Lynchburg, Va-  The Campbell County Technical Center held its regular school  board meeting to discuss policy updates regarding sex offenders and several other issues on Nov. 16.

THe meeting was held seven miles south of Lynchburg Regional Airport on Rt. 29 behind Yellow Branch Elementary School. Board Chairman R. Leon Brandt of the Sunburst District headed the meeting to order.

Several policy updates included the school board changing their policy on sex-0ffenders near the vicinity of any its public schools. The school board revamped its two policies that stated several rules for sex-offenders and violent sex-offenders.

“We have two policies which we are combining into one. The law says that if you are a violent sex-offender, a circuit court judge can write you a court order which grants you special permission to be on school grounds and we thought we had to accept that,” Assistant Superintendent for Administration John P. Erb said.

This is in reference to the issue of court case Commonwealth v. Doe which was released in Sept. 2009.

“Every adult who is convinced of a sexually violent offense, as defined in Code 9.1-902 shall be prohibited from entering and being present, during school hours and during school-related and school-sponsored activities…unless he has obtained a court order allowing him to enter and be present upon such property, and is in compliance with terms and conditions of the order,” according to the Circuit Court of the City of Charlottesville.

Erb also added that the Virginia court case Commonwealth v. Doe also ruled that school authority has the final say and gets to decide whether a violent or non-violent sex-offender is allowed onto school grounds despite special permission from the judge.

The Campbell County school division also recognizes the danger sex-offenders pose to student safety. Each school in the Campbell County school division requests electronic notification of the registration or re-registration of any sex-offenders in the same or contiguous zip codes as the school. Such request and notifications shall be made according to the procedure established by the Virginia Department of State Police.

The school board also discussed its new instructional initiatives regarding education. Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Rob Arnold made several presentations which included updates on their newly added education feature known as eLive. eLive is an education system that allows teachers to teach a class to multiple schools in the county via conference video.

Arnold also stated that eLive would now expand to classes such as physics and geography in the K-12 system. He also mentioned that teachers of these classes would be given all the training they need to adjust to the program

“This is a concept that is both new to students and teachers but the overall reception is that [eLive] keeps getting better and better. So we plan to develop the new coursework fully for teachers and as the program progresses, students will gain the skills and knowledge in taking advance courses like this in the future,” Arnold said.

Physics teacher Sarah Honaker will present lessons to her students at Rustburg and Altavista High School. Honaker will transmit from her classroom at Rustburg High School to students at Altavista through eLive.

Campbell County also provided an update on security with the new Instant Alert (IA), which is the school board’s notification system. IA now sends messages to mobile phones and e-mail in case of an emergency. The program informs all parents, students and school staff within its county. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Johnson announced IA would run its first test on Nov. 19 during the evening.

Campbell County Technical Center will announce its upcoming meeting on their Web site.

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