Lisa Rowan

Roanoke County’s school board retained its conservative majority in last week’s election. Fifteen-year-old Keely Meadows wants to keep LGBTQ+ rights in the spotlight.

Conservative school board candidates succeed in Roanoke, Pulaski, Bedford counties but appeared to be shut out of close contests in Montgomery County.

After arrests at a July school board meeting, the U.S. Department of Justice offered to mediate discussions about new transgender student policies in Roanoke. The school system rejected the offer, but continued to add more police to meetings.

The reduction will be available for new and returning students in an ongoing effort to attract a shrinking pool of potential applicants.

The state military college announced in August it would handle an investigation of its relationship with The Cadet internally, after the nonprofit that operates the independent publication called for an external review of the fraught relationship between VMI and the newspaper.

In-state undergraduate students with a household income of less than $100,000 will be eligible for the Radford Tuition Promise program.

In the suit, Thomas McCracken, a pastor and former school board member, accuses a county parent and a member of the Roanoke City Council of defaming him following a contentious meeting in August.

In Virginia, the partisan schisms are having effects far beyond hourslong school board meetings. They’re dampening morale in classrooms, teachers say, and in some places, longtime board members who have grown tired of the infighting have opted to not seek reelection. 

The LIFT Center at Fallon Park Elementary School in Roanoke is a public-private partnership offering a wide range of health and wellness programs.

The rebate and raises are possible due to additional funding the state university received when the General Assembly approved its amended budget.