The Mathews County School Board heard a plea Tuesday night to continue to look out for the interests of the division’s gifted student population in light of the elimination of the position of gifted education coordinator.

Judy Rowe of Gwynn, a retired educator who once served as the division’s gifted education coordinator, asked the board to ensure that differentiated instruction is present in all classrooms to provide students with a chance to learn something beyond the “one size fits all” approach of the state’s Standards of Learning curriculum.

Rowe said the board needs to advocate for gifted education as it does for special education, and support the opportunity for students to be able to take advantage of the Virginia Summer Residential Governor’s Schools in Humanities, Sciences, Visual and Performing Arts.

“These are not budget cuts; these are an assault on gifted education,” Rowe said as she listed a number of cost-cutting measu...