Lifelong learner leads award-winning school consolidation

As a kid growing up in Alleghany County, Virginia, Kimberly (Kidd) Halterman ’01 might have imagined that she’d one day see the consolidation of Alleghany County Public Schools and Covington City Schools, but she certainly never dreamed she’d oversee it herself. 

After years of work in Virginia schools as a teacher and administrator, as well as a stint with the Virginia Department of Education, Halterman returned to her home district as superintendent in March 2021, just two months after the Virginia Board of Education voted to approve consolidation – and amid a raging pandemic.  

One might think the pandemic was by far the greater of the two challenges, but Halterman knew consolidation had been a decades-long community debate. She’d seen the opinionated yard signs, heard the passionate discussions, and watched the rival high school football teams battle it out for the coveted Brackman Cup.  

“Anyone familiar with the history of the Alleghany Highlands would know that there are ties to our past that run deep, and neighborhoods that are very distinct from each other take a lot of pride in their own community,” she said. “But very simply put, we are stronger together. All the kids are our kids, and if we want to go strong in a rural area, we’ve got to cooperate.” 

To oversee the creation of the new division, Alleghany Highlands Public Schools, alongside local leaders, school employees, parents and students, Halterman called on something that has never let her down: education and experience. 

Halterman arrived at Roanoke on a William Beard Scholarship, which President Emeritus Mike Maxey (then director of admissions) presented to her at her high school awards assembly. She earned degrees in psychology and sociology, minors in both elementary and secondary education, and a specialization in health care delivery. She participated in the Honors Program and graduated as valedictorian (for the second time, having been valedictorian of her high school class).    

“I think I’ve been blessed by a natural curiosity, and I really like to connect the dots between concepts or fields,” she said. “I like seeing similarities and possibilities where sometimes other people don’t. I just really enjoy that adventure.” 

Attending a liberal arts college like Roanoke allowed Halterman to tailor her own experience, which included work-based learning opportunities and cultural experiences. 

“I really believe in students, and I think I got that from people who believed in me. And people believed in me so much at Roanoke, which was part of the beauty of being in a small place.” 

In her desire to teach, Halterman was influenced by her mother, Lana Kidd, who is now retired from teaching elementary school math. “My mom was a teacher who certainly wanted to do a good job by her students, but she was also really committed to helping those students have good days, so that was inspiring.” 

Some candidates may have run in fear from the specter of consolidation. The Alleghany-Covington school merger was the first to be approved in Virginia in a decade and only the third to take place since 1982. But Halterman enjoys challenges and wanted to serve the community that had served her. 

The logistics of blending facilities and resources took two and a half years and was “truly hard work that requires a lot of endurance,” Halterman said. One of those decisions – some might argue the most important – was how to merge the red, white and baby blue Alleghany Mountaineers with the navy and gold Covington Cougars to create a new high school identity that everyone could cheer?  

Halterman’s team put it to the students, who inspired everyone with their spirit of compromise. In fall 2023, all students in grades nine through 12 converged in a new Alleghany High School, competing as the Alleghany Cougars and wearing uniforms of baby blue and navy. While the performance of both teams had been challenged for years, the consolidated Alleghany Cougars finished their 2023 season at 9-1. 

Meanwhile, Alleghany County won the Virginia Association of Counties’ 2023 Achievement Award for the consolidation and the City of Covington won the Virginia Municipal League’s Working with Youth Award. For her leadership, Halterman was named Superintendent of the Year for Virginia’s Region V, which includes 14 school divisions in Western Virginia. 

“Those awards represented so many people pulling together for our kids,” she said. “And we want our kids to have opportunities, so we are fierce about promoting that.  

“We’ve started using the word ‘fierce’ a lot, but we really are fierce about our students,” she added. “And that’s kind of a good word for our Cougars, isn’t it?”