When Vinton teacher Ashley Williams was named the winner of Roanoke County’s most prestigious teaching award recently, she told the Vinton Messenger, “I work with the best group of people at William Byrd Middle School—great co-teachers, students, and administrators.”
The team effort at Vinton’s public schools often draws praise, and more than that.
“The education here is second to none,” says Tim Greenway, Vinton’s representative on the Roanoke County School Board. “On tests K-12 and the Standards of Learning, we are near the top in Virginia and our amount spent per pupil is about half that” of schools at the top in quality. We spend less than $10,000 per pupil [per year] and some of the Northern Virginia districts spend $20,000.”
Williams’ Golden Apple Award came because she “is a phenomenal teacher in all respects,” her principal, Todd Kageals, has been quoted as saying. He adds, “Her technical skills are on a level that only experienced, dedicated teachers attain. … Ashley specifically asks to teach our most needy students year after year. [Her] technical skills, combined with her ability to build positive relationships with her students, combine to make her our ‘Golden Apple.’”
Greenway talks of “the passion of the folks” who work in the Vinton schools as being a vital part of the success of those schools: William Byrd High and Middle Schools, Herman L. Horn Elementary and W.E. Cundiff Elementary. Mt. Pleasant and Bonsack Elementary Schools feed into William Byrd Middle and High Schools, though they are outside the town limits. The high school is the largest in Roanoke County and all the schools are relatively old, but have been renovated and expanded over the years.
“I believe Roanoke County is one of the best places to educate children in the state,” says Greenway, who uses the quality of education as a selling point in his Mountain View Real Estate business. Many of our teachers go in at 7 to 7:30 a.m. and are there until 5 p.m. They often provide materials for their classes. I don’t think they do this for the money.”
Greenway points out that though there is a heavy concentration on academics in Vinton’s schools, “Businesses are brought in to do apprenticeship programs. Kids are put in a good place [with training in the trades] and when they graduate, they can make normal, living wages without accumulating [college] debt. Some of those businesses will even put these kids through college.”
A high percentage of Vinton’s high school graduates attend college, Greenway says. Graduation rates hover around 93 percent.
The elementary schools “focus on small group instruction with individualized instruction,” says Greenway. “We keep the class sizes as small as possible and the goal is to have kids reading by the third grade.”
Another educational program that has found some success—dealing with adults—is the Advancement Foundation’s Virginia Individual Development Accounts Program, designed to help people save for a down payment on a home or a purchase of a business. Adult students get training, support and $8 in matching funds for every $1 the student saves, up to $4,000 in matching money. The Advancement Foundation recently received $200,000 in grant money for the program.
Whether adults or children, Vinton’s education is serious business.
