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Leadership Lynchburg presents teacher survey to Amherst County schools; teachers cite time, staffing, compensation and support as top needs
Summary
A Leadership Lynchburg group presented results of a teacher survey to the Amherst County School Board, reporting 123 responses to an initial survey and 57 to a follow-up; teachers identified more time, more staff, and better compensation/support as priority needs.
A group from Leadership Lynchburg presented results of an anonymized survey of Amherst County teachers and staff at the March 11 school-board meeting, saying the project aimed to give teachers a confidential way to share priorities with district leaders.
Katie Mayo, representing the Leadership Lynchburg education team, told the board the first survey earned 123 responses and that a follow-up poll yielded about 57 replies; the group scrubbed the data to remove identifying comments and agreed to share raw results with district staff.
Key findings Survey respondents identified the top five desired changes as more time, higher compensation, more staff, more administrative support and more resources. When asked about the biggest obstacles to their work, respondents listed lack of time most frequently, followed by behavior and discipline concerns, lack of support, and parental engagement. On resource awareness, respondents were split: roughly half said they were aware of paid and free resources available, while the other half said they were not.
Mayo said Leadership Lynchburg had initially planned to build a resource web page, but stopped because the Virginia Department of Education already offers thousands of links. Instead, the volunteers narrowed the scope to giving teachers a confidential channel to voice priorities and to help the district identify where to focus supports. The group also plans a teacher-supplies drive after teachers listed needed classroom supplies (for example, whiteboard markers) on the survey.
Board reaction and follow-up Board members thanked the team for outreach. Several members suggested the district use the survey as a basis for focused follow-up — including targeted focus groups and deeper, school‑level listening sessions — and for reconciling teacher priorities with budget decisions. The Leadership Lynchburg team said it would continue to partner with Dr. Wells and the district to host focus groups and to help with outreach.
Why it matters The survey gives the district additional, citizen-led input on teacher priorities at a moment when the board has been discussing recruiting and retention and when the approved budget preserves several instructional positions and intervention supports.
