The Gloucester County School Board held its annual retreat on Friday at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science campus at Gloucester Point. Among topics covered were elementary and secondary instruction and staffing.

Director of Elementary Education Dr. Amy Stamm and Director of Secondary Education Dr. Diron Ford provided an overview of academic achievement for students at all eight county schools, highlighting gaps in achievement between the entire student population and those with disabilities. State guidelines have schools currently focusing on reading and math achievement.

Gloucester County Public Schools is implementing next steps to help close the gap in these instruction areas. Programs designed to help these students include ALL IN Tutoring, Lexia Core5, Reading and Zearn Math.

Next steps also include principals observing classroom and student engagement at the other schools in the district to figure out what is working well and what they can implement in their own s...