Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The surveys have been collected, the meetings have been held and now applications are being taken for the next superintendent of Prince Edward County Public Schools. The school board heard an update on the process from Chairwoman Lucy Carson during their Wednesday, Dec. 4 meeting. 

“We had all of our public meetings and we felt, as a board, that we did a good job getting it out to the community,” Carson said. “We had some small meetings and we had some larger meetings but we felt like we got it out there.” 

Once the meetings were over, board members met last month and put together a list of qualifications they want to see in the next superintendent. On Nov. 13, the school board turned all of their data over to the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA). On Nov. 18, the job was posted. 

As for the timeline to find a permanent hire, it’s going to take a while. That’s one thing Gina Patterson wanted to make clear last time when she spoke with The Herald. She works as executive director of VSBA. Patterson pointed out it’s not something that wraps up in a matter of weeks. It’s going to take a couple months. 

And she advised to keep in mind this search would be taking place over a period with multiple holidays, so the hope would be to have a candidate for Prince Edward’s superintendent by April 2025. Applications are currently being accepted through Dec. 31. On Jan. 1, school board members will be able to look at the different candidates and make notes. 

On January 15, 2025, the school board will meet with VSBA at 3 p.m. to discuss where they are with the process. Then over the course of February and March of 2025, the goal will be for the school board to interview the respective candidates, with a hiring decision for Prince Edward’s superintendent made soon after. 

“We’re pretty much on the schedule that we had from the beginning,” Carson said.  

School board gets some help 

Prince Edward is hunting for a new superintendent due to Dr. Barbara Johnson stepping down on Monday, Sept. 30. No reason was given as to why Johnson stepped down. In recent months, she faced increased questions about the inability of the district schools to reach full accreditation. In Prince Edward, only the elementary school was fully accredited this year with no conditions. The high school, and especially the middle school, continue to struggle. 

Currently, Dr. Joseph Cox is serving in the role on an interim basis. Cox is best known as the longtime superintendent of Colonial Heights Public Schools. He took over that position in 2001 and stayed until his retirement in 2019. Before that, Cox had served in Colonial Heights Public Schools as a teacher, first at Colonial Heights Junior High for nine years and then as a government and history teacher at the district’s high school.
Since his retirement, Cox has served in an interim role as superintendent for a number of different school districts in Virginia. He took over in Nelson County in 2022 for a few months and then in 2023, he went back to Colonial Heights, taking over as an interim superintendent at his old district.