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THE MOST serious problem facing Rappahannock and rural Virginia counties everywhere right now are state-mandated instructions to institute full-fledged kindergarten programs within the next few years. Educational bureaucrats claim otherwise, but there was actually very little opportunity for local views to be taken into consideration when the program calling for this step was adopted by the State Board of Education. Localities were simply told what they must do, and that was that, for all practical purposes.
Well, it isn’t that easy, or all that desirable, either, for that matter. How can Rappahannock, for instance, stand the expense of what might mean duplication of an expensive school busing system? Why should small children of kindergarten age be subjected to twice-a-day bus rides of up to 45 minutes duration? Why should they be confined to a six-hour class day, or longer? Are the benefits of a kindergarten program truly so overwhelming that these questions can be brushed aside?
And why shouldn’t Rappahannock, as Chairman Pete Luke suggests, have the option of conducting a summertime kindergarten program, or of arranging some neighborhood systems more compatible with the special characteristics of Rappahannock, rather than being forced to comply with statewide standards?
WE HOPE THE Rappahannock Supervisors persist in their questions, and we hope that those citizens who share these concerns let them know that there is someone on their side. Too often, when matters of education are considered, to raise any question at all, no matter how mild it may be, is to lay yourself open to hysterical charges of “antieducation.”
A more rational discussion of this problem is seriously needed. □
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