Vance County BoE Names New Principal


The Vance County Board of Education has unanimously approved Crystal Richardson as the new principal of New Hope Elementary School.

The board took its action during a special meeting held on Wednesday, August 31. Two members of the board, Ronald Kinsley and Dorothy Williams, were not present at the meeting.

Richardson, who has been the assistant principal of Clarke Elementary School for the last two years, will officially begin her duties at New Hope on Tuesday, September 6. She succeeds Carolyn Harris at New Hope, who retired September 1, after working for 33 years in education in Virginia and Vance County.

Richardson has worked in Vance County Schools since August of 1990. She was a social studies teacher at Henderson Middle School for over 10 years before becoming a lead teacher and assistant principal at the school. She was the assistant principal at Henderson Middle until July of 2008, when she moved to Clark Street Elementary as its assistant principal. When Clark Street was closed in June of 2010, Richardson moved with the school’s faculty and staff to the new school, Clarke.

She received a bachelor of arts degree in history in 1982 from East Carolina University in Greenville. She earned her master’s degree in educational administration in 2004 from N.C. State University in Raleigh.