Buncombe County schools superintendent Rob Jackson plans retirement in 2026

Rob Jackson’s planned retirement on Aug. 31, 2026, puts Buncombe County Schools at a pivotal moment: the district must choose a new leader while still managing Helene recovery, staffing pressures and a strategic plan built from months of family and staff input.

Jackson told the Buncombe County Board of Education on June 4 that he intends to step down after 34 years in North Carolina public schools. The announcement came during the board’s regular meeting, held on the published monthly agenda for June 4 at 175 Bingham Road in Asheville, and gives the district a clear runway before the next school year begins.

The timing matters because Buncombe County Schools is large, with 22,452 students, 45 schools, 1,488.74 classroom teachers and a student-teacher ratio of 15.08 in the 2024-25 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Decisions about the next superintendent will shape academics, operations, budget priorities and how the district coordinates with county leaders and community partners.

Jackson has been a familiar face in Buncombe County Schools long before becoming superintendent. The district says he is a former student and staff member and the parent of Buncombe County Schools graduates. He began serving as superintendent on Nov. 1, 2022, after the board elected him in September 2022 to replace Tony Baldwin, who led the district from 2009 until his retirement in 2022.

The next year will tell families and employees a lot about how the board handles succession. Trustees will have to decide whether to appoint an interim superintendent, launch a broader search or elevate a leader from within the system. However the process unfolds, it will set the tone for a district that has spent the last year balancing routine school operations with disaster recovery.

That recovery is still part of the backdrop. Tropical Storm Helene closed Buncombe County schools for nearly a month in fall 2024, and the district later confirmed four student deaths and said it was still trying to contact 21 other students before all students were ultimately accounted for. Buncombe County government called Helene the most devastating natural disaster in the region’s history in its after-action report.

Jackson’s exit also lands as the district continues work on an updated strategic plan, which Buncombe County Schools says was shaped after several months of listening sessions with families, staff and other community stakeholders. For parents and school employees, the most important watch points over the next year will be who leads that plan forward, how the board manages the handoff and whether core priorities stay steady through the transition.