Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 3 · column 5 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
By SHARON KILPATRICK
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Though the School Board called a special meeting last Thursday to approve its budget for next year, most of the lunch-time session was given to a consideration of a new schedule for the elementary school that was presented by Principal Bernard Chesshir.
Dr. Gangel said, “Scheduling (at RCES) has just evolved. As things were added they were squeezed in. Here there is a commitment to make sure the main program is driving the schedule, not the supplementary programs. ”
He explained that the first priority of the new schedule is to provide at least one and a half hours of uninterrupted -time for reading instruction in each grade. A second goal is to have other blocks y>f instructional time as uninterrupted as possible, including at least 45 minutes for math in the upper elementary grades., “Given the limited number of specialty teachers, there are some exceptions,” he noted.
Mr. Chesshir explained that the overall goal of the schedule is to “increase the time for direct instruction.” He said he also wanted to have a fourth section of kindergarten. To come up with a teacher, he added, he has taken a position from seventh grade.
He said that another goal is to concentrate all the “pull outs” in one one-hour time block. “Pull outs,” he explained, include the math and reading labs, choral music, band, art, library visits, physical education and the program for the gifted and talented.
Another problem developed when, to free up space, he wanted to have the band and choral music programs in the “same physical space.” To solve the conflict, he suggested, the band director would be in the elementary school until 11 a.m. and the choral music teacher would teach in the afternoon.
In the sixth and seventh grades that meant that time for music would have to be pulled from social studies, Mr. Chesshir said.
In kindergarten through third grade, Mr. Chesshir explained, the new schedule calls for a two-hour block of time for reading and writing.
“There is a big philosophical difference in how this schedule was derived,” he said. “Because of that there will be some conflicts." He explained that a student in one of the remedial labs would not be able to
r
90.7%