Dr. Dana B. Norman
Assistant Superintendent
[email protected]
P.O. Box 1257
Amherst, VA 24521
434-946-9340
Dr. Dana B. Norman is the Assistant Superintendent for Amherst County Public Schools. Dr. Norman holds her Superintendents license, as well as PK-12 Administration, English, and History. Accordingly, Dana well understands the issues and challenges that America’s school communities face each and every day. In addition to her strong history in public education, Dana has worked as a journalist/reporter for The News-Herald, and an educational consultant with National Capital Strategies, INC. While at the NCS, Dana was based for several years in Washington, DC where she worked closely with the United States Congress and was heavily involved with the public policy efforts on education.
During her teaching career, Dana specialized in teaching communications skills to young adults. At Douglas Byrd High School, she taught in the area of mass communications and journalism, then in the area of English at Stedman Junior High and Southview Middle School (all in North Carolina) from 1992 through 1997. Dana was frequently invited to serve on the North Carolina Superintendents’ Roundtable to discuss the implementation of federal education programs, curriculum advancement, and benchmarking for state testing.
Dr. Norman took a two-year leave from the classroom in 1998 to once again work in Washington, DC as a consultant to the US Congressional Education Committee. She later participated in the Laura Bush White House Education Summit and assisted Congressional members in writing portions of HR1: No Child Left Behind legislation.
In 2000 she returned to the classroom teaching 8th Grade English in Bedford County Public Schools in Virginia. Dana continued in her career as the Lead Language Arts Teacher at Bedford Middle School, then served as a Supervisor of K-12 Literacy and Federal Programs before continuing her career in Amherst. Dr. Norman was first hired in Amherst during the 2013 school year as the Director of Academics, then named Chief Academic Officer in 2019 and Assistant Superintendent in 2022.
Dr. Norman has been privileged to be called on frequently as a presenter at conferences and meetings on public education in America and abroad. She has presented at annual conferences of the North Carolina Middle School Association, Virginia Middle School Association, Virginia Secondary Principals Association, as well as the National School Board Association. She has been responsible for dozens of presentations to organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (“ALEC”), the Council for National Policy, and numerous civic groups. In 2008 Dana was invited to participate in the Oxford Roundtable on education policy and politics in Oxford, England. Dana served as a member of the State Superintendent’s Return to Learn Working Committee and was selected to serve on the Virginia Department of Education’s Task Force on Accreditation for the 2021-2022 school year.
Dr. Dana Norman lives in Forest, VA with her husband Dr. Donnie Norman who is also in education and currently serves as the Principal of Forest Middle School.
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