1 of 2
Sallie Morgan has touched thousands of Rappahannock lives, whether as executive director of the Mental Health Association, injecting vital prevention programs and behavioral interventionists into the county s schools, taking the lead on area aging issues, or helping to create RAAC s No Ordinary Person â as former county administrator John W. McCarthy says lifting up all of those who have had the extraordinarily good fortune to come into her orbit.
By Luke Christopher
Photographer: Luke Christopher
Theresa Wood
Itâs beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go â and Rappahannock County Public Schools are pairing up with Businesses of Rappahannock to help teachers and staff check holiday shopping off their to-do lists.
Last week RCPS Superintendent Shannon Grimsley unveiled Operation: Gift Rapped, an appreciation program that will furnish every participant with a âpassportâ and $40 in Gift Rapped Bucks to be spent at participating retailers throughout the county, and ten merchants will be giving away free gifts for teachers. Virtual and online shopping will be offered through the program as well to accommodate those with concerns about COVID-19.
âItâs been a long road for the countyâs vision documentâÂ
The jam-packed agenda for Mondayâs regular meeting of the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors included two public hearings, a COVID-19 presentation from the Virginia Department of Health, a review of the countyâs financial audit, and last but certainly not least the unanimous adoption of the 2020 Comprehensive Plan, a vision document that will guide the countyâs future land use planning.Â
âYay,â said Stonewall-Hawthorne representative Chris Parrish, raising a jubilant fist.Â
âThanks, everybody,â said Vice-Chair Debbie Donehey.
The comprehensive plan arrived in its current form after countless revisions by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors over the course of the past year. In the eleventh hour before its approval Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson walked the Board through a painstaking two-hour review of his last-minute line edits in a true
âA great light in the middle of a very difficult timeâ
The Rappahannock County School Board convened for its last meeting of the year on Tuesday, finalizing plans to reintroduce four-day-a-week instruction for kindergarten and first grade starting in January.Â
The Board heard a stirring presentation from Jenny Kapsa, who wears many hats at RCPS as financial education coordinator, Profile of a Graduate coordinator and most recently the Wonderful Wednesday program coordinator.Â
Kapsa, joined by a cadre of dedicated counselors and RCPS staff, expressed deep gratitude to the School Board, the Board of Supervisors, and Superintendent Grimsley for their commitment to creating a fun, safe and engaging place for children to go on Wednesdays, when the school buildings are closed for deep cleaning and teacher planning. The School Board, in turn, thanked Kapsa and her team for their service.Â
The Rappahannock County Elementary School. Courtesy of RCPS
Another Rappahannock County Elementary School student has tested positive for COVID-19, the second case of coronavirus within the same classroom.
As a result, RCPS Superintendent Dr. Shannon Grimsley said this late afternoon RCES will remain on âremote-learning statusâ through Friday, Dec. 18. In addition, all the students in the one classroom are now quarantining.
In a letter to the school community, Grimsley recalled that a staff member had tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend. Then on Monday, Dec. 7, another staff member and two students presented with symptoms that could be associated with COVID-19 or some other illness. The staff member ultimately tested negative for the virus, as did one of the two students, while the other student no longer had symptoms. Â