Salem School Division Superintendent Dr. Curtis Hicks announced this week that seven veteran educators have accepted the challenge of taking on new responsibilities when the 2024-25 school year arrives in August. The moves, school officials said, are expected to have positive impacts on all levels of Salem City Schools ranging from the division’s elementary students to the central administrative offices.
“Public education is constantly evolving, and we know the importance of adapting our personnel and procedures each and every school year, so we can best educate our children,” said Hicks. “I believe these appointments are excellent examples of our desire to hire the absolute best person to serve our students, staff, and community.”
Those involved in the moves include:
- Bridget Nelson—School division coordinator of special education
- Jeff Bird— School division coordinator of assessment & accountability
- Andrea Johnson— Salem High School assistant principal
- Bonnie Reddy— Salem High School assistant principal
- Jonathan Underwood— Andrew Lewis Middle School assistant principal
- Christina Rose— East Salem Elementary School assistant principal
- Wes Thomas— Andrew Lewis Middle School civics teacher
Former Virginia State Teacher of The Year Andrea Johnson will be returning to Salem High School to serve as an assistant principal. Johnson spent this current year as an assistant principal at Andrew Lewis Middle. Before that she taught English at Salem High School and Andrew Lewis Middle for nearly ten years and served as an instructional coach for her peers.
She will be joined on the high school’s administrative team by fellow assistant principal Bonnie Reedy, who comes to Salem from Radford High School where she was an assistant principal this school year. Previously, she taught at both Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke and William Byrd Middle School in Vinton, Reedy also has been a coach and gifted student coordinator.
They are stepping into leadership roles at the high school following the transition of Bridget Nelson and Jeff Bird to the central office. Bird taught math at Salem High School for 17 years before becoming an assistant principal at the school in 2018. In his new assessment and accountability role he will oversee standardized testing and Career Technical Education.
Nelson has been an assistant principal for the Spartans since 2017, but prior to that she was a leader and teacher with special education programs at Salem High School and in Roanoke City. She taught special needs children for eight years at Stonewall Jackson Middle School.
Jonathan Underwood will begin his first job as an administrator when he replaces Johnson as an assistant principal at Andrew Lewis Middle School. He joined the Salem School Division in 2023 as a civics teacher at Andrew Lewis. He has previously taught at both Glenvar High School and Cave Spring Middle.
Christina Rose has been a fixture in the Salem School Division for the past decade. In the upcoming school year, she will move to East Salem Elementary to work as an assistant principal. Previously, Rose was a school counselor, an assistant principal at the elementary and middle school levels, and most recently the principal at G.W. Carver Elementary School.
Rose will replace Wes Thomas at East Salem. Thomas is returning to the classroom to teach civics at Andrew Lewis Middle School. He has been an assistant principal at East since 2014 and before that he taught both elementary and middle school students in Floyd County and served as an assistant principal in Floyd and in Roswell, Georgia.
All appointments have been formally approved by the school board and they will take effect on July 1. In addition, a formal search is currently underway to determine who will be the next principal at G.W. Carver.
-The Salem Times-Register
