and funds for the youth center.

and funds for the youth center.

Governor's School

report

Chairman Mills reported on the most recent meeting of regional school officials working out plans for a regional Governor's School, with an advanced curriculum for select area students. He urged the board to read over, and be prepared to sign agreement documents by the November school board meeting. Mills said, "The document is the constitution defining the body (of the school)... In order to get the documents to the Department of Education at the correct time, they must be signed by the November board meeting" and delay beyond then would postpone the project many more months.

Mills and Chappell both noted that there were several other factors, including delayed action by any of the other area counties involved in the Governor's School, that could delay the project as well. Chappell opined further that “next Fall might be too short a time frame to be ready” although he did not oppose immediate approval of the mutual agreement document establishing the framework for a future school.

Places at the proposed Governor's school would be allocated by school population. Rappahannock would have four reserved seats under current plans, and would be obligated to pay around $3500 per student, or some $14,000.

School board member Rosa Crocker expressed support for the idea of advanced curricula, but expressed concern that separating out some students for a completely different educational experience “runs counter to some basic school principles”. She said she was in favor of "facilitating opportunity for students, although it (the Governor's School) is spending a lot for a very few students.” Crocker went on to praise the work Headwaters has done with mini-grants for innovative teachers, the Next Step college guidance program, the Farm-to-Table program and curriculum enrichment within the local schools.