This month, Petersburg High School started a blitz to encourage students to fill out their college financial aid applications. Counselors reminded students on social media, called parents at home, and scheduled lunch sessions to work on the forms together.

All nine seats are open this year on the Alexandria City Public Schools board, an elected body that helps oversee the Northern Virginia school system of 16,000. There are 15 candidates competing for the seats. If elected, they - like school officials nationwide - will be forced to grapple with serious ongoing problems posed by the covid-19 pandemic.

CHRISTIANSBURG - More criticism has been directed at the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors over its GOP members' support of providing vouchers or tax credits to public school students who decide to switch to private or home schools.

Mike Mason was one of the nation's highest-ranking FBI officials. Now he drives students to school in a yellow school bus each morning and afternoon. It wasn't the career turn he'd imagined for himself. He was once the executive assistant director of the bureau, responsible for overseeing all criminal investigations, among other duties.

BEDFORD COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) - Students at one Bedford County high school will be learning remotely on Monday while officials conduct contact tracing amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to Bedford County Public Schools, all Liberty High School students will have a virtual instruction day and all after-school activities will be canceled on Monday, Oct.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Across Hampton Roads, hundreds of students are starting the year right where they left off: in the previous grade. After a year of mostly virtual learning, 10 On Your Side began collecting data that would show whether the number of kids retained significantly changed.

ROANOKE, Va. - To allow for more planning time for teachers, Roanoke City Public Schools has altered the 2021-22 school year. The school division announced the changes on Monday, which provide at least one full day a month for teachers to prepare between now and spring break.

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - The Richmond Public School board will be meeting on Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. to discuss several key issues including school lunches, rebuilding George Wythe High School, and re-zoning River City Middle School. At the top of their agenda, RPS will be securing hundreds of thousands of federal dollars to revamp their meal service.

The program would be cost neutral for the division because it would use the substitute teacher budget to pay the bonuses a year end. "And our hope is that we would have more people on task, on jobs and we know that there is no replacement for a good teacher in the classroom, so hopefully it will improve your instruction in the quality of education our students are getting," Irvin said.

HOPEWELL, Va. (WWBT) - Starting on Oct. 18, students and staff in Hopewell's school district will be able to get a free COVID-19 test without leaving school grounds. The new testing program is part of a partnership with the Virginia Department of Health.