A juvenile and domestic relations court judge denied bond Feb. 22 to a Madison County woman charged of shooting and murdering her estranged husband, an Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigator, in an apparent crime of passion Dec. 11, 2009 at his residence in rural Unionville.

Madison County school officials are in the process of creating emergency transportation plans to get students to school when current bus routes remain blocked. Madison’s school calendar has 15 days marked as potential make-up days depending on the number of days missed during the school year. However, officials are still seeking to prevent further canceled classes, according to Madison County Superintendent of Schools Brenda Tanner said at the board’s regular Feb. 8 meeting. The extra days are ones that can be added without significant change to the current calendar according to Tanner

BREAKING NEWS—Madison County Public Schools will close 2:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15, according to a MC E911 annoucement early Monday afternoon.

Madison County school officials say it will be harder to attract qualified teachers to Madison, since Madison salaries are lower. They look to county officials to help make up funding shortfalls to solve this and other problems.The school system needs another $269,375 to balance its budget, Madison County Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Tanner told supervisors at a special Jan. 18 joint supervisors-school board meeting.

Proposed cuts in the state education budget mean a potential loss for Madison County Public Schools next year of 12 staff positions and more than $1 million. Schools Superintendent Brenda Tanner related the preliminary budget numbers to the school board members at their regular Jan. 11 meeting. She is currently involved in working on the school budget for the next year.

In an effort to partly counteract likely substantial upcoming budget cuts, Madison County Public Schools are seeking grant money to boost funding for literacy, college preparation and career readiness programs. Madison could receive $153,000 from the federal program.

Madison County Sheriff’s Dep. Drew Eanes, the school resource officer at Madison County High School, received confidential information that two MCHS students were about to participate in an illegal drug transaction on school grounds Dec. 15, according to a Madison County Sheriff’s Office news release.

Writing the new school budget is no longer the only issue occupying the Madison County School Board — it has to find a new superintendent. Current superintendent Brenda Tanner announced last week that she would retire effective June 30, 2010.

Rochelle resident Brenda Canosa — the estranged wife of an investigator with the Orange County Sherifff’s Office — was arrested Dec. 11, charged with shooting him multiple times at his home in Unionville.

Virginia officials are asking Madison County to pay a larger amount of the Madison County Public Schools budget. The new financial burden has Madison County Superintendent Brenda Tanner looking at next year’s school budget and possible layoffs. The superintendent is concerned about the impact on services and staff with the potential drop in funding from the rise in the “composite index” coupled with the possibility of more budget cuts from the state.

Madison County Public Schools is still working to offer H1N1 vaccinations to all of its students, but is experiencing a hiccup or two along the way.
Although an initial plan called for students to have had at least one dose of the “swine flu” vaccine by Oct. 29, shortages have prevented this. So far, only students at Madison Primary School have received the vaccination.

The Madison County School Board voted unanimously to work with the Madison County Health Department to provide the H1N1 or “swine flu” vaccine during the school day. The vote came during the board’s regular monthly meeting Oct. 12. The dates proposed will be Friday, Oct. 23 for Madison Primary School and Waverly Yowell Elementary School and Thursday, Oct. 29 for Wetsel Middle School and Madison County High School.

Madison County defeated Stonewall Jackson 48-7 in Oct. 9 homecoming football action at Eddie Dean Field.

The future of Bible classes for some Madison County public school students remains uncertain while the board of supervisors considers new places for the classes to meet.

A Madison County School Board meeting presentation Monday on H1N1 helped illuminate issues surrounding the disease commonly known as “swine flu,” but it also shone a light on conflicts that are cropping up over how best to defend against it.

Some Madison County parents are asking school officials if it is fair that their students are being held to higher standards than students at other Virginia schools. They are calling for the officials to “level the playing field,” said Don Davis, one of the parents on a special exploratory committee looking at the situation.

Madison County Public Schools failed to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks for the 2008-2009 school year, nor did three of the system’s four schools, the Virginia Department of Education announced last week. Only Madison County High School met the standards.

Madison County Public Schools recently released its school lunch menus for Aug. 26-Sept. 4.

Madison County Public Schools recently released supply lists for kindergarten through 12th grade students from the 2009-2010 school year. Madison public school students are set to return to classes this Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Madison County Public Schools recently released its 2009-2010 school bus schedules. The 30-bus fleet will hit the streets starting this Wednesday, Aug. 19, which is the first day the county’s 1,800 public school students return to classes at the county four public schools.

The occasional “eew” and “ick,” along with crinkled noses and other looks of disgust, popped up throughout Waverly Yowell Elementary School third grade teacher Lila Azhari-Harris’s reading of “It’s Disgusting and We Ate It! True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History” by James Solheim.
As Azhari-Harris described the unusual dishes noted in the book, including crispy grasshoppers and earthworm soup, she told a group of children at Madison County Library that she had a special snack to share.

If Madison County ever has its own “Octomom” school officials may need to ensure all eight siblings are placed in the same classroom. A new Virginia state law now requires that public school boards develop policies to allow a parent of twins or “higher order multiples” (triplets and so on) to request that the children be placed in the same classroom or separate classrooms if they are in the same grade level at the same elementary school.

UPDATE
Due to some late-arriving grading information (it was announced June 11, after the current print edition of The Madison County Eagle went to press), it turns out Julie Eaheart is this year’s Madison County High School valedictorian – the highest academically ranked student in the graduating class. The class salutatorian – the second highest ranked student – is Claire Jackson.

Madison County High School seniors won’t throw their caps into the air until June 13 but the party leading up to the Class of 2009’s graduation has already started. While munching on some snacks during lunch last week, MCHS senior Jennifer Edwards barely seemed to notice the dollops of cornstarch wisped across her face nor that her lower legs were covered in the substance. 

Madison County school officials are taking extra precautions to ward against a virus that continues to spread across the world, and into Virginia. A public health emergency was declared in Virginia last week following the ongoing spread of the H1N1 flu virus – more commonly known as swine flu – a respiratory disease that causes regular outbreaks in pigs as well as less common infections in people.

“Honey, I Shrank the Schools,“ sounds like it could be the title for a Rick Moranis comedy movie sequel. But shrinking schools are no laughing matter to Madison County school officials. Although the physical dimensions of Madison’s school buildings are staying the same, fewer students are walking the halls these days. That could mean less state money for the school system.

County students may soon be able to develop Web design skills, explore geographic technology or master their culinary arts talents. The Madison County School Board recently entered into an agreement with Rappahannock County that will allow some students to freely enroll in classes not available at Madison County High School.

A scaled back summer school is likely again this year, according to officials. Madison Primary School teacher Betty Sherrod pleaded with the school board at its budget hearing last week to allow “something” to go on at the primary school this summer.

Madison County Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Tanner has proposed a cut of 14 positions across all four public schools. Citizens can sound off on this and related topics at a public hearing regarding the schools’ proposed budget set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29 in Madison County High School’s auditorium.

A hazardous materials team searching Waverly Yowell Elementary School decided the sickening odor there was due to a reportedly non-toxic “rust inhibitor” fluid that was leaking from a broken heating coil, a school system official said Jan. 20, the day the school reopened.