After serving as Lexington County School District One superintendent for three years, marking over 50 years in public education, Gerrita Postlewait retired June 30.

Originally from West Virginia, Postlewait received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from West Virginia University. She first became a superintendent during the 1985-86 school year.

Postlewait joined Lexington One in July 2022 as interim superintendent and assumed the permanent role in October 2022.

“You stepped into that role gracefully and forcefully,” board member Mike Anderson said to Postlewait. “I think you took the helm right away, kept the ship upright and afloat, and made our people feel good about what they do every day.”

In a January 2024 report by the Chronicle, Postlewait indicated she might leave before her five-year contract. She also recommended the board hire a superintendent-elect who would take her place once she stepped down.

Keith Price was selected and began his role as superintendent on July 1, 2025. 

During a board meeting, Postlewait reflected on her career and presented a three-year lookback of the district's progress, highlighting improvements and initiatives launched.

“These accomplishments are due to the work of others,” she said. “The people in this room, the leaders, our board and our 4,000 personnel actually accomplished this.’’

Between the months of August and December 2022, the district implemented electronic board agenda processes, began weekly calls with board members and board briefs, established board goals, implemented key performance indicators (KPIs) and created an annual work calendar. 

In the 2023-24 school year, the district’s KPIs focused on increasing the number of students performing on grade level and meeting growth goals, increasing graduation rates and students on track, increasing the number of seniors meeting college/career readiness indicators and increasing the number of students, staff, parents and families who reveal they or their children are engaged and safe.

A new five-year strategic plan was established during the 2024-25 school year. The plan’s primary goals include: 

• Academic excellence and acceleration of learning: Data presented shows there has been an increasing number of elementary and middle school students scoring at or above grade level. English, algebra and biology scores surpassed pre-COVID levels (fall 2019).
• Create a positive climate and school experience for all: The district uses a crisis alert system for emergencies and utilizes ParentSquare to communicate with parents. Annual registration help session completion rates have increased from 87% to 89%.
• Stewardship of resources to support learning: Postlewait noted the district allocates twice as many teachers as required by the state for high schools. Elementary and middle schools also have lower teacher-to-student ratios.

The district also initiated improvement processes, including a curriculum audit, demographic study, facility needs study, communication audit and Lexington One program evaluation process.

Board member Chris Rice mentioned that Postlewait and Price also introduced listening sessions in schools, providing firsthand insights into school operations and community needs. 

Throughout the years, the district has raised salaries for staff members. The 2021-22 salary for beginning certified teachers was set to $37,844. The 2025-26 beginning salary increased to $52,000.

The district has also opened buildings in recent years, including Lakeside Middle School (2022), North Lake Community Learning Center (2022), Lexington One Transportation Center (2023) and South Lake Elementary School (2024).

Since 2022, 17 new school leaders (principals) have been chosen, over 75 board policies have been considered and five new board of trustee members have been added, with only two of the 2022 members remaining on board.

Postlewait received an “extremely effective evaluation” from board members the same night. 

“I have enjoyed working here, and what a big privilege it has been for me and my family,” she said.