HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — The Horry County Schools Board of Education Monday night unanimously agreed to hire an Illinois-based company to lead a national search for a new superintendent.
Board members chose BWP & Associates after hearing presentations from the company and Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, which also is based in Illinois. BWP has more than 35 years of experience doing superintendent searches and has conducted between 60 and 70 searches nationwide, including several in South Carolina, Director Kevin Castner told the board.
“We also have worked with larger systems, whether they be Charlotte-[Mecklenburg] and Savannah and then you talk about Pittsburgh, Prince William, Chicago, Minneapolis,” Castner said. “Therefore, we are interacting with potential candidates that work in large, cosmopolitan, diverse, districts, and our access to that candidate with our experience is going to help us attract a very strong candidate pool.”
The board is looking for a replacement for Superintendent Rick Maxey, who is retiring. He has led the district since 2015 and was named the 2024 South Carolina Superintendent of the Year.
The board in May announced the hiring of Eddie Ingram as the interim superintendent. He will take over on July 1, following his appointment by the board of education on Wednesday.
Ingram’s career in education has spanned 42 years and includes a doctorate in education from East Carolina University in 2002, the district said. Most of his time has been spent in North Carolina, including when he was superintendent of Franklin County Schools from 2009 to 2013.
Horry County has the state’s third-largest school district with nearly 50,000 students, trailing only Greenville and Charleston county schools in size.
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Dennis Bright is a Digital Producer at News13. He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on, Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.