Employees of Lynchburg City Schools gather for opening convocation

LYNCHBURG , Va. (WDBJ) - Students in Lynchburg City Schools will return to their classrooms next week, but for teachers and staff the school year started Monday morning at E.C Glass High School.

Part pep rally and part town hall, the annual convocation brought 1100 employees to the school’s auditorium. The goal, said LCS Superintendent Dr. Crystal Edwards, is to build on the excellence and innovation already happening in Lynchburg classrooms.

“We’re just going to accelerate,” Edwards told the audience of employees, “and make it happen more, bigger, better, now.”

Edwards and other officials highlighted several areas where that will happen, including career and technical education, school lunches and teacher training.

“We’re supporting not one, but two lab schools here in Lynchburg, one at CVCC, and one at Linkhorne Elementary School with the University of Lynchburg,” Edwards said in an interview. “So those are new and exciting things that we’re doing.”

Lynchburg Education Association President and 7th grade teacher Karl Loos acknowledged the challenges ahead, but encouraged teachers to “find their joy” and bring their enthusiasm into the classroom.

“Even with all of the challenges, I am definitely optimistic for this school year,” Loos told WDBJ7. “We have a great group of people. We have some core veterans. We have some exciting newcomers and I think they’re going to gel together and we’re going to do great things this year.

Sheffield Elementary School teachers Sophia Anderson, Shannon Miller and Samantha Taylor said they’re looking forward to their students’ return.

“I definitely learned a lot from these two and a lot of other teachers at school last year,” Miller said, “and so I am just really excited to be able to take that and see where this year will take us together.”

The teachers and staff are now preparing for the start of classes, and the students will be back at their desks on Tuesday August 15.

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