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Local School Board Will Fill Seat, Interim Superintendent Still Unclear

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education discussed the superintendent search process during its meeting on November, 5 2020. Screenshot: KERI BROWN/WFDD

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.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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