With the end of the 2025–26 school year rapidly approaching, Westmoreland County Public Schools invited students, their parents, and staff for the State of the Schools presentation last week. Essentially a look-back at the school year, the State of the Schools provides an opportunity to showcase what has been achieved.

After a selection of musical pieces from the WHS Band and Chorus, conducted by Band Director Bruce Passaretti, Superintendent Cathy Rice addressed those present, noting that the school division had practically been in a class all its own this year in terms of academic achievement.

“We’re incredibly proud of all four of our schools and their accomplishments. This was our first year with the new accountability system in place, and our students rose to the challenge,” commented Rice.

“The Commonwealth used to grade school accreditation based on performance in the S.O.L. tests. Now it’s rating schools based on performance in the Math, Science, and English S.O.L.s, but also looking at the progress of our English learners in developing proficiency in speaking the language.

“Schools are also rated based on growth, such as in reading and math, at up to the middle school level. High schools in turn are also graded based on their graduation rate and getting students ready for life after high school, like joining the workforce, the military, or going to college.” Rice noted that all schools were rated on readiness, which focuses on chronic absenteeism. At the middle school, another factor in the ratings is students taking high school‑grade courses, such as advanced algebra. About 23% of schools across the Commonwealth achieved a rating of distinguished, 43% were considered on track/meeting expectations, 22% were considered off‑track, and the remaining 12% were in need of intensive support for failing to meet state expectations.

All four Westmoreland schools were fully accredited, with Montross Middle School and both elementary schools rated on track, while Westmoreland High earned a distinguished rating.

“That speaks volumes for the hard work of our students, teachers, and staff, and the leader‑ship of principals and our central office. This is a major accomplishment,” continued Rice, who did something of a deeper dive into what this meant in comparison to the rest of the region.

“Superintendent regions are established throughout the Commonwealth,” explained Rice. “We are Region Three, and there are thirteen divisions within our region. The State put together a leaderboard to show how well each division did compared to the other schools within the region.

“We’re the only school division in the Northern Neck that can say that we have all of our schools rating ‘Distinguished’ or ‘On Track.’ A number of schools in other divisions across our region were listed as either ‘Off‑Track’ or ‘Needs Intensive Support.’

“Every school division across the Commonwealth is working hard to meet these expecta‑tions. We’re proud of all of our neighbors and colleagues, but we still wanted to make some noise that Westmoreland was completely On‑Track or Distinguished. This leaderboard shows how difficult the task put in front of us by the Commonwealth is. It’s special that Westmoreland County was able to perform at this level, and it’s a major achievement for Westmoreland High School to achieve that rating,” she said.

When Rice finished her presentation, students and parents streamed out of the auditorium toward a number of exhibits that showed off everything from student artwork and project‑based learning displays to other student projects, such as the working and coding of drones by the same team that had placed 3rd at the Dahlgren Innovation Challenge earlier this year. They also had a chance to meet the school resource officers.