RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Jonathan Oliva is in third grade, but struggles to read and write. "His teacher said he's like a kindergartner. He doesn't know anything. And she can't help because her class is too big," his mother, Veronica Lucas, said in Spanish, standing in the parking lot outside his elementary school.

Richmond Public Schools recently negotiated agreements with four collective bargaining "units" that will result in increased salaries, compensation and benefits for those employees. The RPS school board was the first in the state to pass a collective bargaining resolution last December since the Virginia Supreme Court banned such agreements for public sector employees 45 years ago.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) -The Fairfax County NAACP says there is a noticeable gap in reading pass rates between African American and white students. The organization says research suggests a certain reading style has the most immediate and profound impact on closing this achievement gap. Doctor Sujatha Hampton is with Fairfax County's Education Committee.

Smithfield High School won first place in the Virginia, Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center (VMASC) STEM and Student Engagement Regional K-12 Engineering Design Challenge in Suffolk. The challenge, which took place on STEM Day on Nov. 8, asked participating schools to build a prototype of an arcade or carnival game made with household or recyclable [...]

When Scott A. Ziegler was fired as Loudoun County Public Schools superintendent on Dec. 6, the termination called for him to receive a year's salary and benefits in monthly installments which works out to roughly $323,000 in salary. Ziegler, fired over his mishandling of the 2021 student-on-student sexual assault scandal, was terminated under the "without cause" language of his contract.

Of all the things she could have done on her summer vacation, Bithaniya Fieseha, a senior at West Springfield High School in Fairfax County, Va., decided to study chronic disease, mental health and contact tracing. Some of her friends didn't understand the appeal. "I feel like people are like, 'You wasted your summer,' " she says.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) - A Fairfax County mother is criticizing Virginia lawmakers after a new policy was introduced that she believes would disproportionately harm students with autism. The policy, House Bill 1461, would require each school district in Virginia to follow a uniform system of discipline for disruptive behavior and the removal [...]

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) - One lawmaker wants to change how schools across Virginia are notified about employee arrests and convictions. It comes after information about one sex offender fell through the cracks. Darren Thornton, a former counselor at Glasgow Middle School in Fairfax County, kept his job for 20 months after being charged with soliciting prostitution from a minor in Chesterfield County.

For Andrea Donnor, education has always played a big part in her life, going back to when she watched her grandmother as a teacher. Now, Donnor will step into an education role of her own when she takes her seat as the Williamsburg-James City County Schools' newest school board member on Jan.

American schools continue feeding hungry students, but the federal government stopped picking up the bill in June.