Board OKs 6-year plan

By Annie McCallum

Published: August 20, 2008

Amherst County School Board recently approved the division’s six-year comprehensive plan.

What took only minutes to approve at the Aug. 14 school board meeting, took months to create. Superintendent Brian Ratliff said the extensive document outlines the division’s future.

“It’s a living document. If you go on trip you need a map and this is our opportunity to implement and use that map to get where we want to be,” Ratliff said when reached by phone Monday.

Ratliff said the plan is intended to be amended and changed to keep up with school system’s progress. It outlines the division’s goals and objectives, and how they can be achieved.

“It has a specific and strategic time frame, and who is responsible for meeting objectives,” he said. “It’s a lot of information.”

Amherst County Schools identified five goals through the course of its six-year plan. Those goals are: student achievement, leadership, student safety, communication and responsibility.

Ratliff acknowledged the 27-page document can be a tough read, but it’s important to Amherst County Schools’ future.

“What parents can know if they look at the six-year plan, they can see the big picture and know where we’re headed,” he said.

School divisions throughout the state complete comprehensive plans every six years, as stipulated by the Virginia Department of Education.

A committee comprised of teachers, administrators, board members, community members and parents helped coordinate the plan. It took nine to 10 months to complete and was discussed by the board on two occasions and approved Aug. 14.

Ratliff said the segment dealing with student achievement is particularly important.

“The whole goal of implementing instructional practices and programs that prepare students to meet standards set forth, that’s certainly an area of interest,” he said. “There’s so much going on in the world, we need to prepare them.”

As required by the state education department Amherst County Schools’ comprehensive plan will be reevaluated in two years.

“We’ve done a lot of good work and we have lot more to go,” Ratliff said.