Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 15, 1995 TAG: 9508150103
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That is the gist of a speech delivered by Superintendent Herman Bartlett on Saturday during the first of a two-part School Board retreat.
At the meeting, held in Virginia Tech's Donaldson Brown Center, Bartlett updated board members on the past year's accomplishments and looked forward to goals for the system.
Bartlett said the schools should begin evaluating their success by how much children learn.
As a first step, the administration has been redesigning curriculum so that learning can be assessed.
"The fastest way I know to create an unthinking, angry, totally wasted 19-year-old ... is to give him a watered-down curriculum from kindergarten on," Bartlett said. "We must take responsibility for what students learn or what they do not learn in our schools."
From cuts in educational funding to a new trend in privately run schools, people - parents in particular - are questioning the value of public education. It's up to the system to prove what kind of education public schools are providing, Bartlett said.
Other than curriculum changes, Bartlett could not give specific actions that the schools will take. That's something the entire school system needs to examine in the next few years, he said.
Bartlett and School Board Chairman Roy Vickers decided to split this year's retreat between two days, addressing one item each day to help maintain the group's focus.
Thursday, with the exception of board member David Moore, the board will travel to Charlottesville for one day. There, a Virginia School Board Association facilitator will help the board evaluate its performance over the past year.
Last summer the board spent $1,617 for a two-day retreat in Charlottesville. A cost for this year has not been tallied, Vickers said.
Saturday's retreat in Blacksburg cost $281.
by CNB