Education

    A $7.9 million investment by Bedford County in an energy efficiency project is expected to reap savings in water and energy costs for years, possibly decades, to come.

    And it’s also providing the framework for more efficient oversight for the heating and cooling systems in several county schools. Eventually the plan is to bring all of the county’s schools into a new technology-based system that allows the HVAC units to be controlled from offsite locations through the energy management system.

    The Bedford campus of Central Virginia Community College (CVCC) got a new director, Patrick Gatti, back in October. Gatti took the opportunity this month to introduce himself to the business community during a business roundtable breakfast sponsored by the Bedford County’ economic development department.

    Out of the six words he had to spell last Thursday, Aiden Belcher struggled the most with “stucco.”

    Even though he wasn’t familiar with the word, he still got it right, and then spelled “crochet” as the winning word to claim the title as 2013 Bedford County Spelling Bee champion.
    Belcher, a student at Moneta Elementary School, will now compete in the regional spelling bee scheduled for March 16 in Roanoke. That will be held at the Holiday Inn-Airport at 10 a.m.

    School safety and use of leftover funds were among the discussions at last Thursday’s regular meeting of the Bedford County School Board.
    
School Safety
    In the aftermath of the tragic school shooting at Newtown, Conn., in December, school staff have been reviewing their school safety and security policies, according to Superintendent Dr. Douglas Schuch. That included reviewing those issues with each school principal.