Local School Board Will Fill Seat, Interim Superintendent Still Unclear

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education did not take action this week on a motion to select a search firm for its next superintendent. The board is facing some big decisions in the coming weeks.

An interim superintendent still hasn't been named for the district, but a new board member will be announced soon to replace Barbara Burke who won a seat on the Winston-Salem City Council in Tuesday's election.

The new member must be from the same political party as the person leaving, which in this case is the Democratic party. Burke will be sworn in on December 7.

All of this factored into the board‘s decision to delay voting on how to go about the superintendent search process. It's also weighing whether or not to conduct the search internally. Either way, board member Deanna Kaplan says community engagement is part of the plan.

“I just think we need to slow down and take a little time here and not rush this process because it is important,” says Kaplan. “And I do think we have to involve our community leaders, I mean across the board, you know, for transparency sake.”

Superintendent Angela Hairston resigned last month, after serving a little more than a year in that role. She will lead the school system in Danville, Virginia. Her last day is November 13. It's unclear if the school board will announce an interim superintendent before then.

This comes as the district begins welcoming back some students to classrooms. The board recently approved the return of pre-k through first grade.

Pre-kindergarten and Exceptional Children headed back to classrooms on Monday.

The board is monitoring community health metrics and will meet before Thanksgiving break to determine if other grades will also return for in-person learning.

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