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Isle of Wight County’s School Board has approved two personnel changes at the school division’s central office.

Superintendent Dr. Theo Cramer asked for authorization at the board’s Oct. 13 meeting to hire a “security and emergency management specialist.”

The new employee is to be tasked with overseeing safety and security at all nine schools in the division. The board voted unanimously to approve Cramer’s request.

This is the first new position Cramer has proposed creating since assuming his duties as superintendent in August. According to Cramer, the new position will be filled by “someone with law enforcement expertise” who will be “solely responsible and focused on the safety and security for our students and staff.”

Currently, he said, several Isle of Wight County Schools employees oversee various responsibilities related to the safety and security of the division’s schools.

Cramer further proposed – and the School Board unanimously agreed – to change the division’s chain of leadership to have two co-equal deputy superintendents.

The School Board had last changed the chain of leadership in December when now-retired Superintendent Dr. Jim Thornton proposed streamlining the central office by eliminating all executive director positions. Per the 2021 change, Susan Goetz and Dr. Christopher Coleman were each promoted from their eliminated executive director positions – Goetz to deputy superintendent of instruction and Coleman to assistant superintendent of administration, finance and support services. The deputy superintendent role was to be second in line to the superintendent and carry a minimum salary of $135,000, with the assistant superintendent being third in line and carrying a minimum salary of $125,000.

“The current organizational chart shows a disparity between the roles and responsibilities of these two positions when in application they equally support the superintendent in their respective duties,” Cramer said.

Per Cramer’s approved change, Coleman will be promoted to deputy superintendent of operations and receive a raise. According to Isle of Wight County Schools spokeswoman Lynn Briggs, the security specialist position would be equivalent to a grade 04 human resources generalist, carrying a minimum salary of $52,000.