ISLE OF WIGHT
At the Isle of Wight County called school board meeting on Tuesday, the school board unanimously voted to approve the superintendent’s proposed budget before they went into a scheduled joint meeting with the Board of Supervisors.

Superintendent Jim Thornton began his presentation with the five main goals he had in creating the Fiscal Year 2016-2017 Proposed Operational Budget.

These five goals, which represent the vision he has for the future of the school system, are as follows:

•Promote high expectations and deeper learning opportunities to ensure that every student has access to multiple pathways to graduate and be fully prepared for post-secondary learning opportunities and a rewarding;

•Promote effective educators by investing in human capital that will directly and positively impact student learning and achievement;

•Promote student personal growth so that each can become a responsible, contributing citizen;

•Promote community support and involvement in the schools by engaging parents and our community in education; and

•Promote organizational efficiency and professionalism.

According to Thornton, the proposed budget is flexible to meet unanticipated or new priority needs.

He also added that new needs require Isle of Wight County Public Schools to “abandon” some of its past priorities as the times change, and that college and career readiness is an expectation for all students that attend its schools.

When describing an overall summary of the budget, he said that the “local request of $953,893 will provide a sound operational budget moving forward.

“Support services such as maintenance, transportation and technology will no longer have to pick and choose what to do and what to let go for another year,” Thornton continued.

“The instructional budget will have the funding to meet the changing needs of students and prepare them in a career pathway.”