Bath County Native Sarah Rowe Named New Principal At Bath County High School

Warm Springs, Va – Bath County High School has a new Principal. At Tuesday night’s School Board meeting Sarah Rowe was appointed to the position. Rowe is a Bath County native who attended Valley Elementary and graduated from Bath County High School in 1993. She is also a graduate of Mary Baldwin College and has a Masters Degree in Administration and Supervision from the University of Virginia.

“I’m thrilled about coming home, absolutely elated about coming home” says Rowe. “Bath formed my foundation, so to be able to come back here and give back to the community that gave so much to me, it elates me. One of the thingks that Mr. Pitard had said in the past is that Bath is the best small town high school in Virginia and we’re going to continue that tradition, that’s not going to stop. I’m really excited about what the future brings.”

Rowe most recently has taught and worked as a Relief Principal at the elementary level in Roanoke and she has also worked as an Assistant Pprincipal at the middle school level. She starts work on Monday August 8th.

At last month’s school board meeting, parents expressed concern about the large number of Valley Elementary first graders being in one class this coming fall. On Tuesday night, elementary schools principal Les Balgavy reported that there are 24 students projected for the first grade class at Valley. He said for the first hour and a half of the day, the class will be split into three groups for reading instruction and that an aide will be in the class for most of the rest of the school day.

Balgavy also reported that the next most crowded class is the seventh grade at Millboro Elementary with 23 students projected. The projection for Bath County High School enrollment is 292 students.

It was reported on Tuesday night that preliminary data indicates that all Bath County schools are above the standards necessary for full accreditation in all areas. But preliminary data on Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, shows that the school division as a whole did not meet AYP this year. Millboro Elementary and the high school made AYP, but Valley Elementary did not. Technology and Administrative Services Director Paul Lancaster explained that there are subgroups such as disadvantaged students, students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency that can affect AYP scores overall.

Also on Tuesday night, the board accepted the resignation of mechanic Ken Yohe and school nurse Jane Wright. And the board made the following appointments:
Will Fields as Athletic Director and PE teacher with continuing duties as head football coach,

Bonnie Lee as a part time computer science and technology education teacher,

Jason Rowe as an instructional aide at Valley Elementary and Kris Phillips as the cross country coach.

The board also authorized Superintendent Sue Hirsh to hire a special education teacher, a Spanish teacher, a nurse and a mechanic.