Dr. Tony Baldwin is the former K-12 Superintendent of Buncombe County Schools, beginning in 2009. A graduate of T.C. Roberson High School, Dr. Baldwin has spent his career as an educator in Buncombe County.

Most recently, Dr. Baldwin was awarded the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 2018 Superintendent of the

Year. Dr. Baldwin was named the 2016-17 Western Region Superintendent of the Year. He was a 2017 nominee for the North Carolina Association of School Administrators Superintendent of the Year. Locally, he was instrumental in a partnership with the Eblen Foundation to build and create the Williams-Baldwin Teacher Campus. This site opened in the spring of 2017 and provides 24 units of affordable housing for new teachers in the Buncombe County and Asheville City schools. He has also been instrumental in the planning of a new 10-lane swimming pool for Buncombe County Schools that is in the design stage with construction expected to be complete by the 2018-19 swim season.

Dr. Baldwin’s leadership has been very evident in athletics as well. In 2008, he approved and funded the NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching Course to be offered to all Buncombe County coaches. From 2012 to 2016 he served on the NCHSAA Board of Directors and in 2016 he received the Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Award.

In the local community, Dr. Baldwin has been very involved. He serves on the YMCA Board of Directors and on the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville and Buncombe County.

As Superintendent, Dr. Baldwin is dedicated to several major initiatives that will drive student success in BCS. His priorities for advancement are within the areas of instructional technology, STEM, graduation initiative, and global education.

The 1:1 Digital Initiative entered its fourth phase in 2018 extending into grades K-12. Partnerships with Eblen Charities and Spring have now made mobile hotspots available for any student that does not have Internet access at home;

Project Lead the Way- a comprehensive STEM curriculum- was fully implemented at the elementary, intermediate, middle, and high school levels during the 2016-17 school year;

The success of the Graduation Initiative was represented in the Spring of 2016 with the announcement of district’s lowest dropout numbers ever and our highest ever four-year cohort rate of 88.3 in 2017! The initiative, started in 2008, now includes multiple community partners, including Eblen Charities, aimed at increasing credit recovery opportunities for high school students and providing a middle grades support network;

Continued expansion of the Dual Language Spanish Immersion Program represents the advancement of Global Education in the school system. Likewise, efforts continue in obtaining the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge for distinguished global educators in our schools.

Prior to assuming the role of Superintendent on July 1, 2009, Dr. Baldwin spent five years as Associate Superintendent, a position that allowed him to provide excellent leadership in many important areas, including student safety. He led the effort to revise the system’s Safe Schools Plan, utilizing national standards and best practices, and requiring school administrators to obtain federal NIMS and ICS incident management certification. As part of the Safe Schools plan, he directed the provision of two U.S. Department of Education Emergency Response and Crisis Management grants representing a total allocation of $727,829.

In addition to his position as Associate Superintendent, Dr. Baldwin served the students of Buncombe County as Principal of A.C. Reynolds H.S. from 1998 to 2004, during which time the school was recognized as a School of Distinction for four consecutive years. Under his leadership in 2002-03, A.C. Reynolds received the National Blue-Ribbon School of Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of Education. Baldwin has also served the District as Principal of Valley Springs Middle School and as Assistant Principal at T.C. Roberson H.S.

In 2003, Dr. Baldwin was honored as both Buncombe County’s Principal of the Year and as the Western Regional Principal of the Year. In 2005, Baldwin received the Service Award from the NC Association of School Administrators (NCASA). He received the Citation Award from the NC High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) in 2007.

Baldwin is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he received both his BA and MA in Education. He received a Doctorate in Education from Northwestern State University in 1985, and completed his Superintendent Certification at Western Carolina University in 2007.