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Lexington City Schools is welcoming 12 new teachers and staff members for the 2024-2025 school year.
Brian Grimmer is teaching special education at Lylburn Downing Middle School. A native of Lexington, he majored in drama at Randolph Macon College, and has worked previously in the fields of human resources and recruiting.
Brian Smith is a physical education and health teacher at Lylburn Downing. He is from North Canton, Ohio, but has worked in Rockbridge County since 2006, as an assistant baseball coach first at Washington and Lee and then at Southern Virginia University. Since 2017, he has been a paraprofessional for Lexington City Schools and a program coordinator at the Rockbridge Area Recreation Organization (RARO). He received a bachelor’s in business administration from Tiffin University and a master’s in education in sports science from Defiance College.
Hailey Hostetter is a kindergarten teacher at Harrington Waddell Elementary School. She is from Buena Vista and majored in elementary education at Southern Virginia University. Before coming to Waddell, she taught kindergarten at Mountain View Elementary School.
Ronella Daniel is a special education teacher for early childhood at Waddell. She majored in special education and has previous experience in that position at middle schools. She is from Bucharest, Romania.
Sion Jang is a fourth grade teacher at Waddell. She graduated from Washington and Lee University, and is from Houston, Texas. This is her first year as a teacher.
Michala Bryant is a secondgrade teacher at Waddell. A native of Fairfield, she taught for three years in Nelson County Public Schools. She has a bachelor’s degree in teacher education and a master’s in curriculum and instruction from the University of Lynchburg.
Anna Cincotta is a thirdgrade teacher at Waddell. She is from Hopedale, Mass., and has over 10 years of experience teaching fourth and fifth grades, in addition to experience as a paraprofessional and long-term substitute. She double majored in English and elementary education at St. Michael’s College in Vermont, and received a master’s degree in reading and language from UMASS Lowell.
Kelly Rapoza is a fourthgrade teacher at Waddell. She has taught third through fifth grades at Natural Bridge Elementary for the last 15 years, before which she taught third grade for five years in Maryland. She majored in elementary education at Mount Saint Mary’s University and is originally from Towson, Md.
Zach Dishman is a sixthgrade U.S. history and seventhgrade civics and economics teacher at Lylburn Downing. Originally from Waynesboro, he majored in communication studies at Bridgewater College. He has 10 years of experience in Virginia public schools, and worked on a dairy farm for the past year and a half, prior to reentering the field of education.
Jenna Anderton is a special education teacher at Lylburn Downing Middle School. She has prior experience as a special education teacher for posthigh school students. She is from Buena Vista, and she has both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in special education.
Caitlyn Whitesell is a Spanish language teacher at Lylburn Downing. She has worked as an English as a Second Language teacher in Chesterfield County, and as an English as a foreign language teacher in Lugo, Galicia, Spain. A Lexington native, she has a master’s degree in bilingual education from the College of William & Mary.
Morgan Mohler is a school nurse for Lylburn Downing. She has over 15 years of experience in nursing, including a position as a school nurse at Brownsville Elementary School in Crozet. She specialized in nursing at Blue Ridge Community College, and is from Buena Vista.
