End of year Update from Your Superintendent

Greetings Granville County families and friends,

The 2025-2026 school year has come to an end. We proudly celebrated the graduation of 422 students this year, with more than 80% of these graduates enrolling in a two- or four-year college or university, or enlisting in our armed services. This year’s graduates will attend almost all of our state’s public universities, with five students receiving full scholarships to UNC-Chapel Hill. In addition, many students will attend prestigious private universities, including Duke, Wake Forest, Elon, and High Point University. Impressively, these college-bound students collectively earned more than $12.5 million in scholarships. Of course, numerous students also plan to enter the workforce directly, some with assistance from internships and apprenticeship programs through our CTE programs. The bottom line: the Class of 2026 is mightily impressive and ready to take on the world.

While this was certainly a great way to end the school year, it is important to acknowledge that we have had our challenges in GCPS. During my three years serving as superintendent, the Board has continuously and bravely confronted the realities of school consolidation and campus closures. Shrinking state funding, declining birthrates and enrollment, and increased competition from charter, private, and home schools are impacting traditional public school systems across the state. This has been highly disruptive and has caused great hardship and frustration for our families and the community as a whole. It has not been easy. However, I do want to thank our Board for confronting these realities and for taking decisive action to ensure our school district remains fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars. Not only have we worked to streamline efficiencies in the way our schools are structured, but we have also taken significant measures to reduce the footprint of central services, cutting more than 13 positions over the past three years and reducing district-level budgets significantly.

Despite these difficult circumstances, GCPS continues to thrive. While the state will not release the official test scores from this school year until later this summer, likely in August or September, initial data indicates that we will continue on a sustained upward trajectory in student academic achievement. In the past three years, we have corrected the significant declines we suffered during the pandemic, when schools were closed or operating virtually for more than a year.

In addition to increased academic performance, our students are also attending school more consistently. Our attendance rates are up, and chronic absenteeism is down. We continue to strictly enforce our student code of conduct, and the student culture and student behavior in our schools continue to improve.

Perhaps most importantly, our schools are safer than ever. Thanks to our County Commissioners, we will once again have 15 school resource officer positions, with two at each traditional high school, two at our largest middle school, and a full-time dedicated position for every other school. New advanced weapon detection systems are in place at each traditional high school, with every student, visitor, and staff member screened each day upon entry. All schools conduct random metal detector screenings each week, and we strictly follow required safety drill schedules. Our District Safety Officer, Keith King, also conducts campus safety walkthroughs with law enforcement throughout the year. We have a new visitor check-in system that conducts sex offender and background checks in real time, and every employee has access to a safety panic app that connects with our 911 center and district leadership for immediate response. Lastly, we are working on emergency response scenarios and practicing school reunification exercises with local agencies. As I like to remind our staff, academics is our mission, but safety is our duty.

Related to this topic, I am excited to share that we will continue to strike a balance in our students’ use of technology. As we all know, social media, screen time, and general tech use are taking a toll on our youth. A growing body of research is showing just how harmful excessive technology use can be to the mental health and well-being of children. This is why I am proud to share that we will continue our “Off and Away, All Day” policy, which prohibits cell phones and personal electronic devices for all students while at school. In addition, we are continuing to restrict district-provided device usage for all students, with Mondays and Tuesdays being TECH-FREE for all students in our schools. We are also removing devices in grades K-2, with limited exceptions, and students in grades 3-8 will no longer take their devices home. High school students will continue to be issued Chromebooks they may take home. A team of educators will also be working on our plans for teaching students how to use, and how not to use, AI. It is certainly an exciting and fast-moving time for technology, and we are working hard to strike the right balance. We are not anti-tech; but we most certainly are pro-learning.

I want to close by thanking all of our hard-working educators and support staff for a successful school year. Please take time to show your appreciation for all they do to prepare our students to thrive in a changing world. Our students are our future, and they are the key to a stronger community and a prosperous nation.

Have a great summer!