Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Montgomery County picks Florida candidate as its superintendent
Alan Kim | Special to The Roanoke Times
Brenda Blackburn addresses the crowd during a community forum held Monday at Christiansburg Middle School.
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The Montgomery County School Board announced this morning that it plans to hire Brenda Blackburn as its new superintendent.
Blackburn is the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction in Brevard County, Fla.
Details of her contract are still in the works, said school board Chairman Wendell Jones, but she will be paid $150,000.
Jones said he hopes to finalize Blackburn's contract by the year's end.
The board has an anticipated start date of March 1.
Blackburn has been Brevard County's associate superintendent -- essentially the district's second in command -- since 2003. She now earns $123,500.
That school system, located along Flordia's Space Coast, is the 10th largest district in Florida with 86 schools, eight charter schools and 17 alternative programs. The division has one of the state's highest dual-enrollment rates, meaning students can earn college credit during high school. It boasts a 93 percent graduation rate.
According to information provided by the Montgomery County school system, Blackburn has been a teacher, counselor, assistant principal and principal in secondary schools.
She began her teaching career in Danville in the 1970s.
Blackburn received a Bachelor of Arts in Education and a Master of Arts in Counseling from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. She attended the University of South Carolina and completed post graduate work at Stetson University.
