By SHARON KILPATRICK

By SHARON KILPATRICK

Rappahannock Newt Staff Writer

The school administration and the staff of both schools breathed a collective sign of relief when the state Department of Education’s Administrative Review Team and the High School Visiting Committee departed from the county last Friday.

Months of activity had gone into preparing for the visits, but school system employees felt it had been worthwhile when the Administrative Review Team gave the administration an overall grade of 95, compared to a score in the mid-80s five years ago, and the High School Visiting Committee left saying they had gained a wealth of ideas to take back to their own schools and leaving a host of commendations and recommendations.

High School Principal John Toth was quick to give Assistant Superintendent Robert Chappell credit for the success of the administrative review. “Prior planning prevents poor performance,” he said. “All the administrators want to express thenappreciation for the planning and organization of Bob Chappell. A lot of after-hours work and time on weekends and during Thanksgiving vacation went into this. I’m very pleased we did what we did, now that it’s over. The staff and faculty really pulled together, and the kids too; it’s been a real team effort.”

The administrative review got underway Monday evening with a public hearing, but the public didn’t turn out. Along with school systememployees and the press, one parent was in the audience Monday evening. He asked for a copy of the survey form to fill out. When Administrative Review Coordinator Andrea Chisick asked for comments or concerns, no one spoke up and the public hearing was closed.

A few minutes later Laurie Marshall came in, learned that the hearing was over and asked if she could speak with Miss Chisick and Melvin Campbell, vocational education specialist from the Radford office of the State Department of Education and Associate Director of the Administrative Review Service.

Ms. Marshall told the two committee members that the school administration was much more open to opportunities for the children to experience learning in creative ways than it had been 10 years ago, when she worked for the school system as the first coordinator of programs for the gifted and talented.

However, Ms. Marshall told the evaluators, she feels that there is still too much emphasis on “controlling the children rather than challenging them,” and that teachers felt pressure to cover the material in the books. “The books and ditto sheets aren’t what should be taught; the children should be taught,” she said. “If we are going to develop intellec