Rita Bishop to enter national superintendent competition next year
The Roanoke schools head was named Virginia Superintendent of the Year on Tuesday, and said her success is due to the "wonderful peopel I work with."
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Roanoke City Public Schools Superintendent Rita Bishop has been named Virginia’s Superintendent of the Year.
The Charlottesville-based Virginia Association of School Superintendents named Bishop this year’s winner at its conference Tuesday evening.
In February, Bishop was named the Region VI Superintendent of the Year, making it the third year in a row a Roanoke Valley superintendent has earned the regional distinction. She was chosen Tuesday as the state’s top superintendent from a field of seven other regional winners.
Bishop, who has been at the helm of Roanoke schools since 2007, has been credited with improving the school system’s graduation rate and bolstering student achievement.
One of her key initiatives was the opening of Forest Park Academy in 2008 as a way of improving the system’s graduation rate. The academy aims to graduate overage students or students who were unsuccessful in a traditional high school environment,
More recently Bishop has crafted an ambitious plan to extend class time for some students during the summer months called RCPS+. The new program, which begins this summer, will more than triple the amount of time students have traditionally spent in class during the summer.
In a statement, Bishop called the honor humbling.
“Any success that I have had is the direct result of the wonderful people I work with,” she said.
Bishop will now represent the state in the National Superintendent of the Year competition in February 2014.
It’s not the first time a Roanoke Valley leader has been in the running for the award.
Roanoke County Schools Superintendent Lorraine Lange was a finalist in the national competition in 2012. She was named the area’s regional superintendent of the year and later the state superintendent of the year in 2011. Wayne Tripp, retired superintendent of Salem schools, was named state superintendent of the year in 2003.
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THE ROANOKE TIMES
