The next superintendent of Loudoun County Public Schools will be Aaron Spence, the current superintendent of Virginia Beach City Public Schools.
Spence takes over a school system mired in controversy over how it handled two student sexual assaults by the same student at two different schools in 2021. The school board fired former superintendent Scott Ziegler, who was indicted by a special grand jury, along with a school spokesman for the system. Both are expected to go to trial in the fall. The special grand jury found the district mishandled the sexual assaults.
The Loudoun County School Board on Friday voted to appoint Spence, who has been with Virginia Beach since 2014. In Virginia Beach, Spence oversaw the processes put in place that resulted in the system’s highest graduation rate on record at a time when the district was growing, Loudoun County Public Schools said. With 65,000 students, Virginia Beach is slightly smaller than Loudoun, which has more than 82,000 students.
In Virginia Beach, Spence implemented full-day kindergarten, developed an Environmental Studies Program classroom at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Brock Environmental Center, expanded career and technical education, and forged an increase in family and community engagement efforts.
In 2018, Spence was named to Superintendent of the Year by the Virginia Association of School Superintendents.
Prior to Virginia Beach, he served as the superintendent of Moore County Schools in North Carolina for two years and in positions in the Houston Independent School District, Chesterfield County Public Schools, and Henrico County Public Schools. He also taught French at Brook Point High School in Stafford County Public Schools.
“It will be my goal from day one to ensure we are leading together to build trust, create even greater transparency for our community around the outstanding work of our school division, recruit and retain a world-class team of educators, and leverage the power of relationships with families and stakeholders to strengthen us,” Spence said in a news release.
Loudoun County Public Schools said Aaron Spence is expected to move to the county in the coming months. Until he takes over, Daniel Smith will continue to serve as acting superintendent.
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