As the school year begins to come to a close, let’s take a closer look at some of the new staff members who joined as teachers this year.

Mr. Russell

Mr. James Russell is Danville High School’s  senior level personal finance teacher. Before joining the high school, Mr. Russell dedicated several years to teaching in an elementary school setting.

Why did you want to teach here at Danville High?

“Well, several reasons. It’s a familiar environment for me. I substitute taught for the Danville School’s system for several years, right up until the beginning of COVID-19 in 2020. and after that, I went to work for the Danville Montessori school for about four years. Last year, I was at Toliver, and this year I’m back at the high school, so it’s a familiar environment.”

What made you want to teach here? What’s similar, and what’s different?

“I’ve taught mainly in elementary school for the past several years. So, there’s a big difference between them and high school seniors, like I teach now. However, I am no stranger to teaching high school seniors. I have taught student teaching many years ago in North Georgia; I taught senior economics.”

Is there a quote or saying that you live your life by?

“‘So it goes,’ and that’s by a writer named Kurt Vonnegut.”

What makes a good day at school?

“A good day is just a day when my students are fully engaged with the subject that’s at hand in my classroom, and a day when–obviously–work gets finished.”

What do you think of the school so far?

“There’s a lot of things that are different, but I’m very impressed with our administration and everything they are. They’re very supportive of the teachers, very supportive of the students. It’s when you have that kind of support from both sides, then you’re going to get great things done.”

Mr. Ramsey

Mr. James Ramsey is the new astronomy and AP Biology teacher at Danville High School. Mr. Ramsey taught at Scott County High School for 10 years before joining the staff at DHS.

Why did you want to teach here at Danville High?

“I am originally from near Danville, so I moved back to be closer with my family, and I also moved here, specifically Danville High School, because it has a culture that I find exciting. It’s a lot different from where I was working at Scott County High School, and way different from where I graduated, which is Boyle County Schools.”

What made you want to teach here? What’s similar, and what’s different?

“ There are a lot of similarities, like both are fairly diverse, but this school, proportionally, is a little more diverse. I love diversity. In fact, I almost left teaching years ago to take a job as a coordinator for a program that was meant to increase diversity in postsecondary education, but that job disappeared with the current administration because it was an NSF (National Science Foundation) grant-funded position. But in science, I think diversity is one of the things that drives new discovery because there’s new perspectives and new ideas. Yeah, so I thought it was a huge opportunity to be able to teach at a school where there’s — at least for the area — a lot of diversity relative to other schools. So, like, there’s some cool, broad, ranging backgrounds all in one spot in a small school. That’s the other thing that’s attractive — that Danville is a small school. I came from Scott County High School, which is a really big school, so it’s super nice to be working at a small school.”

Is there a quote or saying that you live your life by?

“Maybe not so much that I live my life by, like how I have one from Carl Sagan that says ‘Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge,’ so it drives a lot of how I teach. So it’s not just you’re not coming in my room just to learn a bunch of facts, which doesn’t serve you well, but like how we come to know those facts, and how you can find out new facts and figure new things out, is kind of something that I harp on in my teaching and make sure that students get to practice in my classroom.”

What makes a good day at school?

“Seeing some kids have some ‘a-ha’ moments, like figure something out, like watching light bulbs go off, it’s like you can literally see it sometimes. So, like, the human mind is a kind of a closed system, and like, you can talk at kids all you want, and it doesn’t guarantee anything, but when it does happen, what you do see kids figure something out.”

“It’s kind of like a fun miracle”.

“A miracle, and I get to see it a lot. You know? I wouldn’t want to be in a job where I didn’t get to, like, have that experience, yeah, but it’s cool to see you guys when you figure something out.”

What do you  think of the school so far?

“Again, it’s my first year, and I’m loving the general feel in the building, like there’s a ton of positivity. Like, I know some of the stories about how administrative turnover led to some chaos and stuff like that, but generally, right now, there’s a positive feel in the area, both among the teachers and the students, and it’s a lot different than where I was working before. Like, I know not everybody’s like, ‘this is wonderful,’ but it’s a lot more positive than where I was working before.”

Ms. Gordon

Ms. Shelby Gordon is a new teacher as of the 2025-2026 school year. She teaches Biology for sophomores and AP Environmental Science.

Why did you want to teach here at Danville High?

“I actually went and got a science degree after a few other things that I did, and while I was working on my science degree, I started teaching as an assistant in a classroom, because you can do that without a degree. And while I did not think that I wanted to be a teacher, because both my parents were teachers, I realized I really liked it. I did not love the school I was at, and I don’t know why, but I just kept applying for teaching roles.”

What made you want to teach here? What’s similar, what’s different?

“The administration is way different. I have a good science team here. I had a good science team there. I really like my co-workers and the other teachers. The kids are very different. Yeah, you guys are more like kids than when I was in high school. The middle schoolers that I had thought they were adults and didn’t have to do anything, and the high schoolers were even worse.”

Is there a quote or saying that you live your life by?

“In general it’s ‘Try, just try.’ For my classroom, ‘Curiosity is the core of science.’”

What makes a good day at school?

“When my students actually want to cooperate with me and we just have a fun time in class. I like, match the personality with the students’ attitude so it works out well. When the kids actually do their work, and you think like, ‘yes, they’re doing their work.’ Like, technically, you don’t have to be doing the work that is given. Are you engaged and enjoying what we’re doing? Are you getting it even if you’re not writing it down?”

What do you think of the school so far?

“I love it here. I love the culture. I love the vibe everybody has. It’s so different from where I came from … here it’s just close and loving. I love it.”