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By SHARON KILPATRICK
Rappahannock Ncw» Staff Writer
Tom Von Fange said he is running for the School Board from Stonewal 1-Hawthom District because “I want to help kids get the best possible education.”
He said, “I’m excited that we have the opportunity for the first time to elect School Board members. This is a historic moment.”
Mr. Von Fange and his wife Karen have four children, the / youngest three and a half and the oldest 13. Except for the youngest they all attend St. Luke’s School in Culpeper. He said he does not feel that should be an issue in the election.
“A lot of people are exploring any alternative they can find to get the best education for their children,” he said. His children attended Culpeper Christian School and Rappahannock Elementary before the Von Fange’s decided to send them to St. Luke’s.
“We had a good reason,” he said. “Rappahannock is using whole language. It does not emphasize spelling at all. Kids are encouraged to spell a word any way they want. It’s a selfesteem builder,” he said.
“We were so shocked by the spelling of our youngest daughter and the acceptance of misspelling. After working for over a year trying to stop that, we had to take her out, and that resulted in taking the other children out as well. I want to eliminate any teaching of misspelling as part of the curriculum.”
However, he said even if he is elected and successful in changing the teaching of spelling his children will remain at St. Luke’s through the eighth grade, which is as far as the school goes. His oldest boy will have one more year at St. Luke’s before returning to Rappahannock County High School in ninth grade. His second son will be returning to the high school in Mr. Von Fange’s last year, if he is elected.
He said he sees good points in the whole language approach, but spelling is a “sad point,” he said. “Education is based on reading and writing,” he said. “If you don’t know how to spell, then you can never write. We communicate by words that are spelled to have a particular meaning.” He said he is pleased with the education his children are receiving at St. Luke’s. “They are excellent readers, and spelling is heavily emphasized.”
He said the whole language program is an important reason many
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