PROG 2024: VCS Update
Published 3:48 pm Monday, March 18, 2024
Valdosta City Schools has been a center of change and growth in the last year. The system welcomed Dr. Craig Lockhart as superintendent in July of 2023, soon after the class of 2023 exceeded the state’s graduation rate by 10.1% with a total graduation rate of 93.9%.
Under Lockhart’s leadership, the system has recovered from Hurricane Idalia with a timely reopening plan in August and embraced the new school year by naming Dr. Johnnie Marshall as principal of Valdosta High School, Dr. Alex Alvarez as principal of Valdosta Early College Academy, and Gene Fandel as the new principal at Valdosta Middle School.
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To further elicit growth and change, the system implemented the Aspiring Leader Academy to cultivate a group of skilled individuals aspiring to assume crucial leadership roles in the future.
The first semester culminated in celebrating 130 years of Valdosta City Schools and three promotions of VCS employees. Dr. LaConya McCrae joined the VCS team as the Director of Special Education, Dr. Cheryl Rice joined McCrae as the assistant director of special education to support students with disabilities, and Russell Jackson was promoted to PROMISE Program Director.
With student success at the center of VCS’s mission this year, the system welcomed the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy as part of the Department of Education’s partnership with the Rollins Center, a program at the Atlanta Speech School, to improve literacy outcomes for students and train district and school leaders on the science of reading.
Nine school districts and three charter schools have formed the first two-year literacy leadership cohort that will work to align professional learning, instructional coaching, and teaching practices to the science of reading through structured literacy.
The participating districts and charter schools are Colquitt County, Dooly County, Grady County, Lowndes County, Muscogee County, Pelham City, Seminole County, Thomas County, Valdosta City, the International Academy of Smyrna, The Kindezi Schools, and ZEST Preparatory Academy.
