Spotsylvania County Public Schools

Spotsylvania County Public Schools
Location
8020 River Stone Drive, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22407 Spotsylvania United States
Information
Type	Public, school division
Motto	Preparing All Students to Excel in a Dynamic Global Society
Superintendent	Dr. Shelley K. Redinger
Grades	K-12
Number of students	24,000 (Oct. 2009)
Accreditation(s)	28
Website	http://www.spotsyschools.us/

Spotsylvania County Public Schools is a public school district serving Spotsylvania County, Virginia. It consists of 17 Elementary, 7 Middle, and 5 High Schools and has a total enrollment of over 24,000 students.^[1] The Spotsylvania County School division also has a Career and Technical Center and participates with other local school systems to offer the Commonwealth Governor's School. The district partners with area businesses to develop learning opportunities for the students.^[2] Spotsylvania County Public Schools works with the area Parks and Recreation Department to help maintain the area around the Schools (athletic facilities, etc.).

District Overview

Spotsylvania County Public Schools serve all of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Spotsylvania County was formed in 1721 and is located along the I-95 corridor, 42 miles (68 km) south of Washington, D.C. and 58 miles (93 km) north of Richmond, Virginia. It is one of fastest growing counties in the commonwealth of Virginia which is reflected in an enrollment increase of more than 27% from 1999–2005. As of the 2000 Census, approximately 90,395 people lived in Spotsylvania County.

In 2005, the school division had 3,144 full-time employees including 1,788 teachers with a student teacher ratio of 12.8 to 1.^[3]

The quality of education in the district has been on the rise,^[4] and an annual review is conducted to ensure quality maintenance. Currently, 25 of the district's 28 schools are fully accredited by state standards with the other three accredited with a warning.^[5] The district also benefits from the dedicated support of a nonprofit, tax-exempt foundation charged with raising money to strengthen the quality of instructional programs in the district.^[6]

History

In 1870, the public education system in Spotsylvania County was established with segregated one-room schools. These schools were gradually abandoned for larger buildings combining both elementary and high schools. The former Spotsylvania High School was a state-of-the-art building when constructed in 1939 for $158,000. During the twentieth century, the school system moved from scattered one-room schools for elementary education to consolidated schools for grades 1 - 12, to an integrated system in 1968. Until that time, most African-American children attended one-room schools until the John J. Wright Consolidated School opened in 1952. Since 1968, the school system has evolved to the present system of separate elementary, middle, and high schools.^[7]

Robert E. Lee High School became the first accredited high school in the County in 1920. It was built in 1914 at Spotsylvania Courthouse. The building was destroyed by fire in 1941.^[8]

Governance

The School Board has seven members elected to oversee the school administration. School Board members are elected every four years. One School Board member is elected from each magesterial district in the county. The elections are staggered and non-partisan.^[9]

Spotsylvania County School Board

School Board Member	District
Mr. J. Gilbert Seaux, Chair	Berkeley
Mrs. Amanda Blalock, Vice Chair	Lee Hill
Mrs. Linda Wieland	Battlefield
Dr. Martin A. Wilder, Jr.	Chancellor
Mr. James Gillespie	Courtland
Mr. Ray Lora	Livingston
Mr. Donald Holmes	Salem

Grammar schools

• Battlefield Elementary School
• Berkeley Elementary School
• Brock Road Elementary School
• Ceader Forest Elementary School
• Courthouse Road Elementary School
• Courtland Elementary School
• Chancellor Elementary School
• Harrison Road Elementary School
• Lee Hill Elementary School
• Livingston Elementary School
• R. E. Lee Elementary School
• Roadside Elementrary School
• Riverview Elementary School, Spotsylvania
• Smith Station Elementary School
• Spotswood Elementary School
• Salem Elementary School
• Wilderness Elementary School

Battlefield Elementary School

Battlefield Elementary School is a public school for grades 0–5 and is located next to Battlefield Middle School. The school serves an attendance zone located in the northeastern portion of the county, extending southwest from the city limits of Fredericksburg to the Leavells Road corridor. This school conducts a theme each year. The goals, holidays, celebrations, discipline and instruction are based upon this theme. The current theme is Hollywood.[1]

While the school involves great interaction with the children, it has no class rooms sometimes causing distractions. The only actual classrooms are down the fifth grade hallway including gym, art, and music.

Livingston Elementary School

Livingston Elementary School is located near Courthouse Road near Lake Anna Nuclear Power Plant.
Livingston Elementary School made AYP in 2008. Livingston Elementary School mascot is the Eagles. Its school colors are blue, yellow, and white. Livingston Elementary School is the home of the Eagles.

Brock Road Elementary School

Brock Road Elementary School is a public school for grades 0–5. It is located in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. The school's mascot is the Bobcat and its school colors are green and gold.

Courthouse Road Elementary School

Courthouse Road Elementary School is a public school for grades k–5. Its mascot is the Red Cardinal and its school color is Teal

Middle schools

Battlefield Middle School

Battlefield Middle School is a middle school in Spotsylvania, Virginia near Battlefield Elementary School. Battlefield Middle School was built in 1978 next-door to Battlefield Elementary School. The school serves middle school students from grades six to eight, and the population has had a rate increase of 6% each year for the past three years. As of September 2006 Battlefield Middle School had a total enrollment of 801 students.^{[citation needed]}

Chancellor Middle School

Chancellor Middle School is located in northwest Spotsylvania County. The elementary schools which feed into Chancellor Middle School are Chancellor Elementary School, Battlefield Elementary School, Salem Elementary School, Wilderness Elementary, and Harrison Road Elementary School. Graduates of Chancellor Middle feed into either Chancellor High School or Riverbend High School. Their colors are blue and black and their mascot is a Bandit. In 2010 their football team lost only 2 games and won the championship.

Ni River Middle School

Ni River Middle School is located in far northwest Spotsylvania County. The school opened in 1999, Mr. Michael Smith, the assistant principal has been there eight years, and the principal, Mrs. Davis, has just started her first year at Ni River Middle School in October 2008. The Instructional Coordinator is Ms. Robin Norman. Ni River Middle School has achieved increasingly higher scores on the Virginia Standards of Learning tests, is fully accredited, and has consistently achieved Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind^{[citation needed]}. Ni River Middle School houses grades 6, 7, and 8, in 139,000 sq ft (12,900 m²) of space, and enrollment is currently 750 students. Dr. Covert has been named Director of Human Resources for Spotsylvania County Schools.

Spotsylvania Middle School

Spotsylvania Middle School is located in eastern Spotsylvania County. The elementary schools which feed into Spotsylvania Middle School are Courthouse Road Elementary School, Courtland Elementary School, Robert E. Lee Elementary School, Parkside Elementary, and Wilderness Elementary School. Students from Spotsylvania Middle feed into either Courtland High School, Spotsylvania High School or Massaponax High School.

Freedom Middle School

Opened in 2003, Freedom Middle School is located in Spotsylvania County, Virginia across the street from Smith Station Elementary School. As of 2010, Freedom Middle School has achieved the Virginia Standards of Learning accreditation for the sixth straight year. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) has been met for the fifth year in a row. Freedom's school colors are red and black and its mascot is a tiger. Its music program is distinct in that it was awarded Virginia's highest honor of a "Blue Ribbon" ^[10] music school in 2007, 2010, and 2011 for "Superior" ratings in its band, chorus and orchestra programs. It was the first middle school in Spotsylvania County to earn this award.^[11]

Post Oak Middle School

Main article: Post Oak Middle School

Post Oak Middle School is located in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near Spotsylvania High School. The school was opened in 2006^[12] at a cost of $25 million as a replacement for the deteriorating John J. Wright Middle School.^[13] Post Oak Middle School is the home of the PATRIOTS. In 2008, Post Oak Middle School made AYP for the first time ever.

Thornburg Middle School

Now offers an IE block. There are 30 minutes at the end of the day where students who need intervention may receive it, while other students receive an opportunity to go to enrichment. Including FF computer lab, PE Make Up, Games, Techies, Robotics, and reading.s Club meetings are also incorporated into the IE block.

High schools

• Chancellor High School
• Courtland High School
• Massaponax High School
• Riverbend High School
• Spotsylvania High School

Commonwealth Governor's School

Main article: Commonwealth Governor's School

The Commonwealth Governor's School (abbreviated CGS) is one of 18 magnet Governor's Schools in Virginia. The Commonwealth Governor's School is a half-day program based on a school-within-a-school model. The CGS program uses real-time interactive audio/visual broadcasts, field trips, and a family-like team environment to challenge students and instill lifelong habits such as leadership and academics. Admissions are competitive (involving, among other things, a timed essay, an interview, and teacher recommendations), and students are selected from Spotsylvania, King George, and Stafford Counties. Students may apply for admission for all grades 9 through 12.

John J. Wright Educational & Cultural Center

John J. Wright Educational & Cultural Center is built on the site of the first high school for black students in Spotsylvania County. The original building, known as the Snell Training School, was built in 1913 by the Spotsylvania Sunday School Union under the leadership of John J. Wright, a prominent county educator.

The original building was destroyed by fire in 1941. The Spotsylvania County School Board agreed to erect a new school on 20 acres (81,000 m²) of land donated by the Sunday School Union and to pay the teachers' salaries. Completed in 1952, the John J. Wright Consolidated School was opened to all county black youth in grades 1–12. When the school system integrated in 1968, the school became John J. Wright School, housing the county's entire sixth and seventh grade enrollment.

In 1978, with the closing of Spotsylvania Junior High School and the opening of Battlefield Intermediate School, the eighth grade was moved to the intermediate level.

During 1981–82, while the John J. Wright building underwent extensive renovation, the school occupied the current Marshall Building across from the present day Spotsylvania Middle School. In the fall of 1982, John J. Wright School reopened with many added improvements, including central air conditioning, wall-to-wall carpet and a new kitchen and cafeteria.

With the opening of Spotsylvania Intermediate School in the fall of 1982, John J. Wright Intermediate School began serving the predominantly southern portion of Spotsylvania County, with an approximate enrollment of 700 students in grades six, seven, and eight.

On July 1, 1990, the name John J. Wright Intermediate School was officially changed to John J. Wright Middle School in keeping with the Commonwealth's restructuring plan for middle school education.

In 1991–92, John J. Wright Middle School was recognized by the Virginia Department of Education for its outstanding middle school practices, including reading and public speaking, community involvement, rewards and recognition, and technology education.

During the summer of 1997, two areas of John J. Wright Middle School were dedicated to two long-term employees. The library was dedicated in honor of Dr. Sadie Coates Combs Johnson, a former teacher and librarian for thirty-one years. The athletic fields were dedicated in honor of William H. Poindexter, custodian of John J. Wright Middle School. In April of the following spring, a ceremony was held to dedicate a sign, commissioned and funded by a joint Parent Teacher Organization and community endeavor, identifying the fields behind the school as the William H. Poindexter Athletic Fields.

In 2001, the school board commissioned an architectural firm to propose a plan to renovate and expand JJW's facilities. Due to the cost of the needed improvements and the inability to purchase additional land to expand the athletic fields, the school board decided to build a replacement building for JJW to open in 2006, adjacent to Spotsylvania High School.

In 2008, after extensive renovations and modernizations the doors reopened as the John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center. Today, John J. Wright offers educational services to Spotsylvania County students from Pre-K thru 12th Grade.^[14]

Other Schools

• Spotsylvania Career and Technical Center

External links

• Official site
• Official site of Spotsylvania, Virginia

References

1. ^ "VDOE :: Fall Membership". Doe.virginia.gov. http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/enrollment/fall_membership/index.shtml. Retrieved 2010-05-21. 
2. ^ Annette Jones (2005-09-13). "Incentives for Education Businesses Encourage Learning". The Free Lance-Star. http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/092005/09132005/128083. Retrieved 2008-03-15. 
3. ^ Gibson Consulting Group (2005-04-28). "Spotsylvania County Public Schools Efficiency Review". Virginia Department of Education. Archived from the original on 2008-02-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20080211151941/http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/SpotsylvaniaCountyEfficiencyReport.pdf. Retrieved 2008-03-15. 
4. ^ Bill Freehling (2005-04-13). "Schools Please Residents". The Free Lance-Star. http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/042005/04132005/1731614. Retrieved 2008-03-15. 
5. ^ Karen Bolipata (2007-10-16). "Spotsy Schools to do Review". The Free Lance-Star. http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/102007/10162007/324927. Retrieved 2008-03-15. 
6. ^ Melissa Nix (2006-06-06). "County Starts New Education Fund". The Free Lance-Star. http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/062006/06062006/195991. Retrieved 2008-03-15. 
7. ^ Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
8. ^ Historical Marker Database
9. ^ "Spotsylvania County Code". http://library1.municode.com:80/default-test/template.htm?view=browse&doc_action=setdoc&doc_keytype=tocid&doc_key=71c208f67769d5fa19ab6226150b8c3b&infobase=12105. Retrieved 2010-05-21. 
10. ^ "Virginia Music Educators Association". Vmea.com. http://vmea.com/awardsblueribbon.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-21. 
11. ^ "Freedom gets first 'Blue Ribbon'". Fredericksburg.com. 2007-05-15. http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/052007/05152007/283366. Retrieved 2010-05-21. 
12. ^ Nix, Melissa (2006-08-24). "School begins in Spotsylvania; Post Oak Middle School opens". The Free Lance-Star. http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/082006/08242006/216312. 
13. ^ Hannon, Kelly (2005-11=16). "Area schools will be bursting at the seams". The Free Lance-Star. http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/112005/11162005/145758. 
14. ^ John J. Wright Alumni Association http://jjwalumni.org/