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Wright Pens Letter To Covington School Board

 
Covington, VA (Oct. 15, 2018) - Here is the full text of a letter penned by Alleghany County School Board member Jacob Wright to the Covington School Board members, presented by him for consideration at the Alleghany County School Board last night at its meeting held at Callaghan Elementary School.

Not all members of the Alleghany County School Board were in total agreement with the full text - so a four member sub-committee of the county school board was formed to tweak the text for future board consideration.

Here it is:

Dear Members of the Covington City School Board,

"Greetings from the Alleghany County School Board. First, we would like to commend you on having all of your schools accredited and we are glad to be back on track with having all of our schools accredited as well.

"As members of the Alleghany County School Board we are not only committed to the students of today but, also, to the future of our educational system in the Alleghany Highlands. The Alleghany County and Covington School systems have seen a significant decline in enrollment over the past several decades due to jobs moving overseas, a changing world economy, and in some cases just downright bad luck.

"As you will remember several years ago the county school board closed Boiling Spring and Falling Spring Elementary schools. It was a tough time for our community and for our board. In the two years following the closure two of our board members (Randy Tucker and Jacob Wright) were appointed and soon after were involved in talks with Covington regarding a joint school system. It was probably too soon after the schools closed. There were too many wheels in motion. Too much emotion. Talks were called off and each system chose to work on progressing their own separate programs.

"Since the last time the two school districts have talked, 9 of the combined 12 members are new. Over the past several years our systems have made great strides in working together and it seems we are always finding new ways to use our allegiance for the betterment of the youth in the Alleghany Highlands.

"The youth are our future and whether they go to your schools or our schools they are a part of this community. We are all on the same team. We work together, we pray together, and we play together. Our successes are your successes and your successes are our successes."

"We are very lucky to have a supportive city council and board of supervisors that fund us at a higher percentage above the state requirements than almost every other community in the Commonwealth. We feel that by working together Covington and Alleghany could create better opportunities for the future generations of the Alleghany Highlands.

"We have some inefficiencies and we have some things we could improve upon and we feel certain you share the same sentiment about some aspects of your system. The combining of our school systems would not be a huge savings to taxpayers from the onset but, a more efficient use of their money. We feel that we could combine our resources and offer more opportunities, a better use of taxpayer money, and solidify the educational future for our next generation. There are obvious savings and new opportunities through combining services, realigning job responsibilities, and the adaptive re-use of buildings. We feel like with the right plan we can avoid closing schools or anyone losing a job or income because of the merger.

"The plan for a merged system must be diplomatic, well-thought-out, and be centered around what is best for the future of our community, the students. A unified Alleghany Highlands will solidify our future, increase the quality of life, and most importantly offer the future generations the best opportunities as they pursue additional educational opportunities or chose to enter the workforce with skills they have gained through our programs."

We look forward to continuing our current allegiance and working towards unifying our wonderful community."

Sincerely,

The Alleghany County School Board

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(Editor's note: there were some small edits (paragraphing, etc) done by the Journal's staff - no text changes. The county school board was NOT in complete agreement with the full text, but it was clear that there was wide support from board members for the intentions expressed.)
 
 
 

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