The superintendent of Prince George’s County schools was tapped in June for a two-year term on the board of the National Parent Teacher Association, the school system announced Monday.

William R. Hite Jr., who has been the head of the county school system since December 2008, will work with 27 other members of the Alexandria, Va.-based board, which aims to promote family and community engagement in education.

“We’re in a constant state of attempting to engage parents more in the county,” Hite said. “We’re looking at new and better ways to have conversations with parents so they’re able to help us educate and we can help them parent in a way that guides and assists in the learning process.”

Board president Betsy Landers, who met Hite about two years ago, appointed Hite as an at-large member when she took office this year.

“I was very struck with how he interacted with the parents,” she said. “It was an important part of how he served as superintendent.”

Landers cited Hite’s dedication to the families in Prince George’s, as well as his firsthand experience with the daily challenges of running a school system as reasons she appointed him to the board.

“He embodies an educator’s understanding of the importance of parents being fully involved in their students’ education,” Landers said.

Edgar Hatrick, the superintendent of Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia, is the only other sitting superintendent on the board, Landers said.

Hite said he is looking forward to discussing both the best practices for engaging parents and the importance of educational funding in developing graduates who are prepared for higher education or the workforce.

“This is more than just getting individuals to fundraise or be the chairs of the booster club,” he said. “This is really about engaging parents in our quest to develop a new profile of our graduates.”

Before his appointment as the county school system’s deputy superintendent in June 2006, Hite worked in the administration of school systems in Atlanta and Richmond, Va.

abrownback@gazette.net