Dr. Maria Pitre-Martin will start Monday, July 1, as the new superintendent of the 4,200-student public school division in Petersburg.

A top education official in North Carolina, Dr. Pitre-Martin was chosen by the Petersburg School Board earlier this month to take over from Dr. Marcus Newsome, who is retiring after three years in Petersburg and a stint as Chesterfield County’s schools chief.

With a starting pay of $230,000 a year, including $60,000 from the state, Dr. Pitre-Martin will rank among the highest paid Virginia school division leaders in taking charge of one of the state’s smallest school systems.

By comparison, Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras received a starting pay of $250,000 to lead the capital city’s 24,000-student school division.

Dr. Pitre-Martin will oversee more than 400 teachers and other employees for a division that includes four elementary schools, two secondary schools, one alternative school and a preschool.

She brings 29 years of experience in public education to the job, including two years as North Carolina’s deputy state superintendent of public instruction and a year as the state’s chief academic and digital learning officer; as chief academic officer of the Philadelphia school district; and service with school districts in Louisiana and Texas.

“The School Board believes that Dr. Pitre-Martin is exactly the right person to lead Petersburg schools to the next level,” School Board Chair Kenneth L. Pritchett stated June 13 in announcing her selection from 40 applicants.

“We are confident that Petersburg schools will continue to advance with Dr. Pitre-Martin as our superintendent.” 

Dr. Pitre-Martin stated that she will work to “bring people together to achieve results. My initial effort will be to get acquainted with the community while focusing on what is best for students and making good choices with the resources available.”

This will be her second stint as superintendent. From 2013 to 2016, she led the Thomasville City Schools in North Carolina that serves 2,500 students.

Dr. Pitre-Martin is familiar with the challenges she will face. As in Thomasville, the overwhelming majority of Petersburg students come from low-income families.

Dr. Pitre-Martin will take over a school division that ranks with Richmond near the bottom in Virginia for student academic achievement and on-time graduation, with high chronic absenteeism and dropout rates.

And just like Mr. Kamras, she will operate under the scrutiny of the Virginia Department of Education, which has signed a memorandum of understanding regarding school division improvements.

Dr. Pitre-Martin earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and her doctorate from Texas A&M University.