Nearly 1,700 students completed their high school education secure in the knowledge that Newport News Public Schools has prepared them to be college, career and citizen-ready.

Graduates of the Class of 2024 earned more than $55 million in scholarships and received over 1,700 acceptance offers to various colleges, universities and military institutions.

Crittenden Middle School teacher Chanda Woods was named 2025 Virginia Region 2 Teacher of the Year by the Virginia Department of Education. Woods has 25 years of teaching experience with NNPS and has been in her current position teaching middle school English for four years. She was one of eight regional finalists for State Teacher of the Year.

Tiffany Jones, coordinator of Family and Community Engagement for NNPS, was honored as 1st runner-up at the 2024 Family and Community Engagement Awards. The awards are given by the Family and Community Engagement Learning Network and Successful Innovations Inc. Jones was one of 20 finalists for the award from around the country.

Newport News Public Schools is home to six W!SE Gold Star Teachers: Hope London at Denbigh High School; Stephanie Gwaltney at Menchville High School; Sheree Ficklin and Kimberly Grant at Warwick High School; and Towanda Alister and Tina Shorter at Woodside High School.To earn the Gold Star Award, a teacher must have achieved a 93% passing rate on the W!SE Financial Literacy Certification Test in at least one class during the school year.

LeRonica Moses, a special education teacher at Knollwood Meadows Elementary School, received Old Dominion University's Elementary Clinical Faculty Member of the Year Award for 2023-2024. The award recognizes the excellent work of teachers in schools mentoring and coaching ODU teacher candidates during their student teaching experience.

Dr. Carrington Faulk, marketing teacher and DECA advisor at Heritage High School, was chosen for the 2024 Association for Career and Technical Education National Leadership Fellowship Program. Twenty-one fellows were selected for the 2024 cohort of the year-long program, which identifies and trains leaders.

NNPS developed and launched a divisionwide PK-12 Literacy Plan to build the capacity of all learners as readers, writers, communicators and researchers. Implementation strategies include innovative and equitable practices that close achievement gaps and increase access to rigorous learning experiences that are reflective of the NNPS Profile of a Learner.

NNPS embarked on a long-range Facilities Master Plan process to identify and prioritize schools and facilities. Cooperative Strategies, a national school facility planning firm, lead the development of the plan, which guides major capital improvements including new construction, renovations and consolidations to better meet the educational goals and needs of NNPS.

Woodside High School senior Aaron Lin was chosen as a 2024 Gates Scholar program recipient by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Lin was the Woodside valedictorian and 2023-24 Newport News School Board Student Representative. He began attending Yale University in the fall. The Gates Scholarship program promotes academic excellence and the cultivation of the next generation of leaders by providing academic support in the form of full college scholarships for outstanding students of color, according to the foundation.

Groups of students from each Newport News high school learned about all aspects of film from professionals in the field as the school district partnered with Next Generation Storytellers. Students took moviemaking and screenwriting courses online after school. As part of the coursework, students worked on and submitted scripts, with six selected and made into short films produced locally by student actors and crew alongside industry professionals and to be shown at a film festival in the fall. Read more...

NNPS was selected as a 2024 Magna Awards silver winner in the over 20,000 enrollment category for its Youth Development Department. The 29th annual Magna Awards program was sponsored by the National School Boards Association's flagship magazine, American School Board Journal. The 2024 Magna Awards program focused on innovation in education while recognizing school district programs that solved a challenge with creativity and out-of-the-box strategies. Criteria also included programs exhibiting success over time, having longevity and sustainability, and the ability to be replicated by other school divisions with similar conditions and resources.

NNPS STEAM Camps, in collaboration with William & Mary, were recognized as a 2023 “Program that Works” by the Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition. STEAM Camps are held during the summer at Hines Middle School and serve students in grades 3 through 10. They provide hands-on learning experiences in computer science, emerging technologies and engineering design. Engineered to spark creativity, promote teamwork, and teach real-world problem-solving skills, the program pairs a robust curriculum with diverse mentorship opportunities. Participants include learners from elementary to high school, preservice teachers from William & Mary and NNPS high school interns following STEM career pathways.

NNPS received the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. Now in its 25th year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement for providing music access and education to all students, according to the foundation.

Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the Newport News School Board for its annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2022. The report was judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which include demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report, according to GFOA.

Three NNPS Odyssey of the Mind teams earned top honors in the 2024 Odyssey of the Mind Virginia State Tournament. The Booker T. Washington Middle School team earned first place and qualified to attend the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals Tournament at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, on May 21-24. Teams from Warwick High School and Knollwood Meadows Elementary School earned third place in their respective problems and divisions.

Archery teams from B. Charles Elementary, Richneck Elementary, Ella Fitzgerald Middle School and Menchville High competed in the National Archery in the Schools Program Eastern NationalsTournament in Louisville, Kentucky in spring 2024.

Warwick High School's debate team placed at the VHSL Class 5 State Championships. John Steiner, a junior, placed 1st in the Lincoln Douglas category. Razvan Verde, a junior, and Kai-Tang Tseng, a senior placed 3rd in the Public Forum category. Warwick finished in second place and classified as runner-up in the team standings, which are determined by averaging competitors' placements to rank teams.

The Woodside Boys Varsity Basketball team earned the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Class 5 State Championship for the second consecutive year. Silas Barksdale was named the Class 5 Boys Player of the Year and Head Coach Stefan Welsh was named the Class 5 Boys Coach of the Year.

Woodside High School wrestler Jordyn Anderson won the VHSL Girls Open Wrestling 126-pound State Championship. She is the first individual state champion in Woodside wrestling history.

Menchville High School’s Matthew Onoff won the VHSL Class 5 BoysTennis Singles State Championship in spring 2024.