Waynesboro School Board to begin discussion on superintendent search this week

The Waynesboro School Board has set a mid-afternoon meeting on Thursday to discuss the beginning of its search for a new superintendent.

The item on the agenda is hidden behind a line item noting that the Board will hold a “Discussion with Virginia School Board Association Leadership.”

I confirmed with the central office today that this line item is related to the superintendent search.

Jeffrey Cassell, the current superintendent, who has served in that job since 2013, announced earlier this month that he intends to retire at the end of the calendar year.

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ICYMI

• Updated: Waynesboro Schools superintendent confirms retirement

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As we reported that news, hours ahead of Cassell confirming his intention to retire at a School Board meeting on July 14, we publicly asked the School Board to pump the brakes on naming a permanent replacement, to allow the new Board that will be seated on Jan. 1 to make the hire.

The 2026 city elections include two contested races for seats on the School Board – in Ward C, in which the incumbent, Debra Freeman, a political independent, is being challenged for re-election by independent Kelvin Washington, and in Ward D, which features independents Adam Seipel and Cathe Myers vying to fill the seat currently held by Amber Lipscomb, a MAGA Republican who is not running for re-election.

Our position on the pending opening is that the School Board certainly should initiate the search for a new superintendent – by doing things like engaging a search firm and beginning the application and review process – and then name an interim to replace Cassell on Jan. 1 to serve into the new year, as the new Board vets the candidates, interviews finalists and settles on a new hire.

Anything less is going to feel like a rushed process – and more to the point, a process rushed to deny at least one and possibly two new members of the five-member School Board that will be working with whoever the new superintendent is next year from having a say in the final choice.

Also, and being blunt here, we don’t need to be promoting from within here – given that the Virginia Department of Education has all six of the city’s public schools in the failing category.

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ICYMI

• It’s time to clean house at Waynesboro Public Schools: As in, starting over, from scratch

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We need to start over, from scratch, and that includes ensuring that we get input from the new School Board members when they take office next year.

I hope this hidden item on a mid-afternoon Thursday agenda isn’t the beginning of a rush job that it seems to be.

Let me rephrase that: it had better not be what it seems to be.