Following the Feb. 2 announcement that Charles Blanchard, beloved principal of Chapel Hill High School, will be retiring April 1, CHCCS entered a panic. Speculation ran wild as to who could possibly replace Blanchard as the school’s leader for the following year.
“We immediately realized that after Interim Principal [Valerie] Akins’s term ran out, the school would be plunged into chaos,” said Chapel Hill senior Darren Tuton. “I mean, we all saw what happened at East last year.”
Luckily, CHCCS launched an expedited hiring process just hours after Blanchard’s announcement, revealing his permanent replacement Feb. 14 to “show [their] love” for the new CHCCS leader. Beginning at the start of the next school year, Henry Ko will serve as the principal of Chapel Hill High School.
Ko, who is currently an assistant executive assistant to the executive assistant for Henrico County Public Schools in Virginia, was selected by an exclusive panel of district personnel based on a combination of career experience, leadership ability and rapport with students.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to bring Henry Ko into the CHCCS family, and purely based on his objective merits,” said Chief Communications Officer Andy Jenks, who previously served in a similar role for Henrico County Public Schools in Virginia.
Superintendent Dr. Nyah Hamlett, who headed the exclusive panel to select Blanchard’s replacement, echoed the same sentiments.
“I met Henry while I was working in Henrico County in Virginia,” Hamlett said. “And I immediately knew that he would be the perfect principal for Chapel Hill High School, should anything ever happen to Mr. Blanchard.”
East’s principal Jesse Casey and assistant principal Jeriel Champion, who both originally come from Henrico County in Virginia, were also quick to welcome Ko into his new position.
“When I look at Mr. Ko, I see myself one year ago,” Casey said. “An official from Henrico County in Virginia who was selected solely on the basis of his leadership qualities to be the principal of a CHCCS school. No other reason than that.”
Champion agreed with Casey, but went further to define the impact of the new principal on Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
“CHCCS is starting to feel just like home,” Champion said. “And by home, I mean Henrico County in Virginia.”
When the ECHO interviewed Ko, the future principal spoke honestly about how he came to assume his new position.
“I got the job the same way anyone from Henrico County does,” Ko said. “I asked Dr. Hamlett if there was anything available.”
Photo courtesy of CHHS
