RICHMOND, Va. (WDBJ) – The Virginia Board of Education took emergency action this week to extend thousands of teacher licenses that were set to expire this summer.
Teachers and school superintendents are reacting with a sense of relief, because the problem has been brewing for some time.
And they say they hope resolving the issue will lead to better communication and cooperation among state leaders, local superintendents and Virginia teachers.
On the job less than a month, Virginia’s new Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Lisa Coons said addressing the teacher shortage and the license renewal backlog have been top priorities.
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“We know that we need a high-quality, licensed teacher in every K-12 classroom and that has been my first initiative as superintendent,” Coons told board members Thursday morning.
More than 15,000 renewable licenses were set to expire at the end of June. And the Department of Education was unable to process all of them in time.
The emergency fix was a one-year extension that will keep those teachers in the classroom.
“Why is there such a lag in getting the response from the Department of Ed,” asked Virginia Education Association President Dr. James Fedderman in an interview Friday afternoon.
He supports the board’s action, but says the problem should have been addressed months ago. Instead he said teachers have faced uncertainty about their future.
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“And I am confident in saying that many of them have even started to look for other employment, because of not knowing where they stand with their license,” Fedderman told WDBJ7.
Roanoke County School Superintendent Dr. Ken Nicely is a regional chair of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents. He said the license renewal backlog was a major concern for superintendents in southwest Virginia and across the state.
“Right now we need more folks to join our ranks of highly qualified teachers and those who like working with kids and are qualified to do it. So, anything we can do to reduce the barriers to getting qualified and good people in the classroom, that’s what we need to do,” Nicely said in an interview. “And so we obviously need the Department of Ed to partner with us on that.”
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction said the Department of Education is hiring additional staff, and hopes to act on the current backlog by this summer.
A new license renewal system should also be online by the fall.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — City leaders in Virginia Beach are making a push to make sure the future of air defense ends up at the East Coast Master Jet Base NAS Oceana with the rollout of the F-35 fighter jet.
If you live in Virginia Beach, you know about jet noise and how NAS Oceana is home to hundreds of aircraft including the F-18 Super Hornet.
“We have the F-18s but they won’t be in service forever and there will be a next generation of aircraft that will be coming out,” Vice Mayor of Virginia Beach, Rosemary Wilson, said. “We need to show the Navy that we are welcoming and open to the future aircraft coming forward.”
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Part of that future is the use of F-35s being manufactured by Lockheed Martin in Texas.
Some of those fighters have been positioned on the West Coast but none have been slated to make their way to Oceana just yet.
That’s why Wilson and Mayor Boby Dyer have created a resolution telling the Navy the city supports bringing in new aircraft.
State leaders like Rep. Jen Kiggans are also trying to show the Navy our runways are ready.
“They would go first to Lemoore so we don’t want to be left out of the equation here on the East Coast just because we know that when we get new aircraft we want to be tip of the spear,” Kiggans said. “Mission-driven as well thinking what our mission is on the East Coast as well as the West Coast.”
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Oceana plays a vital role in the economy of the Resort City, as well.
“It’s 13,000 jobs but also with every job there’s a family and then there’s also the businesses that help support that,” Wilson said. “If we lost Oceana which we could have in 2005 it would have a huge impact on our city.”
Kiggans said that the new air defense could mean better access to defense dollars to be used to improve infrastructure, housing, and child care for military families.
“You know the F-18’s NAS Cecil Field, they closed Cecil Field in Jacksonville and they came up here,” Kiggans said. “We saw that we needed housing to go along with it, we needed hangar upgrades, infrastructure improvements so we still need those things we have a base that continues to need to be revitalized.”
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John Hood
Kiggans said these new jets won’t just fly in overnight and it’s a process that could take years.
There are permitting that needs to be done but Kiggans feels this resolution helps to show the city is ready.
“We want to get that ball rolling so we can make sure that we’re just staying relevant, staying in the discussion, we know they’re going to Lemoore, we need them here at Oceana as well,” Kiggans said.
Wilson said the resolution will likely be presented at city council’s July 2 meeting.
NHRA legend John Force was involved in a serious incident at the conclusion of his first round of eliminations for the Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. Force had defeated Terry Haddock but the engine blew spectacularly in his Funny Car as he crossed the finish line. The car then crossed the centerline, striking both guard walls before coming to a stop.
According to a statement from the NHRA, the 75-year-old 16-time champion was alert and examined on-site by the NHRA medical team before being transferred to a local medical facility for further evaluation.
A 6-foot-2 forward from Johnston, Iowa, ESPN lists her as the No. 82 overall prospect in the country. She’s the second pledge in the Hokies’ 2025 class, joining Watauga, N.C., guard Kate Sears, whom ESPN ranks 85th.
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Jenkins originally committed to Marquette last October when Duffy was the head coach but reopened her recruitment after the coaching change. Less than three months later, she committed to Tech after visiting.
She’s the third former Golden Eagle pledge to flip to the Hokies, joining class of 2024 recruits Leila Wells and Kayl Petersen. Jenkins, who plays for ETG Midwest Elite 3SSB on the AAU circuit, held other offers from Cal, Providence and UNLV.
With the addition of Jenkins, the Hokies have 11 scholarship players for the 2025-26 season. Here’s the program’s future scholarship breakdown:
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