Henrico School Board approves $944 million budget; owners can keep goat at center of Henrico neighborhood conflict
Happy Friday and Happy Henrico Restaurant Week! (Check out what will be served from April 28-May 4)
The Henrico School Board passed a $944 million budget — with the largest amount of state aid in modern history — and is looking at enforcing a school day phone ban, which would require all teachers to use phone storage containers to collect students’ phones. In some non-education news, Sesame the pygmy goat will be able to reside with his owners in Henrico after some notable controversy.
HCPS receives more state funds
The Henrico School Board adopted a $944 million budget for the 2025-2026 school year on April 17 – a $63 million increase from the current fiscal year’s budget.
This year, Henrico Schools received $429 million in state aid towards the general fund, the highest amount in modern history, according to HCPS Chief Financial Officer John Wack. HCPS also received more local funding this year, totaling $324 million, and the same amount of federal funding as last year towards the general fund.
Pygmy goat can stay in Henrico
After weeks of debate and hundreds of public comments, Henrico County leaders have voted to officially allow Sesame, the senior goat at the center of a neighborhood controversy, to live at his owner's home.
At 13 years old, Sesame the pygmy goat is ready for retirement with the help of his neighbors. His move was temporarily delayed over the last few months as some residents raised concerns about Sesame’s relocation to the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood.
Teachers report rise in phone issues
Proposed changes to Henrico Schools’ Code of Student Conduct would require secondary students to place their phones in storage containers during each class period and keep them in their backpacks during lunch and between classes.
Under Henrico’s current policy, middle and high school students must keep their phones away during class but can have them out during lunch and in-between classes. Teachers also have the choice to require students to place their phones in division-provided storage containers during class or allow them to keep them in their backpacks.
'Senior Walk' for HS graduates
On April 11, Glen Allen Elementary School students and staff enjoyed a mini-reunion with former students who are now high school seniors.
The soon-to-be-graduates – who started kindergarten in 2012 and left as fifth-graders in 2019 – returned to their alma mater for a Senior Walk, coming not only from Glen Allen and Deep Run high schools, but also from specialty centers and other schools.
UR confronts history of slavery
A consecration and dedication ceremony took place at the University of Richmond on Wednesday for the permanent memorial to the enslaved people buried on the school's historic campus.
UR graduate student Shelby Driskill began researching the site in 2018 with her Paths to the Burying Ground project, which explored the history of "what may have been a burying ground" and the lives "of those who were enslaved on the property."
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