Powhatan County Public Schools will open on a two-hour delay on Wednesday, January 17, 2024.
The Powhatan County School Board will hold its workshop at 4 p.m. today. The board will elect its leadership for 2024, but the rest of the agenda may be amended due to concerns about road conditions after 5 p.m. Any items on the agenda that are not heard will be added to a workshop and regular meeting on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.
Martin Luther King Jr. fought tirelessly for education equality and opportunity for all, leaving behind a lasting legacy in his field of education. His efforts continue to inspire educators and policymakers to this day as they work to ensure that every student has access to a quality education. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Due to weather and road conditions, Powhatan County Public Schools will be closed on Tuesday, January 16, 2024. Offices will be closed, and staff will not report. Any after-school or evening activities will be rescheduled. A decision will be forthcoming about the Powhatan School Board workshop and meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 16.
Some interesting noises were coming out of Ms. Brooks’s fifth-grade class at Pocahontas Elementary when they studied a unit on sound. The students’ acoustic explorations included making bee hummers (when you swing them, they sound like a swarm of bees near you), pitch pipes using straws, and old-fashioned telephones using cups and string. Yet another station with a row of bottles demonstrated how varying amounts of water can change the pitch when tapped. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
The Powhatan Ruritans recently donated 100 dictionaries to Pocahontas Elementary School’s third grade students. Jane Ruehrwein, president of the Ruritans, (shown speaking) presented the dictionaries as a gift before winter break and then the third graders shared the gift of song with their holiday performance. The students will use them at school for instruction but then they get to take them home to keep so they each have their own individual dictionary. Many people do not realize that using a dictionary is still a Virginia SOL for language arts (3.4.g reads: Use word-reference resources including the glossary, dictionary, and thesaurus.) After the presentation, the third graders and their teachers snapped a photo with Jane as well as the reading coach who coordinated the delivery. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
The January 9, 2024, school board meeting has been moved to January 16, 2024.
Due to weather and road conditions, Powhatan County Public Schools will be closing two hours early on January 9, 2024. All after school activities will be canceled.
A decision about the school board workshop and meeting will be forthcoming.
Dismissals will be as follows:
PHS - 12:30 p.m.
PMS - 12:25 p.m.
Elementary Schools - 1:30 p.m.
As of 7:00 p.m. this evening, there are still many families in Powhatan without power. There is concern about additional power outages and road flooding as the rain and wind continue in our area.
After consultation with local emergency officials, Powhatan County Schools will be closed on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.
We are aware that some families did not receive information this morning from our new notification system and for that we apologize. For this reason, we will use both our new and old messaging systems for the remainder of this weather event. Any updates will also be posted to the division website, Facebook, Instagram, and local media.
After this weather event, we will send out communication through your child’s school to all families about how to access our new system and who to contact if you did not receive today’s notification.
On the evening of Monday, Dec. 4, PCPS will be conducting a community-wide test of our new notification system. Our new website vendor, Apptegy, provides a messaging platform that will enable us to more effectively reach parents with time-sensitive information. Not only will we be able to reach you by phone, text, and email as we do currently, but we'll also be able to simultaneously broadcast to all our social media platforms, including our new Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as directly to your phone if you have downloaded the PCPS website app.
Please be on the lookout for messaging beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday the 4th. If you have questions, you may reach us using alerts-help@powhatan.k12.va.us.
Susan Shepperson, president of Alliance of Wild Animal Rehabilitation and Education (AWARE), recently brought in a barred owl and talked with Pocahontas Elementary kindergarten students about nocturnal animals and their features and adaptations. Mrs. Shepperson lives in Powhatan and offers educational programs to the community. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Kindergartners is Mrs. Morris’ class at Pocahontas Elementary work on a story sequencing exercise after reading the book “Stellaluna.” #wearepcps #teampowhatan
From the PCPS family, wishing you a harvest of blessings, a season of thanks, and a day filled with warmth and joy. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Mrs. Fields’ VPI-4 class at Pocahontas Elementary enjoys Center Time, which allows them to choose and learn how they want to play and be social. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Powhatan County Public Schools will be closed: Wednesday, Nov. 22; Thursday, Nov. 23; and Friday, Nov. 24. We hope your day is full of happiness.
Mrs. Bates’ second grade class at Pocahontas Elementary took advantage of a beautiful day to have a picnic outside to help bid farewell to a classmate who was moving away. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
The following staff members were nominated and selected for Helping Hands Awards. They were first honored at their workplace and then invited to be honored again by the School Board on Nov. 14.
* PCPS Transportation employees Robin Hendel and Laura Livingston were nominated by Katie Wojcicki, Director of Student Services and Interventions, and Cheryl Thomas, Director of Elementary Instruction for Inspiring.
* Pocahontas Elementary teacher Gwynn Johnson was nominated by a parent for Inspiring.
* Powhatan Elementary employee Noah Inglish was nominated by a staff member for Inspiring.
In 2021, 35 employees became members of our first cohort for LETRS Training. The Lexia LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) is a comprehensive professional learning opportunity designed to provide early childhood and elementary educators and administrators with deep knowledge to be literacy and language experts in the science of reading. This is an intensive training in which teachers had to complete extensive readings and online modules while also attending eight virtual trainings ranging from half days to whole days. Individuals who completed the 132 hours of training: Stephanie Adam, Katie Bates, Paula Bean, Melinda Brooks, Carla Crump, Jill Dewey, Julie Garner, Tiffany Green, Robyn Hall, Amy Hintz, Angela Innerbichler, Bailey Johnson, Gwynn Johnson, Jenny Johnson, Lisa McCue, Sarah Moore, Samantha Morton, Riley Mosher, Molly Moss, Traciann Paden, Tiffany Proffitt, Melissa Rama, Lisa Richter, Colleen Schwartz, Amy Senger, Laura Simon, Kate Southward, Julia Stech, Tia Stout, Mark Thompson, and Ellen Valcourt. These educators were recognized at the Powhatan County School Board meeting on Nov. 14. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
Powhatan County Public Schools and County staff are joining forces to help spread a little cheer with a Holiday Silent Auction to benefit the Powhatan Christmas Mother program.
The Powhatan community is invited to attend a silent auction filled with gift baskets, baked goods, handmade gifts, and gift certificates from 3 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 1 at the Pocahontas Landmark Center.
Now in its second year, the event brings together school and county employees to give back to the Christmas Mother program, which supports the Powhatan community all year long.
Suzanne Cline, 2023 Powhatan Christmas Mother, said she appreciates the enormous show of support from community partners, including local government, businesses, civic groups, and individuals. The way the Powhatan community can join together in such fun and imaginative ways to spread joy and kindness to others in need only reinforces the genuineness of Cline’s theme for this year, “A Village of Blessings.”
“We are 100% funded by donations. Without community partnerships, we wouldn’t be able to provide the magic of Christmas to over 500 Powhatan children and seniors,” Cline said.
PCPS received a $30,000 grant from the VDOE RARS Grant Program, which will be distributed throughout the school year. The intent of the Recruitment and Retention Support (RARS) Grant is to provide public school divisions with a structured framework upon which they can systematically develop plans to support the recruitment and retention of employees through hiring incentives and continuing education funds. This is our first group of recipients: Colleen Chinnis, Flat Rock ES (SPED); Lauren Hockaday, Flat Rock ES (SPED); Amy Tucker, Flat Rock (SPED); Katie Humphrey, Powhatan ES (fourth Grade); and Bonnie Lambert, Powhatan HS (CTE – Health Sciences). Recipients were recognized at the Nov. 14 Powhatan County School Board meeting. #wearepcps #teampowhatan
