by Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Riverbend High School Principal Xavier Downs is on leave according to Spotsylvania County Schools following an incident during a meeting with swim team parents at RHS on Wednesday night.
Fredericksburg Advance contacted the Spotsylvania County Schools’ Communications Department seeking more information. According to an email response from the school system, we learned that during the meeting, “[d]iscussion of matters relating to coaching of the RHS swim team reportedly grew heated at times.”
The email went on to say that Downs is “currently on leave” while “various accounts of the meeting are being investigated.”
This is a breaking story, and the Advance will continue to report information as it becomes available.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit our website at the link that follows.
Become One of the Elite Eighty
W.P. Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe Jackson Goes to Iowa (you may know it better as the movie “Field of Dreams,”) said it best.
If you build it, they will come.
This year we built the FXBG Advance, and readers have responded by coming in ever-larger numbers.
We thank each and every one of you who have made the Advance a part of your day, and we’re excited to say that more-exciting announcements are just around the corner as we continue to innovate and expand our coverage of the region.
The donations of individual donors are central to our success, and we’re hoping to add 80 more by the end of the year.
Where does your money go?
It goes to support the great journalists we have - like Adele Uphaus - and the ones we look to hire in the year ahead.
If you can spare $8 a month, we’ll be both grateful, and reward your trust in us with more journalism, more stories, and more connections to organizations and people who make our region a great place to live.
If you can’t, thank you for reading the FXBG Advance, and consider sharing us with your friends.
In 2024, let’s build an even better Advance - together!
Thank you for reading and supporting FXBG Advance.
-Martin Davis, Editor-In-Chief
Thanks for the quick reporting on this. I’m guessing “leave” means he’s suspended with pay.