Hey there.

My name is Annie and I’m the new education reporter at the Roanoke Times. Welcome to our new space: “Learning Lines.”

Let’s start out with an intro, about me and about this blog.

I’m a young(ish) newspaper reporter who has spent most of my professional years in journalism covering public education. I’ve spent time in nearby Hill City, covering Lynchburg City Schools, Campbell County Schools and occasionally schools in Amherst and Appomattox counties. Most recently though I covered one of Alabama’s largest school systems, Montgomery Public Schools home to about 31,000 students, in the state’s capital city.

Annie McCallum

I also hail from a family full of teachers (Hi Mom!), am a VCU grad (Go Rams!) and wife to this guy.

I took over the education beat just last week when longtime education reporter Courtney Cutright left to head back to school to pursue a teaching career and in the process hopefully spend a bit more time with her obscenely cute newborn. She has dutifully handed over the reins to me and I will do my best to fill her shoes with detailed, thoughtful coverage, making sure I always do right by you guys, the readers.

You should know that I am wildly, emphatically (sometimes annoyingly) passionate about education. I have seen the difference a committed educator can make in the life of the child. I have seen how great public schools can be the silver bullet, how they can literally change lives.

I have also seen the systems fail students. Too many children never make it to graduation day. Some sit in classrooms disengaged with educators who don’t know or don’t care to connect with them.

Education reporting is some of the most important work journalists can do. I have witnessed first hand the challenges facing schools and how critical education coverage can be to a community. So I take my new role seriously and I hope you’ll help me along, including with this blog.

I hope this space will be an informal place to talk, share, learn, connect and have fun. This blog is what we (including you there behind the screen) make it. Tell me what you’re interested in and what you want to see here. Interested in doing a guest post? Let me know. Don’t like something I’m doing? Let me know about that too.

You can reach me via Twitter, email, phone at (540) 981-3227 and of course right here on the blog by commenting.

This is our space. Welcome.