Gov. Glenn Youngkin's new appointees to the Virginia Board of Education include members whose work focuses on private education, charter schools and opposing admission changes to one of the state's most sought-after high schools.

A proposed policy presented by Rockingham County School Board member Matt Cross would make it against School Board policy for teachers to call a student by their requested name if it deviates from the name they are registered as. In addition, parents would be notified by an administrator of any name change request made by a student under this proposed policy.

The Scott County School Board met last Tuesday in their yearend close out meeting to approve cafeteria and school expenditures and close out the 2021-22 school budget as they move into the new fiscal year.

Meet four teachers striving to make a difference for students in our region. Many Roanokers once were enlightened by teachers who were truly brilliant in the classroom. Today our area still features many instructors who are capable of that same dazzling ability. Here are profiles of four of them.

"We're not telling our families that kids need to start walking and we're not going to put provisions in place to keep them safe. What we've done as a team, we've already started walking many of the routes we expect our students to walk," added Gurley.

By Stefanie Jackson - The Accomack school board at its June 21 meeting unanimously approved a policy on preventing student-athlete sudden cardiac arrest, which had come up for review for the first time since the related state law was adopted in 2020.

By the time Libbie Roberts graduated from Thomas Dale High School in Chesterfield County, she was what she described as a "full-blown addict." It had started with opioids, liberally prescribed by a family doctor to treat her softball-related injuries. Roberts still remembers the terrifying moment when, at 13, she realized she was dependent on the drugs.

VIRGINIA BEACH - Convincing high school students to take even one bite of a new food isn't easy, especially if they're sleep-deprived. Bonnie Gassett loves trying. During her four years as cafeteria manager at Landstown High School, Gassett introduced unique made-from-scratch breakfast and lunch entrees, stocked vending machines with fresh fruit and sandwiches, and exhibited a stationary bike with a pedal-powered smoothie blender.

Przemsyl, Poland is an 18 hour trip from W.T. Woodson High School, where Lee Hedrick is a government teacher, and Annandale High School where Meredith Hedrick is chair of the English for Speakers of Other Languages department.

WINCHESTER - Results from Frederick County Public Schools' School Quality and Perceptions Survey conducted by independent research firm K12 Insight found a majority of students (61%), parents (78%) and school-based staff (80%) rate the overall quality of their school as good or excellent.