2014 44th District Water Quality - Little Improvement

2014 44th District Water Quality Map

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is back out with their 2014 Water Quality Report.  The Richmond Times Dispatch framed it pretty clearly "Thousands of Miles of Va. Rivers are Polluted, Report Shows."  DEQ found that 71% of Virginia's rivers and 75% of estuaries (what we have in our community) are polluted.

The 44th District is no exception.  I've written about previous reports for the 44th District here:

The Dixie Pig: Lee & Mt. Vernon's Streams & Rivers Are Polluted says VA DEQ (Apr. 3, 2012)

The Dixie Pig: No Progress - Creeks in the 44th District Still Polluted (Mar. 31, 2012)

Here are the top lines:

Weekly Column: Virginia Education Official’s Visit Focuses on Improving Student Testing

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette and The Mt. Vernon Voice in the week of December 3, 2014.

Virginia Education Official’s Visit Focuses on Improving Student Testing

Two weeks ago, Virginia Education Secretary Anne Holton toured Walt Whitman Middle School and Hybla Valley Elementary School at my invitation as part of the state’s effort to change the way we assess school progress.

 

Virginia school accreditation is largely based on student performance on the Standards of Learning (SOL) tests, tests created in 1995 by then-Governor George Allen.  

Thirty schools in Fairfax County were accredited with warning and seven of those schools, including Mount Vernon High School and West Potomac High School, are in the 44th Delegate District along the U.S. 1 Corridor.