TLN-3-13-19

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Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

WEDNESDAYS • March 13, 2019

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Richmond & Hampton Roads

LEGACYNEWSPAPER.COM • FREE

Newsome set to retire from Petersburg Public Schools

Last week Marcus Newsome, 64, announced that he is retiring, and this time he means it. “It’s time for me to move to the next chapter of my life,” he said. The Petersburg Public Schools superintendent is leaving the school system on June 30, ending his 40 years in education with 16 as a superintendent. The Petersburg School Board has hired BWP & Associates Ltd. of Libertyville, Ill., to lead the search for Newsome’s replacement. Newsome was set to retire in 2016 after running Chesterfield County Public Schools, one of the state’s topperforming districts, for 10 years. Instead, with the encouragement of state education leaders, he took over

one of Virginia’s most challenged districts. Just two of Petersburg’s six public schools meet the state’s full accreditation standards. “I share your pride in knowing that we are in a much better place than we were three years ago,” Newsome said in a letter to the Petersburg School Board announcing his retirement. “Together, we have established a solid foundation for the future.” In Newsome’s three years as Petersburg’s superintendent, the district gave every student in second through 12th grade a Chromebook computer. Every student has also been introduced to computer coding. The school system partnered with Virginia Commonwealth University to establish a teacher residency

program, which places students pursuing master’s degrees in classrooms under the supervision of a mentor teacher — just like a medical residency. “The School Board and I wish that Dr. Newsome’s retirement announcement were coming several years later, yet we understand his choice and we wish him and his family all the best in the future,” School Board Chairman Kenneth Pritchett said in a statement. “We are grateful to have had Dr. Newsome as our superintendent, and we know that Petersburg schools are stronger now than we were three years ago.” Newsome, who is 65 years old, started as an art and math teacher

in the District of Columbia. He moved into school administration in Prince George’s County, Md., before being hired as superintendent of Newport News Public Schools in 2003. Three years later, he was tapped to lead Chesterfield Public Schools, the fifth-largest district in the state. He took over Petersburg, with 4,196 students, on July 1, 2016, a move one School Board member at the time equated to “Michael Jordan coming out of retirement.” “You will be missed by all of us that are following Petersburg’s trajectory but we know that you’ve laid the foundation that’s going to lead us into the future,” said James Lane, the state superintendent of public instruction.


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