ACPS employees gather at Ting Pavilion to kick off the school year

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - New and returning Albemarle County Public Schools employees are counting down the days until students return to the classroom.

Thousands of ACPS employees filled the Ting Pavilion to kick off the school year. The school district says it has hired hundreds of new teachers.

At the employee convocation, one teacher talked about why he chose to be a part of the ACPS family.

“I’m super excited. It’s always a great feeling to come back to my community after going to college and giving back to the youth, giving back to the people that needed the most,” special education teacher Dontae Woodfolk said.

Woodfolk has been a teacher for two years, and he says his main focus is to be a positive light in the lives of students.

“My focus when I go on for the day is just building relationships, getting those foundations built, because if you don’t have those relationships strongly built at the beginning, then it’s very hard to carry,” Woodfolk said.

Those in charge say ACPS has the right people in place to teach the minds of the next generation.

“Thousands of people who are putting their life’s work, putting their heart and soul into this work for the kids and for the families and for our communities. It’s impossible not to be inspired by all of that,” ACPS school board member Judy Le said.

The first day of school is August 23.

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