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By Ruth Purnell
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The Rappahannock County School Board met again Tuesday Feb. 22 in, a work session as their continue discussions on this year’s proposed 2005-2006 school budget with a price tag of roughly $11.5 million.
As he said he would in the last budget workshop, superintendent Bob Chappell handed the floor over to Mrs. Ray Tupper who came to make a presentation on the work of the current reading specialist at the elementary school. Tupper made a convincing argument, as she explained how the reading specialist worked with children to give them the extra focus required to attain good reading skills.
Barbara Wheatley is the current reading teacher for the first and second graders. She also pulls third and fourth grade students from classes during the day who may need extra help with reading. Drawing students from their regular classes, makes for smaller groups of students and increases instructional time. Wheatley has also made a point of visiting the high school and testing students with remedial reading skills. After testing she is able to advise teachers on how to better work with the student to develop reading skills.
Adding more specialists would give Wheatley time to work with the kindergarteners. Research done by the school has shown that students who have had the help of Wheatley for at least two years have shown a marked improvement on their Standards of Learning (SOL) Tests.
Tupper also stressed the importance of catching reading problems early. Two years of learning with a specialist is not enough to maintain acquired reading skills. Sending children on to higher grades with only these two
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