Dr. Kathy T. Spencer

Dr. Kathy T. Spencer serves as the Superintendent for Onslow County Schools on the east coast of North Carolina. She is a native of the community and has dedicated her career to the public school system there for over 25 years.

She is currently serving as a member of regional, state, and national level leadership that focus on student opportunities to include the Eastern Region Workforce Development Board, Jacksonville/Onslow Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Jacksonville/Onslow Chamber Education Committee, Southeast Education Alliance Board Member, Southeast Education Alliance Superintendent’s Council, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Board of Directors, the World View Advisory Board, and the American Association of School Administrators Governing Board. She presents statewide and nationally for AdvancEd (SACS/CASI) on the subject of Continuous Improvement and District Accreditation. This comes after leading her system as the first in North Carolina to achieve the status of District Accreditation as well as the first in North Carolina to receive District re-Accreditation.

Kathy is an advocate for 21st century learning, with a focus on new processes and tools for educators and students to access needed curricula. Presenting across the state of North Carolina regarding innovative use of technology tools and processes to expand new opportunities for students has become integral in her work. She has led the charge in her district for innovative projects, like Project K-Nect, which utilizes SmartPhones to access math curricula. As a result of her work in this area, she currently serves on the State Superintendent Technology Council, as well as the NC Virtual Public School Advisory Board. This project has received national and statewide recognition. She has also led her district as a North Carolina pilot/beta system for virtual learning at the middle and high school levels, to include work developing new gaming/curricula integration for STEM courses through partnerships with state/national business partners.

Dr. Spencer is a graduate of East Carolina University. She holds a B.S. in Intermediate Education, a Masters of Education, School Administration Certification, an Educational Specialist designation and an Educational Leadership Doctorate. She has focused her research on educational leadership and the facets of induction and mentoring associated with the novice school leadership role.