Three finalists for superintendent of the Aiken County Public School District have been announced.
Aiken County Board of Education Chairman Cam Nuessle announced the finalists are Chan Anderson, Amy Morris Edwards and Corey Murphy at Tuesday night's meeting. The board took a vote to designate these individuals as finalists.
Anderson is superintendent for the Chesterfield County School District, Edwards serves as chief instructional officer for Aiken County Public School District, and Murphy is chief officer of operations and students services in Aiken County Public School District.
Superintendent King Laurence announced his retirement in August 2023. His retirement is effective June 30, 2024.
“I have been pleased with the caliber of applicants to select from and am confident that the right candidate to serve as Aiken County’s next educational leader is among the group of finalists," Nuessle said in a prepared statement.
According to the school district, the community will have an opportunity to meet the finalists in the coming weeks. Additional details on that opportunity will be available at a future date.
The following information about each finalist has been provided by the South Carolina School Boards Association, the organization that is leading the district’s superintendent search:
Chan Anderson was announced as the ACPSD's new Superintendent.Â
Chan Anderson is superintendent for the Chesterfield County School District, a role he has held since 2022. In his 29 years as an educator, Anderson served as an assistant superintendent and an executive director in Chesterfield for nine years.
He served nine years as a principal at Savannah Grove Elementary, R.N. Beck Learning Center and Park Lakes Elementary. He spent the first 10 years of his career in the Broward County School District in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Anderson also was a classroom teacher for six years, basketball coach and assistant principal.
He received his Doctor of Education and Educational Specialist degrees from Wingate University. He received a master's in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University and a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Claflin University.
Amy Edwards was announced as the ACPSD's new Superintendent.Â
Amy Edwards is the chief instructional officer for Aiken County Public School District, a position she has held since August 2022.
She has served as an independent educational consultant for AME Solutions LLC, a transformation leadership coach with the South Carolina Department of Education, an assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction in Orangeburg County Consolidated School District Three, director of curriculum and instruction in Dorchester School District Four, director of testing, research and accountability, and director of ELA K-12 and media specialists, Director of Staff Development, and District Literacy Coach in Spartanburg School District Six. She has served as president for the South Carolina Association of School Administrators Instructional Leaders, as a board member for the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement, and currently serves on the board for Learning Forward SC.
Prior to these positions, Edwards was assistant principal for academics at Sedgefield Middle School and Title I curriculum facilitator and math intervention teacher at College Park Middle School. She was a principal at Andrews Christian School and a classroom teacher at Andrews Primary/Elementary School and Rosemary Middle School.
Corey Murphy was announced as the ACPSD's new Superintendent.Â
Corey Murphy is chief officer of operations and students services in Aiken County Public School District, a role he has held since 2020.
Prior to that, he was chief of staff at Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools in Williamsburg, Virginia, served five years as principal at Beaufort High School and five years as principal of Great Falls Middle/High School. He was an assistant principal at Camden High School as well as a classroom teacher for the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Eau Claire High School.
He is also a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and has more than 23 years of honorable service. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy Degree, Educational Specialist Degree, Master of Education and his Bachelor of Science in Biology degrees from the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
