Meet the award-winning leader who is now Chatham County’s new school superintendent
Updated May 24 with contract and salary information.
A former North Carolina Superintendent of the Year will now lead the Chatham County school system.
The Chatham County school board hired Anthony Jackson on Thursday to be the district’s new superintendent. Jackson, the superintendent of Vance County Schools, was chosen from a field of 45 candidates.
“The Chatham County Board of Education is delighted to welcome Dr. Tony Jackson to our district,” school board chairman Gary Leonard said in a news release. “Dr. Jackson is well known throughout the state as a hard-working and innovative leader who always puts students first, and we can’t wait to see those strengths in action in Chatham County.”
Jackson will start his new job on July 6. He replaces Derrick Jordan, who left to work for State Superintendent Catherine Truitt as her assistant superintendent of Agency Schools.
The school district said Jackson’s annual aggregate salary will be $205,000 per year and that he’s under contract through June 2025..
Jackson turned around Vance County
Jackson has been in the spotlight since being named the 2020 North Carolina Superintendent of the Year. During the award ceremony, Jackson was praised for how Vance County’s graduation rate and student achievement have improved while its dropout rate decreased.
This school year, Jackson has served as an adviser to the State Board of Education as it has wrestled with issues such as how to reopen schools safely during the coronavirus pandemic.
Jackson’s education career spans more than 30 years, starting in Wake County in 1988. He started as a teacher’s assistant and rose through the ranks as a music teacher, assistant principal, principal and various central office posts in several Virginia and North Carolina districts, including in Durham as a principal.
Jackson was a superintendent for eight years in Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools and Henry County Public Schools in Virginia before becoming Vance County superintendent in 2015. He’ll go from leading a district with around 5,000 students to one in Chatham that has close to 9,000 students.
“I am extremely honored to have been selected to serve the Chatham County community as superintendent,” Jackson said in a news release. “I am very appreciative for the board’s confidence in me, and I look forward to working collaboratively with the Board of Education, staff, and the community to create amazing experiences, opportunities, and outcomes for all students.”
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 1:24 PM.
