Editor, Gazette Journal:

On behalf of the Mathews County School Board, I want to take this opportunity to invite members of this community to a Forum on Early Childhood Education to be held on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 6 p.m. in the Brooks Auditorium at Thomas Hunter Middle School.

Last October, Mathews County School Board had the opportunity to hear from Tom Kinney of Kids First Foundation. “Kids First” is a nonprofit organization established by citizens of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula of Virginia who have come together over the concern that many at-risk three-year-old children in our communities do not have the same opportunity to benefit from Early Childhood learning and nutrition programs that are afforded children in larger, more affluent metropolitan areas. 

Out of this concern, the group garnered funding to establish a 3-year-old preschool program for at-risk children in Lancaster and Middlesex counties. In Lancaster County, this program was so success...