Will Yowell open on time?

Culpeper County School Board Chairman George Dasher announced at Tuesday’s Culpeper County Board of Supervisors meeting that the “drop dead” date for deciding whether to proceed with the opening of Yowell Elementary School will be July 17.

“That will allow us enough time to pull the trigger,” on alternate plans, he explained. “Yowell Elementary will open on time, but it might not be in a new building.”

If the new building is not ready, Yowell students would meet at another school.

Despite a change in leadership, the Culpeper County School District is prepared to handle the challenges ahead, Dasher told the Board of Supervisors.

On Friday, the School Board voted in favor of an agreement allowing former Superintendent David Cox to take a yearlong paid sabbatical. In the interim, he would provide unspecified consulting and transition services to the district and retain his $130,000 per year salary. Cox would then be expected to resign June 30, 2009. He would also receive his full salary and benefits for the last three years of his contract, which expires in 2011, unless he becomes employed elsewhere.

At a special meeting on Monday, the School Board voted in Larry Carter as acting superintendent.

Dasher formally introduced Carter to the supervisors Tuesday and asked for the support of the county and the community.

“I look forward to the challenge,” Carter told the Supervisors. “We all know the times we’re in and we have a lot of unknowns we have to resolve.”

Carter, 61, served as CCPS executive director of administrative services since the fall of 2004. Before that, he had served as principal of Culpeper County and Madison County high schools. He began his education career in 1969 as a health and physical education teacher. Dasher said the board chose Carter in part because of his familiarity with Culpeper and his experience in education.

Another challenge is working through redistricting issues that arose from rezoning. Dasher said about 65 percent of students will attend a different school this fall.
“He is stepping into a very difficult job and task ahead,” Dasher said of Carter’s new role.

“We will have teachers in buildings in six weeks and we will have students in buildings in seven weeks and there is a lot of work to get done.”

Part of that work includes finishing touches at Eastern View High School. The last few details are being attended to, including the installation of signs and flashing lights creating a 35 mile per hour school zone, at the intersection of U.S. 29 and Route 666.

“It’s still an area that scares me,” Dasher said of the busy intersection near the new school.

The Virginia Department of Transportation announced last month that funding to build an overpass at the intersection would be delayed due to a $1.1 billion state funding shortfall.

Nate Delesline III can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 110 or .

Other action taken by the board Tuesday included:
-Approval of three requests to discharge fireworks
-Appropriation of $112,000 in federal and state funding for design and terminal planning work at Culpeper Regional Airport
-Appropriation of a $1,474 grant from the Department of Criminal Justice Services for a crime prevention program
- Appropriation of a $46,907 grant for the Options Program to assist youth with career and education programs
-Granting permission to apply for $200,000 grant to the Sheriff’s Office for a two year gang program coordinator
-Reaffirming an application for VDOT revenue sharing funds
-Accepting a recommendation from the Rules Committee to conduct background checks on potential county employees
-Accepting a recommendation from the Public Safety Committee to charge $130 per hour for county EMS coverage at special events
-Accepted a recommendation from the Rules Committee authorizing the county to accept foreign trade zone grantee status from the Culpeper County Chamber of Commerce
In closed session, the board discussed granting an award to a county employee and appointments to the Citizen Panel on water and sewer.