NNPS hosts Take Your Legislator to School Day at Denbigh High School
Posted: December 3, 2025
State legislators, aides and local leaders heard about urgent funding needs in areas such as facilities, discussed solutions, and toured classrooms and the Aviation Academy magnet program as Newport News Public Schools hosted Take Your Legislator to School Day on December 2 at Denbigh High School.
Aging infrastructure at numerous city schools has made funding of improvements a priority for upcoming General Assembly session budget planning, said NNPS Chief Operations Officer Rusty Fairheart. Major upcoming projects for NNPS are renovations at Warwick and Denbigh high schools to replace numerous systems and areas of the buildings, and various upgrades are needed at numerous other school sites.
Delegate Shelly Simonds, Delegate-Elect Dr. Mark Downey; aides to Downey, Simonds and Congressman Bobby Scott; School Board Chairman Dr. Terri Best and board member Lisa Surles-Law; NNPS Superintendent Dr. Michele Mitchell; Denbigh Principal Dr. Adria Strothers and several members of the Newport News Education Foundation were in attendance.
Strothers welcomed attendees to her school community. Best thanked all in attendance for their partnership and for continuing to support public education. Patrick Finneran, NNPS legislative liaison, outlined the school division's key legislative priorities for the upcoming General Assembly session.
"Thanks to some special state grants and city support, we are making progress in modernizing our schools," Best said. "That's important. Because our environment, whether at school or work, impacts productivity, attitude, health and learning."
Simonds and Downey shared their plans for the session and which legislation might most impact schools funding. Newport News School Board and NNPS leadership pledged to provide any support or information needed to help the legislators support students.
"I think I speak for not just myself, but for my colleagues in the area, that this upcoming General Assembly session really does offer probably one of the strongest opportunities we've had in years to make a real lasting impact and lasting progress," Mitchell said.
