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Last week marked the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year for all three area school districts, with Lexington and Rockbridge students returning on Aug. 15 and Buena Vista students on Aug. 16.
In Lexington, the return to school was smooth, according to Superintendent Rebecca Walters.
“Our schools have had an excellent first week,” she told The News-Gazette. “Students and families seem excited to be back, and our faculty and staff have gotten things kicked off with great energy and enthusiasm for a new school year.”
Waddell Elementary had 327 students enrolled for its first day, similar to its reported 324 enrollment in 2022.
At Lylburn Downing Middle School, this year’s enrollment, 178, is slightly higher than last year’s, 162.
The division also brought in 12 new teachers and staff between the two schools.
“We have welcomed many new families and staff members to our school community this year, and our returning students and staff have been most welcoming and helpful with transitions,” said Walters.
“We are thankful to all of our families for their patience and cooperation as we establish routines and procedures this week. It’s been a great start!” -In Rockbridge County, school start also went according to plan, said Superintendent Dr. Phillip Thompson.
“We had a very smooth opening all across Rockbridge County Public Schools when students returned on Tuesday,” he said.
At Rockbridge County High School, work is underway on the Rockbridge Innovation Center (formerly known as the Floyd S. Kay Vocational Center), which is expected to be completed in December of 2024.
Returning students had to make adjustments for ongoing construction.
“The most significant challenge was parents, students, and faculty members at RCHS learning to navigate the new traffic pattern due to the renovation project that is currently underway,” Thompson said of the first days back.
“My understanding is that over the course of the first four days since the return of students, traffic flow has improved greatly as everyone learns the new routine.”
Classes that had been housed in the technical center have been temporarily redistributed around the high school, and a few will now take place Mountain Gateway Community College’s campus.
“Dr. Craft and his team have come up with a plan that will allow most of our classes to primarily be located on the RCHS campus throughout the duration of the renovation,” said Thompson. “We will have teachers working in every available space throughout the portion of RCHS that is not being renovated and we have several large tents behind the school for some of our CTE programs that require more space such as Auto Tech, Auto Body, and Building Trades.”
“We are fortunate to be able to partner with Mountain Gateway Community College to allow our Culinary Arts students to use their culinary facilities at the MGCC Rockbridge Center on a daily basis.”
Enrollment was down slightly at the county’s elementary schools on the first day, with Mountain View Elementary reporting 139 (145 last year), Natural Bridge 215 (221 last year), Fairfield Elementary 234 (235 last year), and Central Elementary reporting 422 (452 last year).
Maury River Middle School welcomed 494 students on its first day back (as compared to 504 for 2022-2023) and the Rockbridge County High School welcomed 974 (993 for 2022-2023). -Last Wednesday, Buena Vista Schools also restarted without issue.
“The opening of school has been very smooth and the staff has done an excellent job of preparing for this event,” said Superintendent Dr. Tony Francis.
At Kling Elementary, firstday enrollment was reported at 184. This is significantly lower than last year’s enrollment (248), as second grade was shifted to Enderly Heights Elementary to help with crowding.
At Enderly, second through fifth grade enrollment totaled 249, while last year’s third through fifth grade enrollment was 192.
Parry McCluer Middle welcomed 128 students for its first day, as compared to last year’s 119; and Parry Mc-Cluer High welcomed 328, as compared to 330 last year.
