Dr. George Parker
The School Board Monday night unanimously appointed Dr. George Parker, an assistant superintendent with the Virginia Beach City Public Schools, as Caroline’s next superintendent.
“This guy is smart,” said School Board Chairman George Spaulding, “and he’s got a big job ahead of him.”
“I love this guy,” Madison representative Shawn Kelley told the Progress. “He fit all qualifications. When he came in for the interview it felt like he was interviewing us.”
Parker, a former naval officer, began his career in education as a math teacher and varsity wrestling coach at Virginia Beach’s Bayside High School in 1993.
He later joined the administrative team at Bayside and served as assistant principal at First Colonial High School before being appointed principal at Green Run High School, a role in which he served for eight years. During his time there Green Run was one of three schools nationwide, in 2010, to receive the College Board’s Inspiration Award for exceptional work in putting underserved students on the path to college.
Parker received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Norfolk State University and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy from Virginia Tech in 2010.
He is the former president of the Virginia Beach Association of Secondary School Principals and chairman of the Virginia Beach District Principals Committee. Since 2010 he has taught as an adjunct professor at Old Dominion University, a role from which he plans to take an indefinite leave of absence in August.
Parker was present Monday night with his wife LaTonya and one of his four children, Adeja, to meet school and Central Office staff.
“I look forward to working with everyone in Caroline County,” he said.
The School Board has been working with the Virginia School Boards Association to find CCPS’s next superintendent since January, when outgoing superintendent Gregory Killough announced that he would be accepting the superintendency of Roanoke County Public Schools starting this July.
Assistant superintendent Rebecca Broaddus has been acting as deputy superintendent since the spring. Spaulding thanked Broaddus Monday night for a “fantastic” job in the challenging role.
Parker will assume his new duties with CCPS July 1.