Category: Meetings

The April meeting of the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club’s Steering Committee will take place at the home of Pat Drake, 108 Riverdale Lane.

Kaci Daniel, a representatives of the Agricultural Extension Service, will discuss Extension programs available  in Orange County.

Jesse W. Magruder, principal of Locust Grove Elementary School, and Linda Carlton, director of secondary instruction for Orange County Public Schools, led a lively and informative discussion of civics education at the club’s monthly meeting on March 17.

The educators assured members and guests that local schoolchildren are getting the kind of instruction they need to become well-informed and productive citizens — from kindergartners who learn to take turns and share to high school seniors who are encouraged to register as voters.

Mr. Magruder and Ms. Carlton provided a broad view of civics education that included the legal requirements mandated by Virginia’s Standards of Learning and examples of charming trinkets made by students to sell at a “market day” event intended to teach the fundamentals of economics.

The educators distributed several informative documents for participants to read to further advance their understanding of civics education in Orange Schools. Among them were these:

• Social Studies K-12 Course Sequence
• Civics instruction at Locust Grove Elementary School
• A quiz given to fourth graders on state government

Participants were encouraged to learn more by studying the Standards of Learning for History and Social Science on the Virginia Department of Education Web site.

Mr. Magruder, whose school benefited from a fund-raising auction and raffle last fall organized by the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club, told members that “My fellow principals are kind of envious of me when I say, ‘Let me tell you what the LOW community did for me!’ ”

Ms. Carlton reported that Dr. Robert Grimesey Jr., superintendent of Orange County Schools, had testified before the House Education and the Workforce Committee in Washington this week on the impact of federal regulations and reporting from the perspective of an administrator in a small rural school division.

The person who will be elected president of the United States in 2060 is a pupil in an elementary school class somewhere right now. He or she is just beginning to learn about the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship. What that child is taught will have a profound and lasting effect on that future national administration.

That child’s classmates, who may never seek public office, are also developing an understanding of a citizen’s relationship with government that will help steer the course of the Republic.

Jesse W. Magruder, principal of Locust Grove Elementary School, will explore the status of civics education on the local level when he speaks to The Lake of the Woods Democratic Club at 1:30 p.m. March 17 at the Woods Center. Visitors are welcome to attend.

Alexis de Toqueville observed that “each new generation must acquire the knowledge, learn the skills and develop the dispositions or traits of private and public character that undergird a constitutional democracy.” What kind of civics education are Orange County children receiving in our public schools? Is it the kind of training they need to become good citizens?

Mr. Magruder is veteran educator with 29 years of experience as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal. He graduated from Charlottesville Public Schools and attended Wilberforce University in Xenia, Ohio, where he earned a bachelor of science in elementary education in 1980. In 1996, Mr. Magruder went to the University of Virginia to study to become a school administrator. During this time he worked full time on his studies while serving as an administrative intern at Fluvanna Middle School in Fluvanna County.

During his career, Mr. Magruder has served as a teacher, assistant principal and administrator in schools in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Fluvanna County, Culpeper and Orange County. He was appointed principal of Locust Grove Elementary School in 2007.

For those wishing to prepare for a discussion of civics education following Mr. Magruder’s presentation, here are some excellent resources:

• Center for Civic Education
• National Alliance for Civic Education
• The Role of Civic Education, a position paper of The Communitarian Network