Beverley Levine, superintendent of the Oglethorpe County School System, plans to finish the school year and then retire, she stated in a letter to faculty and staff last Friday.
“As superintendent, I have been humbled every day by your resilience and unwavering commitment to the students of Oglethorpe County,” Levine said in the letter. “Whether in classrooms, buses, offices, cafeterias, hallways or athletic fields, the work you do has shaped countless lives. You have inspired me, strengthened me and made me proud to represent this system at every turn.”
The Board of Education met in executive session on Friday morning. Levine emailed her letter to the school staff just after noon.
Her retirement will be effective June 30, 2026.
“She’s earned the time to be retired, and as excited as I am for her, it’s definitely a bittersweet moment,” BOE Chair Becky Soto said in a phone interview. “She means a great deal, not to just the school system, but to our community.”
Levine has spent her career in Oglethorpe County, starting as a teacher in 1987. She worked as a teacher, assistant principal and principal before becoming the superintendent in 2015.
Soto said Levine learns and remembers the names of as many students as possible and can recall details of former students who have since become adults, going back to when she started her career.
“There’s something to be said, and it’s quite remarkable, and I’m going to try to be professional and not get a little emotional, but there is something quite remarkable for a superintendent in this day and age, to know students’ names, as many as she does,” Soto said. “To know the history of kids, that when she sees a child who is (now) an adult, and she was their principal, or she was their superintendent, or she was their teacher, and she remembers them. She remembers their name. She remembers their families. She sees parents and she asks about their kids, who have long since left the halls of Oglethorpe County schools.”
Soto said she offered Levine an extension on her three-year contract in August, and after some time to think about it, Levine came back and said she had made the decision to retire.
Soto also said Levine’s decision was made prior to the lawsuit filed on behalf of OCHS teacher Michelle Mickens, who was placed on administrative leave in September following an investigation into a Facebook post about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
In her letter, Levine mentioned that she has “reached a stage in my life when I want to slow down.”
Soto said the board has started discussing the search process and will have a retreat/work session on Saturday, Dec. 6. She added she expects the board to have a plan by mid-December, and that there will be input opportunities from the community, staff and potentially students.
“This person is not just the leader of the school, they’re a very important member of our community, and so it’s very important that everyone has an opportunity to share their thoughts if they want to,” Soto said.