Kizner becomes Stafford’s fourth schools superintendent in nine and a half years

STAFFORD — Stafford County Public Schools will be welcoming a new face and leader to its school system.

Dr. Scott R. Kizner’s four-year contract with the school board was unanimously approved by the school board during Tuesday’s meeting.

Kizner, 60, will take the reigns as superintendent of Stafford County Public Schools on September 1, three days before the start of the new school year.

Kizner will now become the fourth superintendent in nine and a half years. He succeeds Dr. Bruce Benson after he ended his four-year term in Stafford last month to become the superintendent of Alamance–Burlington Schools in North Carolina.

School Board Chairman Patricia Healy said Kizner could not be at Tuesday’s meeting in person due to an education conference in Helsinki, Finland, and Berlin.

Kinzer has more than 18 years of experience as a school superintendent. He spent eight years with Harrisonburg, and before that served six years as the Superintendent of the Martinsville City Public Schools following a five-year term as Superintendent of the Westerly Public Schools in Rhode Island.

Prior to becoming a superintendent Kizner has educational experiences in special education, a school psychologist, directing special education programs, and serving as assistant superintendent of instruction in the Northern Shenandoah region of Virginia.

Kizner also holds a doctorate from Virginia Tech in philosophy.

Holly Hazard, Hartwood District school board representative, was excited about the hiring of the new superintendent saying that Harrisonburg “will have a heartbroken community” following the departure of Kinzer.

Hazard, concerned with the growth of Stafford schools made it well known that she was interested that Kinzer had already managed a rapidly growing area in Harrisonburg.

Pam Yeung, Garrisonville District, stated that he was familiar with redistricting, an issue that the school board is facing following the purchase of Fredericksburg Christian School.

“I remember on one of the references, the young lady that I was interviewing, she was in tears, she was very happy for him but also sad that I was taking Dr. Kizner away,” said Yeung.

Kizner will now face some hurdles and challenges such as the on-going power struggle and tension between the Board of Supervisors and School Board.

“He’s looking forward to new challenges here in Stafford, and we will certainly give them to him,” Healy joked.