Hi neighbors and friends of R'Town,
Recently I met with the folks at CTS to discuss ongoing projects.... helping in the garden, augmenting the music program, etc. Marypat, the Principal and her Assistant Principal, Mollie, quickly moved the focus to describing their immediate "crisis". They have a very sharp increase in kids with social and emotional problems. They share one social worker with 2 other schools. The teachers are trying to deal with this but are overwhelmed. They asked if we could help. They would like to set up a buddy system where a volunteer might have a one hour lunch, one day a week with a kid, or maybe 2. Of course, the Cvirus situation compounds the problem. Anyhow, if you would like to explore helping in some way please call the guidance counselor, Julia at 540 422 7696. Her email is julia.mccurrie@fcps1.org. We are looking into applying for a PATH grant to augment our afterschool Clubs, music etc.,which give the kids an important outlet. There is no school budget for that. I thought we might sponsor a joint grant with PATH. More on that later. The kids crave attention. Our traffic calming committee, Amy, Charlie and Matt, met with Corporal Shiner and there is good news on speeding, and not so good news on tractor trailer issues. If you want a copy of the report contact Matt at...matt.calligan@gmail.com The punch line...in the recent test, average speed on RTown Rd. is 28mph. Not bad. Also, there has been a 30% reduction in speeding tickets from 2018/2019. The test on Atoka is in process. Tractor trailers have broad latitude by VDOT to use these roads. Our folks are looking into having Google and Apple give more appropriate roads on their navigation apps. Changing VDOT regs pits us against the truckers lobby but may be worth a shot. If you have wisdom on that let us know. Thank you Amy, Charlie and Matt. Please call Julia and see how you might help the kids. Thank you, Hank