Ed McNeel announces he will retire as superintendent of Corbin Schools

When Corbin Independent School Board Chair Kim Croley lined up to have her picture taken with the retirees being honored prior to the board meeting Thursday night, she didn’t realize Superintendent Ed McNeel, who was also in the picture, would be joining the list.

“I’ve still got to process this,” Croley said of the announcement that the man who has led Corbin Schools for 23 years would be leaving.

McNeel, who is the longest serving superintendent in Kentucky, announced that he would be stepping down effective December 31.

“It makes you proud,” McNeel said of the efforts of the administration, faculty and staff that have turned the Corbin school system into an academic model that others across the state are seeking to emulate.

The district consistently ranks among the top 10 Districts in the state.

During his tenure, McNeel has overseen innovations in education such as the “freshman center the high school and the alternative school program.

“That’s why our dropout rate is zero or near zero every year because there are programs out there available to kids and services they can take advantage of,” McNeel said previously.

McNeel said that signing the paperwork that finalizes the financing of the new Corbin Middle School project will be the perfect way to end his career at Corbin that has also seen the complete renovation of Corbin High School and Corbin Area Technology Center, along with the construction of the new Corbin Primary School.

“He is the best school planning visionary in the state,” Croley said of McNeel in December when the board approved a two-year extension of his contract.

“He understands how to make a school conducive to learning,” she said. “He just gets that. That is why we don’t have boxes.”

Short-term, McNeel said he and his wife, Sally, will be taking a trip to Florida. However, they will not be leaving Corbin.

“Corbin will be our home,” McNeel said.

Overall, McNeel has spent 50 years in education, beginning his career in 1965 as a teacher in the Cabell County School System in the Huntington, West Va. area.

During his tenure there, McNeel served in multiple positions including assistant principal, supervisor of instruction, director of research and planning, director of personnel and human resources administration before going on to become assistant superintendent.

McNeel came to Corbin in 1992 to take the superintendent position.

In 2014, McNeel was honored by the Kentucky School Board Association, receiving the F.L. Dupree Outstanding Superintendent of the Year.

The award is given to one Kentucky Superintendent who demonstrates a high level of accomplishment and leadership in the district.