WINTON – Hertford County Public Schools is now under the leadership of Julius Walker.

The Hertford County Board of Education chose Walker to serve as Interim Superintendent of Schools following the departure of former Superintendent Dr. John Fahey.

“You’re fortunate anytime you find someone with the experience he has as superintendent,” said HCPS Board Chairman David Shields. “Sometimes when you get a new guy or a person with no experience, they want to make a lot of changes. I think he is smart enough to realize what is good and what isn’t good.”

Walker is the retired Superintendent of Schools in Washington County and has also served as principal of Plymouth High School.

Shields said that experience would be beneficial to Hertford County Public Schools in their quest to continue academic growth.

“I don’t see where there will be much let down as we head toward the end of what we believe could be a really, really great year,” Shields said. “If we do what we’re anticipating, this could be the best school year we’ve had in terms of end-of-grade and end-of-course testing.

“We believe we’re in the middle of a great year and someone like Julius can’t do anything but add to our success,” the chairman added.

Shields said the school board believed good people were in place in the district to help it continue to move forward and that Walker had confirmed that.

“It’s nice because you think you have good people in place, but when someone comes in from the outside and confirms that, it helps you know you’re heading in the right direction,” he said.

Applications are currently being accepted to fill the fulltime vacancy created when Fahey resigned to accept a similar position in Hopewell County (Va.) Schools. The deadline to apply for the job has been set for Feb. 29.

A new superintendent will be in place by July 1 if the board follows its current plan.