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‘Higher than average’ staff turnover, free student meals at Rappahannock County Public Schools

by | Aug 10, 2024

Rappahannock County Public Schools Superintendent Shannon Grimsley, right, introduces new high school Principal Dr. Mary Jane Boynton at the 2 p.m. session of the Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday afternoon.
Rappahannock County Public Schools Superintendent Shannon Grimsley, right, introduces new high school Principal Dr. Mary Jane Boynton at the 2 p.m. session of the Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday afternoon.

Shannon Grimsley and Mary Jane Boynton

Rappahannock County Public Schools Superintendent Shannon Grimsley, right, introduces new high school Principal Dr. Mary Jane Boynton at the 2 p.m. session of the Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday afternoon.

Rappahannock County Public Schools Superintendent Shannon Grimsley updated the Board of Supervisors Monday on changes and news in the school district:

  • This year, the school district saw a “higher than average” staff turnover rate, but Grimsley said she is “proud to say we are fully and completely staffed” for the start of the school year, which begins Aug. 14. 

  • The district placed third in the Virginia School Board Association Excellence in Workforce Readiness Awards for “The Aftermath,” a program in which student actors and first responders simulated a fatal car crash before this year’s prom in an effort to teach students the consequences of drunk driving. 

  • Students at both schools will receive free breakfast and lunch starting this school year, after the high school recently qualified for the Community Eligibility Provision Program, a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that makes free school meals possible for all households in low income areas.

  • In light of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s recent executive order calling for “cellphone-free education” in Virginia, Jackson Supervisor Donna Comer asked Grimsley if any new cellphone policies will be enacted. Grimsley said the school’s cellphone policy was already in compliance with the order, but new rules and guidelines for enforcing cellphone use will be discussed at next week’s School Board meeting. 

  • Grimsley introduced RCHS’ new principal, Mary Jane Boynton, to the supervisors. “I have been blown away by how inviting and how just, so welcoming everybody has been,” Boynton said. 

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  • Ireland Hayes

    Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.

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By Ireland Hayes

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Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.