Williamsburg-James City County Schools superintendent Olwen Herron will retire at the end of this month on Jan. 31.
She made the announcement last October after a 43-year education career.
WHRO spoke with Herron about her nearly eight years as superintendent, and what she sees is next for the division.
This interview was edited for time and clarity.
Nick McNamara: How did you decide you wanted to retire? What went into your decision?
Olwen Herron: Certainly a decision made with a lot of mixed emotions, because I love what I do every day. But I think when you start to make a decision like this, I always wanted to make the decision when I still loved what I do every day and when I felt things were going very well and it was a good time to exit.
So if I look at our division right now, there's stability in principalship. No changes this year, we've got a very strong senior leadership team. We've just launched a new update to our strategic plan, Elevate ’28, so that's all set for the next four years – just launched in October. We've seen pretty significant increases across the board in student achievement, which is exciting. Every single school has had increases and done well. All schools this year (are) fully accredited. And all of that not due to me, but due to the incredible work of our teachers and staff and leaders.
But it just seemed like it was a good time to say “I'll think about doing something else.” Obviously, I'm 66 years old, so it's time maybe to dial back a little bit from the stressful job of the superintendent and maybe look at something else in the future.
NM: Currently, Williamsburg and James City County are working on a new joint service agreement – but did the questions around the division decoupling play any role in your decision?
OH: Honestly, it really didn't play a role at all, because what I decided when this all started is to focus on the school division and student achievement and keeping everything going, and let all of that happen as a separate entity over on the side. And so that's where my focus has been.
I would have loved to navigate us through that change, if a change was coming. But I'm quite encouraged by the fact that conversations are going on, and it may meet some kind of a resolution. But certainly didn't impact my decision at all, because the stress was kind of over there, and we kept communicating. (Strategic Communications Officer Kara Wall) helped us communicate on a regular basis. Every time something would happen, we’d say ‘This is what we know, and let’s focus on our main job of serving students and the community.’
I believe we're better together. I always have. We've been a joint system for 70 years, and I think students from both localities benefit from that. And so I do think there's a lot to be said for keeping us together. Look at our high schools, it’d be very difficult to replicate that for a small division if Williamsburg were a separate division. We've a first class athletic program, a first class fine arts program (and) performing arts program and that is hard to replicate. And so every single student in our joint community has access to all of that – AP classes, everything. And so I think we're better together and I'm encouraged by the fact that conversations are happening.
NM: When you look back, what was the biggest change or challenge during your tenure?
OH: Well, the obvious one is COVID, of course. I stepped in as acting superintendent with a few weeks notice, really, and was able to serve in that role through February of 2017 and then was appointed as superintendent. And probably the biggest challenge was COVID.
But it's interesting, and I think it took us all to a place that we just had to think differently and respond quickly and keep things going to the best of our ability. It's a challenge that's behind us to some extent, but I think we've been pushing our way back to some kind of normality ever since. When kids first came back, we were really trying to reset behavior, attendance, solve those things as well as start to rebuild our academic program and really help students be successful. But two years later, I think we've come a long way, and I'm very pleased with the way it's going.
NM: COVID aside, what are some of the other changes – operationally or even curriculum-wise – that you didn’t expect back in 2016?
OH: There's a couple of things that I'm quite proud of that we've done as a school division when I first became superintendent. One of the things I set up was a teacher forum, which was a way for me to have the direct voice of teachers talking to me about their needs and how I could make their lives as teachers better and help them focus on the classroom.
So I have a group of teachers of the year from every school become part of that forum every single year, so we have the previous year and the current year. So I have 32 teachers who I meet with regularly, and have a leadership council. We plan meetings, and we bring them all together, and we talk about things that will make their lives better. And that's been really powerful because there's nothing between me as superintendent and teachers in the classroom, because I'm able to have a leadership group and then the whole group and we talk about everything they want to talk about.
Then at the same time, I actually set up a support employee forum. We have representative support employees of the year, we introduced that program as well. And I bring together that collective group to, again, talk about how we can make things better in the school division.
So having the direct voice of people in different departments, in every school, (having) that direct access to me as superintendent with nobody navigating or giving me a different perspective in the middle has been very, very valuable. I think it's really helped us build a positive culture and great relationships within our school division.
The other thing we've been able to navigate recently is setting up a form of alternative education, which we didn't have when I first started as superintendent. We started up what we called a lab, and then a (restorative center) and then we’re about to start the Reset program. (It’s) really just a way to intervene with students who are not being successful, so they would be in a different program rather than being suspended. And the first couple of years without have been very successful. We're about to launch the second part of that this year.
NM: Was there something you hoped to accomplish that you couldn’t? Or an initiative you hoped to see that was never able to manifest?
OH: I do think we've started to navigate artificial intelligence to a greater depth. We're part of a cohort established by the Virginia Department of Education and the (Virginia Association of School Superintendents). And so we are one of many school divisions that are going through this cohort experience this year to really develop guidelines and policy and navigate how to move forward in the best possible way with that.
So that's been pretty exciting. And I've actually been in that cohort and hopefully that will set us on a course to really use artificial intelligence in a positive way while still having guidelines and guardrails to not have it abused. And so I think that use of technology is really exciting, and I would have loved to have seen some of that come to play in the future as well.
Some of the tools are fascinating, and the ability to use it to be more efficient, central office-wise as well as in the classroom. I think once we really get our arms around it, we can use it to our advantage. But you've always got to check everything, because the normal human mind needs to be part of it, because that's what you need to make sure it's real, of course.
But it's been a learning experience, the cohort, for all of us. And I think it'll be helpful to be involved in that to be ready for the future, because the future is now and it's ahead of us already. So we're trying to catch up every day.
NM: What do you see is next to come for the division?
OH: Obviously there's continuous improvement in student achievement, and there's a building of more supports around English language learners. There's basic stuff like that is so important. I don't think we’ve fully explored the use of student voice in our organization. We have, to some extent. We've got a committee of student representatives, but I do think there's room to explore and include that more in some of our decision making.
Really, it's going to be very interesting. Because if we stay together as a system, some things will stay the same. But I do think if we end up in two different school divisions that will be the biggest challenge for the next potential superintendent.
I've no doubt the board is working through the process to find someone more than capable of the job, and honestly, I'm full of hope for the future. But I think that the system is in a good place, and I think it will do even better in the future, and I look forward to sitting on the sidelines and seeing what fresh ideas are brought in. Because the exciting piece of change is that someone comes with fresh ideas and a fresh style of leadership. And I think every so often that's good for a school division.
NM: Do you have any advice for whoever may be next in line?
OH: Value the people who work for you. Trust them to do their job. Never forget what it's like to be in the classroom. I hope whoever comes in this place has had significant time in the classroom and really appreciates one of our key roles, where you're on the front line with students. And always ask why you're doing something. (It’s) never about you, but always about the school division and keeping that central and the progress of the division at the center of everything.
NM: What’s next for you?
OH: I don't have any specific plans yet. Would love to find a way to give back to leaders wherever I can. Would love the opportunity to mentor other leaders. Would love the opportunity to teach, and I will do a little bit of that immediately after retiring.
Don't know what the long term plans are. I might play a little bit of golf, which I'm really bad at, by the way, so I need to practice on that one. A little bit of kayaking as well. I'd probably visit Ireland. Usually, when I go home to visit my family in Ireland, I go for five days in between board meetings. I don't like to be way too long. So I'll be able to spend a little bit more time working on my accent.
A note of transparency, WJCC Schools is a member of HRETA, which owns WHRO’s broadcast license. Herron serves on WHRO’s board of directors.
