Table of Contents
The Henrico County School Board is expected to name its new superintendent during a 10 a.m. meeting Tuesday. The board has called a special work session at that time "to discuss personnel matters, including the Superintendent position for Henrico County Public Schools," according to a notice posted last night.
The School Board whittled down its initial list of 27 applicants – 20 males and 7 females – and interviewed several finalists during the past few weeks. Nineteen of the applicants were from Virginia. The School Board was thought to be seeking a progressive-minded leader with experience directing a school division of somewhat significant size.
The new superintendent will take over at the start of the county's new fiscal year July 1. Current Superintendent Pat Kinlaw will retire June 30 following more than 20 years with HCPS, including the past four and a half as its leader. He earns a base salary of about $222,000 a year.
For a $13,000 fee, the Henrico School Board enlisted the assistance of the Virginia School Boards Association with the search. The VSBA only engages with school districts that conduct their searches privately, without revealing the names of candidates to the public. It nearly voided a similar contract with the Newport News School Board earlier this spring when it said an information breach had occurred during that board's superintendent search. (Newport News ultimately selected Caroline County superintendent George Parker as its new leader.)
The Henrico School Board apparently was able to conclude its search and select a new leader without any experiencing any ripple effects from the sudden promotion of Chesterfield Superintendent James Lane to the position of state superintendent late last month. Chesterfield's school system is slightly larger than Henrico's and likely would attract similar superintendent candidates.
Though no candidates have been named publicly, there are several potential candidates with Henrico ties who might make sense for the board.
Powhatan Superintendent Eric Jones began his career as a teacher in Henrico and worked his way up to assistant superintendent for secondary education in the county before taking the Powhatan job in 2013. He was named Superintendent of the Year for 2017 in Virginia's 15-division Region 1 (which includes Henrico) by the Virginia Association of Superintendents. His base salary there is about $154,000.
New Kent Superintendent David A. Myers also served as an assistant superintendent in Henrico before taking his current position in the summer of 2014. He was named the Region 1 Superintendent of the Year earlier this year. He earns nearly $149,000 in base pay.
Virginia Beach Superintendent Aaron Spence has a Henrico connection, having served as the first principal of Deep Run High School. But he leads a system that is larger than Henrico's (69,000 students compared to Henrico's nearly 52,000) and earns $236,028 annually – about $14,000 more than Kinlaw's base salary – as part of a contract that runs through June 2020.
