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Tireless. Progressive. Thorough.
Those are a few of the words colleagues have used to describe incoming Henrico Schools Superintendent Amy Cashwell, who was introduced by the Henrico School Board during a brief work session this morning.
Cashwell, the chief academic officer for Virginia Beach City Public Schools who has spent her entire adult life working in that system, will take over July 1 for retiring Henrico Superintendent Pat Kinlaw. She signed a four-year contract that will run through June 30, 2022.
Its selection of Cashwell indicates that leadership experience within a large school district was of particular importance to the Henrico School Board, which considered 27 candidates for the position and interviewed a handful of finalists last month.
Cashwell, who will be the first woman to lead the county's school system, brings youth and an extensive record as a teacher, school administrator and school system administrator. She began her career in Virginia Beach as a teacher in 1998 and later became and assistant principal and principal before moving to her administrative role. She is a graduate of Kempsville High School in Virginia Beach, Longwood College and The George Washington University.
'It is an honor to have been selected to serve the Henrico County community as superintendent of schools," Cashwell told the audience of county school and government officials, as well as other attendees (including her two school-age daughters and her parents) at the New Bridge Auditorium. "It's a testament to the community's involvement in the schools that so many folks are here."
Then, with a nod to Kinlaw, she added, "I absolutely have big shoes to fill."
In her current position in Virginia Beach, Cashwell was responsible for overseeing six major branches of the school system and about half the system's budget. She played a key role in the school system's Integrated Performance Task, a plan it designed and implemented in 2010 as a way to measure the success of the 21st century skills – critical thinking, writing and problem solving – of its students.
Cashwell has earned several recent honors for her role in Virginia Beach's strategic Compass to 2020 program, through which the system established digital learning goals. She led a pilot study of 15 schools to determine digital learning best practices that would help the system implement digital learning programs and devices districtwide.
In 2016, the Virginia Society for Technology in Education honored Cashwell with its Outstanding Leader of the Year award in recognition of her efforts with the program. Last fall, she was named one of the Center for Digital Education’s Top 30 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers in K-12 education nationally.
In a nomination of Cashwell for the latter award, two colleagues wrote that she was an exhaustive leader.
"From seeking the latest research to collaborating with colleagues across departments to provide comprehensive and innovative school initiatives, Dr. Cashwell works tirelessly to create the best classroom experiences for students as possible,” VBCPS Director of Instructional Technology Bill Johnsen and VBPCS Administrative Coordinator Nicole DeVries wrote, according to the Virginia Beach public schools' website. “She continues to call for and support the acquisition and integration of digital instructional resources into the curriculum including textbooks as well as applications that teachers can use to target student needs.”
Her boss in Virginia Beach, Superintendent Aaron Spence, is no stranger to Henrico County. He was the first principal of Deep Run High School.
Spence "speaks so highly of his time here," Cashwell said. "He is so right about this community. I can see why he holds a special place in his heart for this place."
Kinlaw, whose last day will be June 30, told the audience that Henrico would be in great hands with Cashwell. "I've had a chance to sit down and chat with Amy, and I couldn't be happier," he said. "I know you'll embrace her."
