ROANOKE, VA – A global pandemic, questions about reopening schools and a community searching for answers.
That’s what greeted Dr. Verletta White when she became superintendent of Roanoke City Public Schools in 2020.
“It was a tough time during COVID, and it was right on the heels also after George Floyd had been killed, and so it was a tumultuous time,” White said.
Now, six years later, White is reflecting on her time leading RCPS and the work that still lies ahead.
“I bring various perspectives not just as superintendent but as a parent, a former student, a teacher, a principal, and I think that our students, our parents, our principals, our teachers- their perspectives matter,” White said.
Her student-led approach led to a focus on some of the district’s biggest challenges - including chronic absenteeism, safety and making sure students have support beyond the classroom.
“‘Dr. White, we want you to help us take the stigma out of mental health services and to expand mental health services,’ and we’ve been able to do that,” she said.
White wants students to have more than a diploma when they graduate.
“One hundred percent of the students who participate in our career and technical education program are graduating on time,” she said.
But White says leading a school division also means facing new challenges - including budget pressures.
“Superintendents face lots of challenges. Some years, like this past year, it’s a tough budget year. Other years it could be safety. Other years, like when I started, it could be COVID. You wake up in the morning and you are committed to seeing your team through those challenges.”
As she prepares to step down, White says there is still work to do, but she says as long as they stay focused on students first, the district is moving in the right direction.
“We still have work to do, and that’s still going to be the vigor and the fervor I bring to this work over the next year, but we are moving in the right direction,” she said.
White will remain superintendent through the end of the upcoming school year as the search for her replacement continues.