The Stafford County School Board held a special meeting on Wednesday, November 10 to introduce its new superintendent, Dr. Thomas Taylor.
At the beginning of the special session, Dr. Taylor signed his contract, coming the county’s new superintendent of schools. Afterward, Taylor made a speech that invoked the Marine Corps as a standard of service.
Taylor would mention service and education as essential to his life. The new superintendent said that his priorities would be to address the learning gap, ongoing transportation issues that left students without a ride to and from school at the beginning of the school year in August, and to provide more support the system’s teachers.
“I am so honored to have earned the trust and confidence of the Board and to be joining the incredible Stafford County community,” said Taylor. “I owe my success to the teachers I had growing up, and I’ve dedicated my professional life to ensuring that every student has access to a great education not by chance but by design. Stafford County is well-positioned to be not only the fastest growing district in Virginia but also the best performing district. I can’t wait to get to work.”
With his signing, Taylor became the fourth superintendent for the county in nearly 12 years, officially replacing the previous superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner whose own tenure began in 2018 and ended with his retirement on Sept. 1.
Other superintendents in the past 12 years included Randy Bridges, whose tenure lasted from 2010 to 2013, and W. Bruce Benson, who served as superintendent from 2014 to 2018.
With Taylor’s signing, Interim Superintendent Dr. Stanley Jones will be relieved of his position, which he has held since Kizner’s retirement. Jones’ tenure included handling students’ return to in-person learning in schools five days a week following the coronavirus pandemic.
Jones also met with the Stafford County Board of Supervisors amid questions of whether or not the controversial concept of Critical Race Theory was being taught in the government school division.
Previous to his signing with Stafford County, Taylor served as Deputy Superintendent for the Chesterfield County Public School system near Richmond. In that position, Taylor oversaw the daily operations and instruction for 65 schools in Virginia’s fifth-largest school district with more than 62,000 students and more than 8,000 full-time employees.
Taylor’s tenure as school superintendent begins Dec. 1.
