Northumberland Woman's Club Pledges $5,000 to
Reading Program

When Clint Stables, Superintendent Northumberland County Public Schools, and Jan Bates, Reading Teacher at Northumberland Elementary School, left the January 14 meeting of the Woman's Club of Northumberland County they had something to smile about.

After hearing from Bates about the Northumberland Elementary School plans to become part of RAV - "Read Aloud Virginia" - the members of the Woman's Club voted unanimously to sponsor the program with a $5,000 donation over a five-year period, 2003-2008.

Women also voiced the desire to work as volunteers in reading to students as the program progresses.

The program is being established with the support of the staff and parents of students at the Northumberland Elementary School.  Its goal is to establish a daily 20 minutes of reading aloud and listening in the children's homes. RAV also supports "No Child Left Behind" legislation.

Superintendent Stables shared with the Woman's Club members and guests his view of "The State of Our Schools." In a word, Stables announced that the state of our schools is "Great." The superintendent shared with Woman's Club members the efforts being made to attract and keep talented and qualified teachers in Northumberland County.

Stables emphasized that the most important goal of our schools is to have every student achieve success in learning. Virginia State SOL (Standard Of Learning) test scores are improving yearly with the goal of 100% success on these tests in the future, he said.

Excerpt From the Northumberland Echo - January 22, 2003