TimesDispatch.com | News Roundtable; How the Times-Dispatch Covers Education

Ahmad Brooks’ decision Monday to attend the University of Virginia was more than just an end to the pursuit of one of the nation’s top high school football players. It was also another reminder of how much the Cavaliers’ recruiting strategy has changed toward Northern Virginia since Al Groh took over as head coach in…

Five-year-old Paige Epler is like other children, greeting you with a happy handshake and eager to show off her new bunny Buddy that she got for Easter. She wants to be an astronaut. And she loves babies. But then the Lake Ridge girl begins a homeschool session with her mom Pam and it becomes evident…

An Occoquan man who was charged with selling an illegal exotic reptile in August has recently been sentenced to serve 20 days in jail. Sean W. Hammond, 21, was sentenced Sept. 11 in Prince William General District Court to serve 20 days of a 180-day jail sentence for selling wild game, a misdemeanor. Hammond was…

The City of Manassas wants to include residents in redesigning its future. And although Helena Soprano, an Alexandria-based urban design consultant, suggests using historic and varied design techniques, residents worry more about practical matters. Soprano said a downtown area mixed with residential and commercial buildings, and planned with aesthetics in mind, would be preferable. Old…

Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, a philosophy emerged that the two superpowers that exist in the world are the United States and world public opinion. Gregg Reynolds adopted that philosophy years ago, but tweaked it to say the peace movement is the second superpower. As an exercise in that ideology, Reynolds and…

Before his family moved to Fort Knox, Ky., Daniel Fountain used to come to Woodbridge games just to watch. Always a basketball lover, the 16-year-old has vivid recollections of watching Brion Dunlap, now Forest Park’s head coach, play for the Vikings. He remembers walking up to Potomac’s Mookie Felder after a game and shaking his…