Lynchburg City Schools celebrated American Education Week with great success again this year. Community involvement soared throughout the division. Principals and other staff members said the excitement in their schools from students, staff and visitors was inspirational.
American Education Week and the many different events we have planned throughout this week are very important on so many levels as it allows us to showcase our schools and all the wonderful things that we know go on within our walls.
Many schools also had a huge volunteer showing as they invited family members of current students to also get to know their children’s schools. Several elementary schools reported hundreds of parents, grandparents and other relatives joining in the week’s celebrations to help out in the classrooms, participate in activities and have lunch with their children. On Parent’s Day alone, Bedford Hills had 158 total volunteers in the building. T. C. Miller, a school with only 250 students, had 131 volunteers. R. S. Payne reported at least 108 volunteers. At Paul Munro, 265 grandparents were in attendance for Grandparents Day. Linkhorne Elementary had 140 parents and relatives join their children for lunch. Also, Sheffield Elementary, Perrymont Elementary and Dearington Elementary had many parent and grandparent volunteers in their schools throughout the week.
During the school division’s fourth annual open house event, “Get to Know Your Schools,” tours were given to about 130 prospective parents. This is up from 84 visitors that toured during last school year’s open house event. E. C. Glass High School accounted for 29 visitors from prospective students and parents, and has scheduled several parents for future tours. R. S. Payne saw 23 visitors for the tour. Every single elementary school hosted at least one visitor, and the feedback was very positive.
LCS also hosted 23 guest educators for Educator for a Day. The professionals from the community took time out of their busy schedules to see what it’s like to spend a day as a teacher in Lynchburg City Schools. They were also able to share their valuable experience to help make classroom lessons relevant to real-world situations. Nearly half of these guest educators returned after participating in the event the previous year.
Additionally, Lynchburg City Schools won the Award of Excellence for last year’s celebration of American Education Week. The award was given by the Chesapeake Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association through its 2013 Communications Contest.
A special thanks goes out to all PTO and PTA members, faculty, staff, principals, AEW committees and everyone else whose time and commitment helped make this week a success.