Richard D. Duncan is the Superintendent of Roane County Schools, where he has served since July 1, 2017. Duncan previously served as Director of Human Resources and Information Systems, STEM Program Coordinator and teacher for his hometown school district in Mingo County, West Virginia. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, a Master of Science in Finance, and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Illinois Tech, and a Master of Arts in Leadership Studies from Marshall University.
During his tenure as Superintendent, Duncan has championed a physical and cultural transformation of Roane County Schools, beginning with the district’s first successful school levy election in nearly 25 years (November 2018) and the resulting construction program. This program has continued to perform below budget, enabling improvements to school safety, the retirement of years of deferred maintenance liabilities and upgrades to athletic facilities. This fall, with support from the West Virginia School Building Authority, Roane County will break ground on its first completely new school building since 1993. Under Duncan’s leadership, Roane County has extended direct services to students and families through an expanded child nutrition program, additional in-house social worker and psychologist resources with a renewed focus on communication and transparency through feedback cycles.
He is also the creator and sole developer of the NexIS WV platform, a cloud-based HR and Board operations management platform focusing on transitioning traditional pencil-and-paper processes to digital experiences with minimal redundant user inputs.
Duncan lives in Reedy, West Virginia, with his wife, Sarah, a teacher and former candidate for West Virginia’s House of Delegates, and their two-year-old son, Logan, who likes fish, cars and tractors.
