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| G. H. Givens announces school start date as September 4, 1935 |
We take the Russell County Schools for granted. But the school system we know took over a century to evolve. School commissioners were first appointed for Russell County in 1818; at that time the commissioners directed the schools. Russell County included what is now Wise, Buchanan, and Dickenson counties. In the 1840s the court laid out school districts under order of an act of the General Assembly. Several public and private schools served Russell County in the last half of the 1800s.
In 1870 a school system directed by a superintendent came into being. But the district boards cooperated with the county superintendent to manage school business until 1922. The present system of a county school board was enacted by state law in 1922.
In the 1930s the school board was appointed by the Trustee Electoral Board (who were appointed by the Judge of Circuit Court.) The school board, the superintendent, and the clerk of the board were the only members of the school administration!
In honor of the newly appointed superintendent, Dr. Kimberly Hooker, here's a list of the superintendents.
E. D. Miller
D.C. Alderson
M. C Clark
W. J. Kendrick
William L. Patton
H. W. Fugate
R. N. Anderson
G. H. Givens 1928-1965
Alex Levicki 1965-1971
Omer Elkins 1971-1973
A.P. Baldwin 1975-1976
David Musick 1976-1979
Charles Long 1979-1985
Larry Massie 1985-2000
Dr. Lorraine Turner 2000-2010
Dr. Michael Puckett 2010-2012
Dr. Brenda Hess 2012-2016
Dr. Gregory Brown 2016-2022
Dr. Kimberly Hooker 2022-
Posted by Kelly McBride Delph
