ABOVE: Mervin Daugherty, on right, sits next to Chesterfield County administrator Joe Casey.
The Chesterfield school board hired Mervin B. Daugherty as its new superintendent during a special meeting last week.
Daugherty plans to start in Chesterfield on Nov. 1 after moving from Wilmington, Del., where he has been superintendent of the Red Clay Consolidated School District since 2009.
In remarks prior to the board voting to move forward with a contract and set Daugherty’s salary, school board chair John Erbach said that Daugherty was superintendent of the year in Delaware for the 2015-2016 school year.
Erbach said Daugherty is committed to building strong relationships, communicating effectively and continuing programs under way in Chesterfield.
Board member Javaid Siddiqi said Daugherty was chosen from an applicant pool of more than 30. Their first interview with him was through Google chat, Siddiqi said.
“Excellence is not an act, it is a habit,” Daugherty said, quoting Aristotle.
“Every day is important to a child,” he said.
A former Delaware superintendent of the year, Daugherty is currently superintendent of Red Clay Consolidated School District, a job he has held since 2009. He leads Delaware’s largest school division.
“This is an exciting time for Chesterfield County Public Schools,” Erbach said. “During the last two years, we have made a number of enhancements to the teaching-and-learning process, creating a more engaging and authentic learning environment. We already are viewed as a leader in public education within Virginia and across our great country. We are on the cusp of being a world-class school division. We are excited about the skills that Dr. Daugherty brings to help us reach that next level of excellence in education.”
The school board conducted a three-month search using constituent feedback from a previous superintendent search two years ago.
Erbach thanked interim superintendent Rusty Fairheart for stepping into the position while the district looked for a replacement for James Lane, who resigned to become the state superintendent of public instruction.
