Scant news for those just out of broadband range in Roanoke County
Then: The residents of several neighborhoods in the Roanoke Valley were among about 325,000 Virginians who don’t have access to broadband cable internet. For some, there were hang-ups getting fiber under and across the Blue Ridge Parkway. For others, rivers and railroads presented logistical challenges.
Now: Jessica Tipton lives with her preschool-age daughter in a Roanoke County house within sight of the parkway. She is still relying on her cellphone, which gets two bars of data — outside only. A cable connector box stands in front of her house, where it has been for at least two years, she said.
Cox Communications spokeswoman Margaret-Hunter Wade said in an email exchange that Hurricane Helene’s destructive remnants in North Carolina have slowed processes from the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Asheville offices. That means officials there haven’t issued approval for Cox to cross the parkway.
“In the meantime, we’ve requested and received an extension on the project to accommodate the delay,” Wade wrote. She was referring to the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative, which provides funding to broadband deployment efforts across the state.
Like Tipton and her neighbors, residents in a Roanoke County neighborhood near West Salem live within minutes of people with broadband access but don’t have access themselves. An area that includes Barley Drive, just off West Main Street, features multiple creeks, railroad crossings and the Roanoke River.
County officials and internet service provider Shentel determined that the work was too cost-prohibitive for Shentel, and they were trying to work with another provider that has more of a footprint in the area.
That provider will be Comcast, County Administrator Richard Caywood said Friday. The county’s Economic Development Authority called a special meeting Dec. 20 and gave the deal its required approvals, he said.
— Tad Dickens 
Market on Melrose opens; Goodwill high school for adults to start enrollment in spring
Then: In February, the Virginia Department of Education approved education plans for the Excel Center, a high school for adults operated by Goodwill Industries of the Valleys. The school, to be located at Goodwill’s new community services hub in Northwest Roanoke, will be among 40 locations nationwide serving adult learners, and the first in Virginia.
Now: Melrose Plaza is taking shape. The plaza’s anchor, a grocery store called Market on Melrose, opened in November.
The Excel Center will begin enrolling students in the spring, with classes scheduled to start in August, said Chelsea Moran, director of marketing for Goodwill. The school, which will have about 100 enrollees initially, will also offer career coaching and child care services for students. Construction is underway.
A Bank of Botetourt branch and a health and wellness center will also open in the plaza, which already houses a public library branch.
— Lisa Rowan
Roanoke County supervisor’s federal suit against school board members advances on retaliation claim
Then: Martha Hooker, vice chair of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, sued three members of the Roanoke County School Board in November 2023. Hooker claimed the school division terminated her part-time job as work-based learning coordinator at the persuasion of school board members Cheryl Facciani, Brent Hudson and Tim Greenway because of how she voted as a supervisor to change the way the school division received local funds.
Now: In September, Judge Elizabeth Dillon dismissed the wrongful termination claim and a claim that the three school board members acted in their official capacity to oust Hooker. But she upheld Hooker’s claim that the school board members acted in retaliation. Further hearings have not been scheduled.
— Lisa Rowan
Former community college administrator’s lawsuit awaits federal court hearing
Then: Charletta Barringer-Brown, who led the humanities, social sciences and business department at Southside Virginia Community College from December 2022 to September 2023, is seeking $3 million in damages from the college. Her federal lawsuit claims that SVCC terminated her because of her race and gender. The suit was filed in late June but was amended in August to include the Virginia Community College System as a defendant.
Barringer-Brown, who is Black, claims administrators at SVCC treated her differently than they did white deans at the school. She also claimed that her supervisor falsified an evaluation in order to push her out.
Now: The state community college system and SVCC have asked for the case to be dismissed. They claim Barringer-Brown was terminated because of her performance and that her termination took place within a one-year probation period for all new faculty hires.
The termination letter provided by the community college among the case documents system lists six reasons Barringer-Brown’s performance was unsatisfactory, including failure to resolve documented performance issues, failure to resolve student complaints and refusal to meet with faculty leadership to improve relations.
The state says the case should be dismissed because Barringer-Brown hasn’t made sufficient claims that she was terminated because of discrimination or retaliation or that defamatory statements were made about her.
A hearing to consider the dismissal request has not yet been scheduled.
— Lisa Rowan
