Faculty & Staff

Linda Thornton, Director, B.A Hollins University; M.A.T. Brown University

Linda Thornton is a founding member and the director of Community High School and taught at Community School during its opening year in 1971 as a senior at Hollins University. She graduated from Hollins in 1972 with a BA in English and then attended Brown University, graduating with an MAT in 1973. In 1976 she returned to Community School as an English teacher and has been involved in the academic program, both as a teacher and board member, ever since. She has been interim director of Community School on three separate occasions.

"Students learn best when we are able to treat them with compassion and respect – looking attentively at each one as a unique and gifted individual."

Brian Counihan, Program Coordinator, Art and Humanities B.A., Crawford School of Art in Cork, Ireland and Northwestern University; M.A. Northwestern University

Brian Counihan is a full time faculty member of Community High School. He grew up in the Republic of Ireland and received a degree in painting and printmaking from one of Ireland's top four-year art institutions. He has a BA in art history from Northwestern University, where he also received his MALS, focusing on contemporary culture. He was summa cum laude undergraduate and received the academic award for best thesis for his master's degree. Previous to joining Community High School, Brian was teaching studio art as an adjunct faculty member at Randolph Macon Women's College and Lynchburg College.

Brian is the resident artist and teaches humanities and cross curricular courses. He has developed teen programs for The Art Museum of Western Virginia, most notably the "Young Curators" program, and he currently sits on the Art Museum's education committee.

John McBroom, Dean of Students, Program Coordinator, Music

John McBroom has been a musician since he was in elementary school, although the remark of his first band teacher, to try sports instead, deferred his ambitions until he was in middle school. He has been a touring and recording musician for the last 12 years, playing in jam bands, bluegrass and jazz ensembles. He has been involved in over a dozen CD projects as a musician, producer and executive producer. John has an associate degree in business. John teaches algebra, coordinates the music program, and is Dean of Students.

"I'm a parent, I'm on the board, and I thoroughly believe in Community High School. I appreciate the way Community High School regards the student as an individual."

Josh Chapman, Program Coordinator, Social Sciences B.A , Yale University

Josh Chapman has been with Community High School since its inception. He attended Community School, grades k-5, and then attended Roanoke City schools. After graduation, Josh went to Yale, where he earned his BA in anthropology in 1996. He holds a MALS in social science and is currently pursuing an MFA in creative writing, both from Hollins University. He has taught at Community School's Middle School, and has taught Community High School courses in the social sciences and humanities such as anthropology, history, film and drama. Currently, Josh is teaching government with Peter Coogan, and is directing Community High School's online literary magazine, Snarkout. His fiction was selected for the Editor's Choice in the Mid-American Review's 2005 Sherwood Anderson Fiction Prize and as runner up in the Southeast Review's World's Best Short Story Contest; it will also appear in Shenandoah magazine and in New Stories from the South (The Year's Best: 2006).

Roni Sutton, Business Manager/Registar, B.A., Columbia College

Roni Sutton is a Community School parent of Eric and Joshua, the Community High School Parent of Lucas and the Vice-Chair of the Community School Board of Trustees. She is also the President of the Bedford Historical Society Board of Trustees. Roni earned a BA degree in Mathematics from Columbia College, a women's liberal arts college in Columbia, SC, in 1989 with an emphasis in Computer Science.

"Community School is where I have seen my children learn and grow with no stifling, regimented bureaucracy. There are times that I am almost jealous of the environment in which my children learn. I would have loved to have been able to take advantage of the opportunities that a place like Community School can give a child. I look forward to the day when I will see my sons take the next step in learning through Community High School."