Wake County school board chairman hired as new Warren County superintendent
Wake County school board chairman Keith Sutton will step down from the board because he has been hired as the superintendent of the Warren County school system.
The Warren County school board unanimously voted Monday night to hire Sutton, who was hired as interim superintendent in May. Sutton, who has been on the board for 12 years, will resign from the Wake County school board before becoming superintendent on Jan. 1, according to a district news release.
Sutton is under contract as superintendent through June 2025. His new annual salary will be $135,000.
“Mr. Sutton has done an excellent job over the past four-and-a-half months in Warren County, making recommendations and decisions that have significantly impacted our students and staff for the better,” Warren County school board chairwoman Jennifer Sims said in a news release. “With his long-standing track record of educational service and advocacy, we’re excited to have Mr. Sutton’s leadership and experience working to benefit our families and the Warren County community.”
Sutton isn’t a traditional educator. The Raleigh resident is an education innovation consultant with FocusED LLC, a firm he started in 2017 to support organizations in improving and transforming education. Before then, he was excellence director for BEST NC, a business coalition focused on education.
He took a nine-month Urban Superintendents Academy course offered by the AASA, The School Superintendents Association, to help prepare for the transition.
“I feel like my years of working as an education consultant, advocate, legislative liaison, community organizer, and policy maker, in addition to my years of service as a member of the Wake County Board of Education, have all led me to this moment and this opportunity in Warren County,” Sutton said in the news release.
Longtime school board member
Warren County, located about 55 miles north of Raleigh, has 1,700 students. Wake County is North Carolina’s largest school district with more than 155,000 students.
Sutton was appointed to the Wake school board in 2009 in a district representing most of Southeast Raleigh. He most recently was re-elected in 2020. He unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for state school superintendent last year.
Among the issues he has focused on in Wake is reducing school suspensions and ensuring racial equity in schools. More recently, he’s led the school board as the district operated during the COVID pandemic.
Sutton’s experience also includes having been executive director of the state NAACP and president of the Triangle Urban League. He worked on the campaigns of former U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton and former Gov. Bev Perdue.
This story was originally published November 15, 2021 at 10:24 PM.
