjoy the kids’ first BuildFest with some hands-on games.










buildfest pasta structure

Sunny and Ocean Morgan practice engineering structures out of pasta and marshmallows.










buildfest fire truck

The Boone Fire Department paid a visit to BuildFest to answer questions from kids and show the community around the fire truck










buildfest overview 2022

From above, the cafeteria of Watauga High School is filled to the brim with kids, activities and adventures.










buildfest tower

Danny Proctor and his child Ace Proctor fight against gravity building a skyscraper out of blocks.










buildfest cardboard lot

In the middle of a sea of cardboard boxes, kids find the perfect building materials to create a cardboard maze throughout the gym.










buildfest app state psych volunteers

Students from the AGElabs at App State’s Psychology Department volunteered their time to share a bit about their brain development research and knowledge via festive brain caps for attendees to wear. Pictured are Tianna Martinez, Peyton Teer and Adam Peterlin.










buildfest racecar

Finn Hoffman races a car down a track with the help of volunteer Milene Trejo.










floam at buildfest

Finley Garner gets hands-deep in some “floam” at BuildFest 2022.










buildfest firetruck

Parents and kids mill around to check out the fire truck courtesy of Boone Fire Department.










buildfest cardboards.jpg

Throughout the day, the maze of cardboard boxes grew as kids added on more extensions to the labyrinth.










husking corn at buildfest.jpg

Finn Krause and Sophie Zimmer husk corn outside of BuildFest.










husking corn.2.jpg

Using a cranking device, Sophie Zimmer takes the kernels off a dried cob of corn.




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‘Our future is built on our past’: Shepherd University Wellness Center dedicated in honor of former president | News, Sports, Jobs

‘Our future is built on our past’: Shepherd University Wellness Center dedicated in honor of former president | News, Sports, Jobs
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‘Our future is built on our past’: Shepherd University Wellness Center dedicated in honor of former president | News, Sports, Jobs

From suitable, SU President Mary J.C. Hendrix and Mayor Jim Auxer stand beside former SU president Suzanne Shipley, as she retains a plaque presented to her by Hendrix, in commemoration of the Wellness Center’s commitment in her honor on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — A team of 67 community associates, Shepherd University workers and honorees collected jointly in the Shepherd College Wellness Center’s arena on Saturday afternoon, to witness the dedication of the centre underneath a new name — the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Middle.

Renamed in honor of Shepherd University’s 15th president, who served from 2007-2015, the middle now bears signage pertaining to its identify modify, 1 signal of which was unveiled during the dedication ceremony.

“It is basically not feasible to element all of Dr. Shipley’s amazing achievements even though she was at Shepherd, but I would like to share some noteworthy highlights with you right now, because they are extraordinary,” stated Shipley’s successor, latest Shepherd University President Mary J.C. Hendrix. “During her tenure, Dr. Shipley introduced the university into the Council of Public Liberal Arts Schools, identified as COPLAC, a North American consortium of general public colleges and universities that drives awareness of the price of substantial-high quality, public liberal arts education at its member institutions — an group for which she also served as president. Dr. Shipley’s enduring legacy involves overseeing the accreditation of academic systems, laying the basis to grow Shepherd’s worldwide college student population.

“She also orchestrated the design of the underpass, uniting the east and west campuses, which she was informed could not be finished!” Hendrix reported. “Dr. Shipley was vital in serving to to raise $26 million by means of the university’s initially complete marketing campaign, referred to as Create the Potential. The marketing campaign exceeded its $20 million target intention and was accomplished a calendar year early.”

Shipley expressed her thanks for the commitment, and mentioned how her tenure would not have been as successful as it was, without the need of the assist of her spouse and children, mentors and fellow Shepherd University leaders.

A indicator prominently displays the Shepherd University Wellness Center’s new name on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

“I’m grateful for the Shepherd College custom, of like educational leaders in its facilities’ names, and I’m humbled to take my area below beside President James Butcher, professor of physical training Dr. Sara Cree and the famous chair of new music Male Frank,” Shipley reported. “Here, . . . I was able to keep my own wellness, actual physical and psychological, by working out along with our school, staff and learners, and Shepherd supporters like Mayor Auxer. In simple fact, it’s a defining reason of the centre, in that it delivers all of these teams collectively to satisfy a number of demands in this area.

“All of us add to the Shepherd tale. Some epics of our 150-calendar year-outdated story are marked on names of buildings, but surely, not all. Universities like Shepherd, exactly where just about every person counts and every single name is recognized, are compendiums of particular person effort and hard work,” Shipley explained. “Every specific and every single work counts, and it is more vital currently than at any time that all those endeavours continue, mainly because today, more than at any time, a household liberal arts practical experience such as ours, generates the dynamic and very well-educated leaders that our area demands. Our future is crafted on our earlier, but our potential is normally remaining developed, like today, and by you.”

Mayor Jim Auxer closed out the ceremony with a couple feelings on the appropriateness of the determination, considering his private and experienced encounters as Shepherdstown’s mayor all through Shipley’s tenure.

“To have this facility, a community accumulating spot, now focused as the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Middle, feels far more than ideal. Suzanne and I would satisfy below to explore subjects of great importance to us both of those. But our key intention was caring about our exercise,” Auxer mentioned. “We talked about the want for preserving the city-gown marriage, which I imagine actually is wonderful (to this working day). You can not convey to exactly where a single commences and just one ends!”

The commitment conclusion was created by the Shepherd University Board of Governors, through its June 10, 2021 assembly, according to SU Communications Govt Director Dana Costa.

Shepherd College President Mary J.C. Hendrix, left, will help former president Suzanne Shipley unveil a signal, about Shipley’s tenure, in the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Centre arena on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

Community customers and Shepherd College workforce mingle alongside one another in the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Centre foyer, prior to Saturday’s commitment ceremony. Tabitha Johnston

Shepherd University President Mary J.C. Hendrix formally announces the devotion of the Suzanne Shipley Wellness Heart in the center’s arena on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

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Ridgefield’s Ridgebury Elementary School students revel in reading and writing with readathon

Ridgefield’s Ridgebury Elementary School students revel in reading and writing with readathon

RIDGEFIELD — The written term is encountering a pleasure-crammed resurgence at Ridgebury Elementary University many thanks to quite a few initiatives.

For the next yr in a row, Ridgebury bought its learners enthusiastic about language arts by The Rex Readathon, named soon after the school’s canine mascot.

Moreover, Lisa Figaro, the fundraising president for the Ridgebury PTA, is developing a literary magazine named “The Rex Reader.” Her group has been accumulating submissions more than the earlier several weeks. She hopes the products will arrive jointly over the upcoming thirty day period.

“This university paper is supposed to showcase students’ get the job done when encouraging them to further more acquire their writing expertise,” she reported.


Young children have been inspired to post a assortment of operate, together with artwork, poems and a lot more. The organizers delivered some prompts and theme strategies to get them started.

“We want our pupils to be self-confident that they can rework their thoughts and ideas into literary functions of art,” Figaro mentioned.

The theme of this year’s Readathon was the Olympics. Figaro adopted the software for RES right after viewing the achievements of very similar initiatives at her college district in Westchester County.

“I needed, personally, for my own children to read through far more, so I wished to appear up with an fascinating system to motivate them,” she claimed. “To me, examining is so significant.”

Although learners obtained energized about turning in their studying logs, lecturers made use of the option to augment their instruction. The initiative also served as a fundraiser on behalf of the college.

“It is a win-win,” Ridgebury Principal Jamie Palladino explained. “While we want young children to be energized to read all the time, we use this Readathon as our prospect to re-spark the flame of examining … even though supporting the PTA.”

The outcomes are apparent, numerous parents concurred.

“My youngest is in fifth quality and this is … the ideal issue at any time,” PTA parent Cathy Davis explained.

The assortment of activities to stimulate university student studying have also confirmed effective, she added, noting problems to read a ebook in a tree, less than the desk or go through aloud to one one more.

Davis explained the Readathon teaches youngsters that looking through does not have to just include the publications they are assigned in faculty, but a vast vary of matters from graphic novels to recipes.

Mother or father Lisa Mariakakis found that her two small children, who participated very last yr, could not wait around to entire people literary issues yet again.

“They each experienced guides tucked away, waiting for March to start to crack them open up,” she said. “It gave them incentive … whilst earning the university more money that would advantage the pupils.”

Guardian Megha Shah has viewed her two youngsters, who had been already avid viewers, come across new approaches to delight in finding lost in a ebook.

“It has encouraged them to enterprise out of their consolation zone of just looking through guides to studying magazines, newspapers, manuals, comic strips and, I will even dare to say, an outdated-fashioned dictionary that made use of to be mine when I was a child,” she said. The program’s volunteers “obviously treatment about the children in their group. They have enhanced the life and future of my small children and RES as a entire. I am grateful.”