Our daily newsletter has headlines from the session and the impacts on Southwest and Southside Virginia RICHMOND - When the General Assembly convened in Richmond for its 2022 session in January, a historic budget surplus allowed them the unique opportunity to finally take on one of Virginia's most pressing challenges - the repairing and replacing of the state's crumbling public schools.

There are still a few days before students get dismissed for the summer, but local school divisions are already preparing for the next event -- summer school. In 2021, Harrisonburg City Public Schools revamped its summer school program, in part due to the learning loss that occurred that year and the year prior because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two Loudoun County Public School teachers who say they were subpoenaed as part of an ongoing special grand jury investigation into the district's handling of two sex assault cases said on Tuesday their contracts are not being renewed.

HAMPTON, Va. - Fifth grade students from Langley Elementary School, as well as the kindergarteners they mentored, visited a local sanctuary reef Wednesday to add baby oysters they've been raising. Students also wrote messages of hope on the oysters' shells before tossing the empty shells into the reef to provide something for their oysters to attach themselves to.

Two area educators have been named Conservation Teachers of the Year by the Shenandoah Valley Soil and Water Conservation District, one from Harrisonburg City Public Schools and one from Rockingham County Public Schools.

When hundreds of Buford Middle School students walked out of school last month in protest following the deadly supermarket shooting in Buffalo, Del. Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, wanted to respond and show up. She did so Wednesday. "I'm here because of you," Hudson told Buford students.

A man arrested for disrupting two Prince William School Board meetings in February and September pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct last month but could have his charges dropped in a year. In May, Nathan Archer entered a guilty plea for disrupting a September School Board meeting, but he could have the conviction dropped next year if he pays $96 in court costs and stays on good behavior.

Laurel Lane Elementary School kindergarten teacher Stephanie Kline, who has been an educator for 10 years, was named the Division and Elementary School Teacher of the Year, while Norge Elementary School physical education teacher Rayvon Patrick earned Rookie Teacher of the Year honors.

The Fredericksburg School Board on Monday approved the appropriation of $700,000 to award retention bonuses to all employees who return for the 2022-23 school year. The board also approved increasing staff raises from 6.5 percent to 10 percent for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Richmond School Board Chair Shonda Harris-Muhammed wants the board to able to review all Chromebook laptop purchase orders after an internal audit discovered roughly 20,000 RPS laptops are sitting idle and about 1,750 former students are still in possession of a Chromebook.