CAMS, LBHS getting new assistants; calendar approved for 2017-18 school year
Troutville Elementary School will have a new principal this fall. Steven Anderson will move from Colonial Elementary where he is currently assistant principal to take Karen Crush’s place at Troutville.
Crush is retiring after 14 years as principal at Troutville.
Central Academy Middle School and Lord Botetourt High School will also have new assistant principals.
Amanda Collins is moving from her position as assistant principal at Lord Botetourt High School back to Central Academy where she was a math teacher before moving into administration.
Deborah Harris is moving from her position as assistant principal at Read Mountain Middle School to LBHS as assistant principal. She was a teacher at RMMS for 13 years before being named assistant principal at the school in 2013.
Collins will assume the CAMS post held by Daniel Pendleton who also is retiring.
The changes were approved by the Botetourt County School Board when it met last week in regular session.
2017-18 School Calendar Approved
The board also finalized the school calendar for the next academic year. It includes two new sacred dates that will not be used for bad weather makeup days, as has been the case in past years.
The Martin Luther King Monday holiday on January 15, 2018 and the February 19, 2018 parent/teacher conference and kindergarten registration day were taken out of the mix as possible makeup days.
The first day for students will be Wednesday, Aug. 9 and the last day will be Tuesday, May 22, 2018 unless May 23 is needed as a make up day.
Spring break will come the week after Easter again— March 30-April 6. It is before Easter this year because of how late Easter falls in April— creating potential conflicts for the Standards of Learning (SOL) testing windows.
Schools will close Wednesday-Friday, Nov. 22-24 for Thanksgiving and December 22-January 3 for the Christmas/New Year’s holidays (teacher return January 2)
Student Recognition
The School Board recognized several students for their achievements, including Lord Botetourt High School junior Garrett Stewart. Stewart is also a welding student at Botetourt Technical Education Center (BTEC) where he is the first to earn the American Welding Society (AWS) Certification.
The new advanced welding lab at BTEC and welding instructors at the school were certified last summer to be able to provide AWS accredited testing.
Stewart was AWS certified in flux core welding. BTEC Principal Mike Ketron said the certification makes Stewart a “very desirable employee.”
The board also recognized LBHS student Olivia Bray for winning the Virginia High School League 3A state championships in the 100-meter backstroke and the 100-meter butterfly.
James River students Lauren Ogle, Emily Walker, Erin Walker and Katelyn Wiley were recognized for winning the VHSL 2A state 4×200 meter relay at the recent state track meet. Ogle was also recognized for winning the 2A 500-meter dash.
A group of three freshman Spanish III students from LBHS showed a presentation they had done as a “project-based assessment” rather than a regular paper assessment for the class. The school division is promoting using collaboration, cooperation, failure and problem solving to promote learning beyond what’s required by standardized testing.
Other Business
In other business, the School Board approved the following field trips:
• Read Mountain Middle School students to White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. March 28
• Lord Botetourt High School students to Washington D.C., March 31.
• Lord Botetourt High School students to Syria March 31-April 2.
• BTEC students to Fredericksburg April 28-29.
• Lord Botetourt High School students to Ferrum June 21-23.
