Spotsylvania School Employees Get Inspirational Speech for New School Year
The district is looking forward to turning the corner on a trying period and celebrating its teachers' and students' accomplishments to come.
By Hank Silverberg
CORRESPONDENT
Spotsylvania County’s School Superintendent Clint Mitchell, now in his second year, kicked off the 2025 - 2026 school year with a call for the staff to “minimize the internal conflict and maximize the collective impact on the community.”
Speaking at Riverbend High School this afternoon to about half of the district’s roughly 1,900 teachers in the afternoon convocation (the morning convocation was held at Massaponax High School), Mitchell acknowledged the difficulties of the previous few years, including negative national press coverage due to some former Board members supporting book bans and the district’s having to hire three superintendents in just a few years.
Today’s event, however, was all about the more-positive stories from students and faculty that Mitchell believes the media will be able to celebrate this coming year.
There are already some positives to celebrate, Mitchell said. Among them, 90 percent of the $15.3 million increase in the county’s $485.8 school budget allocated by the Board of Supervisors this year going to faculty and staff salaries. This will help make Spotsylvania more competitive with surrounding school districts.
He also noted increased diversity among the faculty, particularly more male teachers and some teachers who switched careers after losing their jobs in the DOGE cutbacks by the federal government.
Teachers and staff were treated to a 90-minute inspirational and humorous pep talk from educational motivator Jimmy Casas. He encouraged those in attendance to adopt a positive culture where the words on the posters on school walls never lose their meaning.
The teachers also received a brief demonstration from Mitchell of the district’s new A-I program, which will allow them to set their goals, deadlines, and assignments for the year in much less time than in traditional planning. He urged them to be innovative as they planned out their lessons. Teachers can begin using it tomorrow, and students will have access to the program starting in January.
To put a cap on the positive vibe, the district rolled its new logo, which features bold orange and blue colors and a forward-looking, modern font.
Spotsylvania County has 34 public schools which enrolled 24,012 students in the 24-25 school year.
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This is what leadership looks like. Thanks Dr. Mitchell for always leading from the front.