Hampton City Schools has, for the second year in a row, been recognized as a "Best Community for Music Education" in the United States. The NAMM Foundation, the National Association for Music Merchants, has recognized Hampton City Schools for its outstanding commitment to music education.This designation was awarded to a combined 307 school districts out of 2,000 applicants from across the country. 

Now in its 14th year, the BCME program requires each school and district to detail funding, staffing, commitment to standards, and access to music instruction. Responses are meticulously reviewed by researchers at The Institute for Educational Research and Public Service of Lawrence, Kansas (an affiliate of the University of Kansas) and the NAMM Foundation to calculate the designated districts and awarded schools.

This designation is recognition for the community, your leaders, teachers, and parents who believe in music education and are working to ensure that it is part of a complete education for children. This year's increase in participation is an indication of growing support from both parents and administrators who recognize the vital role that music learning plays in student achievement. 

According to NAMM Foundation Executive Director Mary Luehrsen, the Best Communities for Music Education program is the bellwether of rising endorsement for this vital cause. "There is overwhelming research tying music education to higher overall student success in school and in life," she said. "This designation recognizes communities for their commitment to music education and strengthens support for these programs. Having widely embraced the evidence indicating that music education yields great things in schools and communities, people are increasingly affirmative, advocating for school music curricula, and championing programs like Best Communities that recognize this commitment to music education."

The Hampton school division has achieved College Board AP Honor Roll status!  The division is one of only 12 in the entire state of Virginia to achieve this academic honor.  The Hampton school division earned the honor for simultaneously increasing access to Advanced Placement courses and raising achievement on the examinations.  College Board also cited our school division for increasing Advanced Placement participation and achievement of traditionally underserved graduates including "African Americans, American Indian, Hispanic/Latino and low-income students."  In HCS, we increased the number of students taking AP exams by 18% and the number of qualifying scores by 35%!

* Advanced Placement Teachers

HCS is proud to announce that we have 12 new National Board Certified teachers, which brings our total to 115 in the district! We have 5 teachers who achieved NBCT status ten years ago and have been renewed for another ten years. 

New NBC Teachers

Dawn M. Barthlow

Tianna S. Anthony

Rebecca Fuller Whitehead

Ellen B. Newsom

Ashley Ide

Elizabeth Wilder

Sandra K. Boswell

Katie L. Coyle

Julie Casebolt

Jennifer Humble

Whitney Ketchledge

Kimberly Sweeney-Grisdale

NBCT Renewals

Joyce H. Corriere

Claire McCallum

Sherian Martin

Kristy Fyfe

Steven Shaw

Three teachers from Hampton City Schools have been named the Virginia Association of Science Teachers (VAST) Teachers of the Year!  Kecoughtan High School teacherKristen Coolbear received the honor in the area of Earth Science, while Hampton High School teachers Stacy Fraid and Ebony Powell received their awards in the areas of Chemistry and Biology respectively.

Aberdeen Elementary School teacher, Debra McKoy, won the “A Day Made Better” award sponsored by AdoptAClassroom.org and OfficeMax.  This nationwide event resulted in McKoy receiving a surprise package of $1,000 worth of classroom resources and supplies!

Kecoughtan student, James Payne, has been elected Governor of Boys State -Virginia! Each delegate to Boys State becomes a part of the operation of his local, county and state government. James, who also serves as the official Warrior mascot for Kecoughtan, displayed exceptional leadership qualities that led to his success.  Boys State is regarded as one of the most respected educational programs of government instruction for high school students. 

Francena McCorory, a  2006 graduate of Bethel High School, won Olympic Gold in the women's 4x400 relay race in London! While at Bethel High, she won 14 state titles — and was named to the Junior Olympic squad. She continued her education at Hampton University where she graduated in 2010.

Joshua Williams, a student at Hampton High School, was selected the Grand Prize winner in the Sister Cities International Young Artist Contest. This year’s theme was “Youth as a Catalyst for Change", and Josh's winning Linoleum Print Artwork was entitled "Cotton Club Crescendo." He was presented with a certificate and a check for $1,000.

In mid-July, the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) presented the school division's Public Relations & Marketing Department with its Golden Achievement Award.  It was given for the department's School Board Recognition - Recipe for Success Marketing Program. Working with students from the Moton Early Childhood Center, this involved the development of a cookbook, an ad being placed in the daily newspaper, the development of a video and an official presentation to the School Board. 

The Hampton school division has made significant gains in increasing the graduation rates of its students!  This year the division showed a graduation rate of 84.4% compared to a rate of 72% five years ago!  Also of importance is the fact that the division's dropout rate fell from 10% in 2010 to 5.2% during the same time period in 2012!! Executive Director for Secondary Education, Dr. Donna Woods, stated that these impressive gains in our graduation rate and the dramatic decrease in our dropout rate were both due to the "extensive work by our team to keep all students on track toward graduation, as well as our major push in recovering those students who had previously dropped out."