PRINCE EDWARD — County school board members Friday filled two administrative vacancies.

The board, in a continued session, confirmed the approval of a new elementary school principal and a director of curriculum and instruction. In both instances, the school board chose to select from within.

The new elementary school principal, who will replace Amy McCurdy, is Carolyn Jones, a native of Nottoway County and the current elementary school assistant principal. Dr. Julie Gilliam will be the school division’s new executive director of curriculum and instruction. She replaces retiring Director Laura Williamson.

Jones said her “hopes and plans for the upcoming school year would be to build upon all the great, excellent learning that has taken place at Prince Edward County Elementary School thus far. And my goal is that we will continue along that same path for the upcoming school year.”

Jones said she is pleased with the progress she has seen so far this year.

“Mrs. McCurdy has been excellent to work with. She has brought many new skills to the building and, as far as anything that I would look to carry forward for the upcoming school year, we will continue along the path of maintaining our balanced literacy program that has been truly successful here,” she said.

According to information provided by the superintendent, Jones previously served as coordinator of exceptional programs for the County’s public schools and served 17 years as a public school educator. She has an undergraduate degree from Lynchburg College in psychological biology, completed her master’s degree in teaching and learning reading K-6 from Kaplan University and her graduate certificate in administration and supervision from Kaplan University. She is currently seeking an educational specialist degree in adult education from Walden University.

Gilliam said her vision is to “be a part of helping the schools meet the accreditation requirements, and in order to do that…we have to meet the individual needs of students, so I guess that’s probably one of the first things. … My plan is to look at what’s working, look at what’s not working, look at what other successful schools are doing that’s making a difference and see what we can implement here and if there’s any changes that we need to make to make that happen.”

Gilliam, according to the superintendent’s email, is a native of Southside Virginia and currently serves as the director of research and accountability for the school division. She served previously as assistant principal for Prince Edward County Middle School in 2013-14 and for 14 years as an elementary principal in Roanoke City.  Gilliam received her undergraduate degree from Longwood University in elementary education and completed a master’s degree in instruction and a doctorate in educational leadership at the University of Virginia.

Filling the two positions inches the school division closer to completing its administrative team for the 2015-16 school year. However, the board still has to appoint a replacement for retiring Middle School Principal Lucy Carson.