School appoint interim chief

By Gracie Hart
Review Staff Writer

Published: November 20, 2008

Orange County Schools have a new superintendent at least through the end of the school year.  Recently retired Buckingham County Schools Superintendent Larry Massie has been hired to serve as superintendent until June 30, 2009, the original end date of former superintendent Dr. William Crawford’s contract.
According to school board chairman Jerry Bledsoe, Massie has been brought in to bridge the gap between the former superintendent and the next permanent superintendent.  Currently, the school board is still in the application stage of their superintendent search with the Virginia School Board Association. 
Massie is a veteran of public education with 41 years of experience in Virginia, 23 as a school superintendent.  Massie was both a teacher and a principal before becoming a superintendent and spent the last eight years as the superintendent of the Buckingham school district before retiring July 1, 2008.
As the Buckingham County Public Schools superintendent, Massie went from a situation where no schools were accredited to a status of having all schools fully accredited and having the division make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
“We think his experience will be a tremendous benefit to Orange County this next year,“ Bledsoe said.
Dictrict 3 School Board member Judy Carter agrees and believes Massie’s experience will help with upcoming budget issues.
“The board’s hope is to get through the rest of the year,“ she said.  “Where he is coming from, they are fully accredited and made AYP.  I think our staff is doing a good job looking for changes, but fresh eyes may see something that we don’t see.“
Massie was introduced to the school administration staff Monday morning and visited schools Tuesday to meet with principals.
“He had a nice energy this morning,“ Bledsoe said Monday.  “I believe he’s excited to come here and he believes he can be an asset to Orange and to our children.“
Massie was honored in March by Longwood College at their “Professionals Who Made a Difference” awards for helping Buckingham schools to achieve AYP status and for helping Buckingham High School to become one of 10 schools in Virginia to earn the ECMC Scholars Program, which awards scholarships to economically or otherwise disadvantaged students.
“What a loss,“ Buckingham school board chairman David Christian said about Massie retiring.  “We’ve been fortunate to have someone with his character and knowledge.“
Massie will be in-and-out of the office over the next two weeks due to prior commitments and will start full-time Dec. 1.  An official contract and salary are expected to be in place by then.  Massie replaces Crawford, whose contract was bought out at the Nov. 5 school board meeting.