By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

ANTHONY ORR

Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 4 p.m. -- Anthony Orr, principal of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School (PLDHS), Lexington, has been selected by the Nelson County Board of Education to succeed Dr. Janice O. Lantz as the next superintendent of Nelson County School District.
“We believe he is the right person to continue the good work Dr. Lantz has started and lead us to the next step,” said school board chairman Nicky Rapier.

“We were looking for someone who is very instruction oriented, someone who will be a good fit in our community and someone who will promote high expectations and accountability,” Rapier said. “After a very thorough search and a lot of hard work by the search committee, that is who we believe we have found.”

The search process started in November, soon after Dr. Lantz announced she would retire at the end of this school year after 14 years as superintendent for the Nelson Schools and a 39-year career in public education. Lantz will continue her work in education at St. Catherine College, where she has accepted a position at the helm of St. Catherine’s rapidly growing school of education.          

“(Orr) is a very fine educator with a heart for student learning,” Lantz said. “He brings to Nelson County tremendous success in student achievement.”

Orr, too, is very positive about what he has seen in Nelson County.

“I see a lot of sharp, competent, hard working people in Nelson County,” Orr said, “and I’m glad to know I will get to work with them. What the superintendent and board have done – with facilities, with staffing – has positioned this school district very well for student achievement,” Orr said. “This school district … is on the verge of popping to the next tier.”

Orr has been head principal at the Lexington high school for seven years. Dunbar is a high performing high school where students post ACT and SAT scores well above the state and national rankings and where more than 92% of 2008 graduates went on to participate in post-secondary education, including 75% attending four-year colleges.

The school is also home to the Math, Science and Technology Center (MSTC), a prestigious four-year magnet program designed to develop students who are internationally competitive in math and science. Before becoming principal at Dunbar, Orr was first a chemistry teacher at MSTC and then interim director of the program.

Prior experience includes five years as an independent consultant for the College Board performing chemistry and physics staff development in central Texas school districts. In that role, he was essentially charged with “teaching other teachers how to teach chemistry and physics better,” Orr said.

In his first year in Nelson County, a primary goal for Orr will be to first get to know the people here and then build a plan together that by the end of the first year will be up and running and that will serve as a realistic guide for the future, Orr said.

Orr grew up in Dyersburg, Tenn., and went on to attend Oral Roberts University (’87-’91) where he earned his undergraduate degree and graduated magna cum laude in science and secondary education and was a top 10 graduate from the School of Education. He earned his Masters in Education at Eastern Kentucky University (’01-’02).

Orr and his wife, Kara, have three children – Kenna, six months; Blake, a six-year-old in kindergarten; and Madeline, 10, a fourth-grader. Kara Orr is a former elementary school teacher who is now a full-time stay-at-home mom.
“They’re all really excited,” Orr said. "(The kids) can’t wait to blurt out in class that they are moving to Nelson County.”

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