If you ask little kids what they want to be when they grow up, many of them will answer "a teacher." Teaching is often the first career a child is introduced to and "teachers are often the people who have the most influence on your life," said Dennis Keffer, director of Shenandoah University's extended and distance education program.

LUNENBURG COUNTY, Va. -- Lunenburg County Public Schools abruptly announced Sunday that schools would be closed on Monday throughout the county. In a Facebook post, that had its comments turned off, Lunenburg school leaders said the decision was made due to "unforeseen circumstances."

For the second time in less than a week, James Monroe High School students were dismissed early Monday as the result of a bomb threat written on a bathroom wall, school officials said. Officials cleared the Fredericksburg school Monday after someone wrote a threat to blow up the building on a wall in a girls bathroom.

Six major Hampton Roads school districts began the year with roughly 700 vacant teaching positions. Leading the region is Newport News, which had 260 open teaching positions as of this week. Michelle Price, director of public information and community involvement for the division, said the vacancies are on par with last year.

RICHMOND, Va. -- As Richmond Public Schools embarks on a mission to improve academic performance and fill teacher vacancies, some educators are speaking out about feeling ignored by division leadership. "It just feels like the district doesn't trust us to make decisions for our classrooms," said Stephen Straus, an English teacher at River City Middle School.

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. - The vast majority of teachers are wonderful people devoting their lives to helping people learn but a small number of them break boundaries and wind up in trouble. Every year a small number of teachers lose their license in the state of Virginia for serious misconduct.

RINGGOLD, Va. (WDBJ) - Students at our local schools are remembering 9/11. Dan River Middle School had a school assembly in the gym for their 9/11 Patriot Day. The ceremony was held to thank local first responders and remember the lives lost on 9/11.

WOODSTOCK - The Shenandoah County Public School Board has approved a process for citizens to challenge the suitability of specific textbooks and other learning resources for use by students. The board approved three different policy updates for SCPS at its Thursday meeting.

CHRISTIANSBURG - Pass rates for Montgomery County Public Schools on a handful of state standardized exam subjects showed signs of a rebound in the most recent school year, but still lag behind at least one of the periods preceding the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Updated at 11:15 a.m.) The failures of the controversial Virtual Learning Program were "an indigestible meal that is going to make you sick," an Arlington Public Schools auditor told the School Board this summer. APS created the VLP in May 2021 for families who had reservations about resuming in-person school last fall as well as for students who prefer online instruction.