Virginia names Suffolk superintendent of the year; he unveils 2026 vision including attendance overhaul and STEM expansion

Superintendent John B. Gordon III was congratulated by board members and staff after the Virginia Association of School Superintendents named him the state’s Superintendent of the Year, and he used the July 9 Suffolk Public School Board meeting to lay out a detailed vision for 2026–27.

Gordon told the board that the division will focus on five priorities, including improved communication, better volunteer tracking, even distribution of leadership 'FaceTime,' program fidelity and follow-through, and targeted investments in STEM and extracurriculars. "Our mission has always been to be able to put Suffolk Public Schools on the map," Gordon said, saying the division will expand middle-school STEM "bridal years" programs at John F. Kennedy and Kings Fork middle schools and extend the successful Project Lead The Way curriculum to cohorts of roughly 60 students per school.

Gordon proposed new extracurricular options and a multi-year rollout of middle-school athletics: "Middle school baseball and softball is gonna begin this fall," he said, adding that the program will phase in over two years and use high-school facilities for games to limit schedule conflicts. He also said the division plans to pilot girls flag football at the high-school level, starting intramurally and building toward interscholastic competition if interest and safety planning permit.

The superintendent described an attendance-policy revision he wants the board to consider, designed to reduce chronic absenteeism and protect school accreditation. "Attendance is not optional," Gordon said, explaining the division will introduce the concept of an "attendance failure" for students who are chronically absent and provide documented ways to earn seat time back, including Saturday Academy and before- or after-school tutoring. He described how current counts translate into thresholds—"a student can actually miss a total of 16 days a year and still be okay," and he noted that, on the high-school block schedule, the equivalent is about nine days per semester.

Gordon outlined how students can regain hours: "You can earn back 3 hours" through certain programs, he said, and the administration will work with policy and legal staff to define medical exemptions and procedures for documentation. He emphasized the change is intended to address the link between chronic absenteeism and student performance, saying small reductions in absenteeism can change a school's accountability designation.

On testing, he said the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) administration will be moved to the last two weeks of school for 2026–27; the division is preparing scheduling and remediation adjustments to accommodate less time for retests. "This is new," he said, noting both pros (more instruction prior to first administration) and cons (less remediation time after the first administration) and that teams across the district will make pacing adjustments.

Gordon also reviewed facilities and safety investments. He previewed a July 30 ribbon cutting for John F. Kennedy Middle School and said the division raised $21,600,000 to complete that building. He described projects under way this summer—gym-floor replacement at Northern Shores Elementary, site reviews at Elephants Fork Elementary, a parking-lot expansion at Nansemond River High School, and new cameras for buses and mobile AEDs for extracurricular events—saying partners including the city and HES have been involved.

Board members and staff praised Gordon’s plan and asked clarifying questions about the attendance make-up process and timing for SOL changes. The board voted to approve the attendance-policy proposal for first reading and to allow time for communication and adjustments before the school year begins.

What's next: the attendance-policy regulations will be developed in collaboration with legal counsel and brought back to the board for formal adoption; the JFK ribbon cutting is scheduled for July 30.