Stafford County Schools superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner announced that he will resign from his position just two-and-a-half years after taking the reins. He will step down about a year from now.
Kizner, 62, announced his decision with a statement he wrote prior to the School Board meeting on Tuesday night.
“After much personal reflection, I have decided to end my superintendency in Stafford effective Jan. 1, 2021,” Kizner said. Kizner told board members that he has “no definite plans’’ about what’s next for him in his career.
Kizner plans to help the School Board with their search for his replacement. Chairwoman Holly Hazard is “unsure” when the board will begin their search for a new superintendent. Hazard also mentioned that the board members have not yet scheduled a meeting to discuss their plan of action.
After beginning his career in public education in 1981 as a special education teacher, Kizner rose through the school leadership ranks and is currently serving in his 21st year as a school division leader.
Kizner was hired by the School Board in the summer of 2018 and signed a four-year contract with the School Board that paid him more than $260,000 annually. Prior to his move to Stafford, Kizner served as Harrisonburg City Public Schools superintendent.
After Kizner’s surprise announcement Hazard thanked Kizner for what he has and will continue to do for the county’s schools.
“I know you will lead us as we look for a new leader and hopefully you’ll still be out there advocating for us,” Hazard said. “I know we have to accept this letter [of resignation] but I don’t want to accept it.”
During his time with Stafford, Kizner oversaw several controversial issues, mostly about transgender student incidents that were brought to the attention of the School Board when a transgender student that was barred from using either locker room during a lockdown drill.
Following the incident, Kizner subsequently proposed a policy that was shot down by board members before it could become an action item on the School Board’s agenda. The policy would have allowed transgender students to choose their preferred bathroom.
After the policy failed to make its way back to the Board after appearing as an information item in December 2018, Kizner successfully negotiated with School Board members and passed an employee and student non-discrimination policy that included ‘gender-identity’ language in September 2019.
Earlier this month, we reported that Kizner said he wanted to put the transgender policy debate that not only embroiled the School Board but also members of the community for a year, behind them and now to focuses on the job of educating students.
Kizner also helped lead the charge for an across-the-board 5% raise for all school employees during last years’ tense budget negotiations with the Board of Supervisors that ended with a hike in county property taxes.
The School Board will be searching for its fifth superintendent since 2006. Kizner was the county’s fourth in 10 years, as we outlined in this post at the time he was hired.
Prior to Kizner, Dr. Bruce Benson served in the position from 2013 to 2018. Before him, it was Dr. Randy Bridges who took the job in 2010.
The position was vacant for four years prior to Bridges accepting the job.
Susie Webb contributed to this report.
