Waynesboro attorney announces for at-large school board seat

 Waynesboro attorney Linda Schorsch Jones announced on Wednesday that she would be a candidate in the May election for the at-large seat on the Waynesboro School Board.

The at-large seat is currently held by Brian Edwards. Edwards had no comment about Jones’ candidacy on Wednesday. The two-term member said he is planning an announcement soon.

Jones, married and the mother of two children who attend the Waynesboro Schools, said she was motivated to run for the school board because of the importance of education.

“My decision to run for a seat on Waynesboro’s School Board,” she explains, “is motivated by my belief that educating children should be the single most important concern of our community. My own children have reaped the benefit of the education that the city of Waynesboro has provided, and I would like to be involved in the continued successes of our school division. This includes ensuring that each student is guaranteed a quality education and that resources are allocated responsibly and appropriately. As an owner of a small business in Waynesboro, mother and attorney, I believe that I have the experience needed to effectively assist the city in this capacity.”

Jones graduated from Stuarts Draft High School, and earned a B.A. degree from the University of Virginia with honors in English and had a minor in foreign affairs.

While an undergraduate, Jones spent a semester studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

She earned a juris doctorate from the University of Richmond’s T.C. Williams School of Law in 1989.

While in law school, Jones clerked for the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, then led by Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, and the Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Gilmore.

Gilmore later served as Virginia’s attorney general and governor.

Jones also clerked for the Virginia Supreme Court upon graduation from law school and worked as an assistant commwealth’s attorney for Harrisonburg/Rockingham County.

She has been an attorney at Poindexter, Schorsch, Jones & Hill Waynesboro since 1991, and became an equity partner in the firm in 1994. For more than 20 years she has focused her law practice in the areas of child custody and divorce.

Jones is a certified Guardian Ad Litem for the 25^th Judicial Circuit, and has served on the boards of Blue Ridge Legal Services and Valley Pastoral Counseling.

She has also served in leadership roles in the Waynesboro Junior Women’s Club and has been a Cub Scout den leader.