The past year proved a tumultuous one education across the Shenandoah Valley and across the country. Mask mandates were lifted, and while school divisions strived to make up for education lost during the pandemic, social issues rose to the top at school board meetings and across headlines.

Several education-related bills - many of them focused on expanding what the sponsors call parents' rights - have been pre-filed for the 2023 General Assembly session and will be up for a read when the General Assembly convenes on Jan. 11.

RICHMOND, Va. -- The Richmond City School Board kicked off 2023 with new leadership after board members voted to replace their Chair and Vice Chair in an unexpected move Monday evening.

After Ian Serotkin, Blue Ridge, succeeded Jeff Morse, Dulles, as Loudoun County Public Schools board chairman on Tuesday, he thanked Morse guiding the board through "extremely challenging circumstances." The allusion was to the 2021 student-on-student sexual assault scandal that led to the firing and subsequent indictment of former Superintendent Scott A.

ACCOMACK COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) - Beginning Monday, Accomack County high school students will have a longer school day, a longer first semester and a longer school year. It comes after the Accomack County School Board was notified back in December by central office that an error had been found in how the district calculated state-mandated instructional time for high schools.

Signs went up at George Washington High School, marking the beginning of an historic school renovation project.pay for school construction projects. Superintendent Angela Hairston says this work will define the school system for the next 50 years.

Amber Lipscomb, a 2008 Stuarts Draft High School graduate, is the new member of Waynesboro School Board. The next four years on the River City's school board will be Lipscomb's first experience in an elected position. She replaces Kathe Maneval, who was on the board since 2006.

Galax schools continue to develop a curriculum that will help bolster students who struggle with difficult subjects and prepare them for college and a wide variety of potential professions - and it has more of them in the works.

POWHATAN, Va. (WWBT) - Powhatan Public Schools will now be installing security cameras on their buses in an effort to keep students safe. The school division wants to catch drivers putting students at risk when they fail to stop for school buses.

Louisa County Public Schools, responding to the county's growing student population, is planning for a significant addition to the facilities at the county's middle school site. The expansion includes classroom space for up to 550 students, as well as an Alternative Education Center.