Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras has filled one of his most important vacancies, hiring Patrick Herrel as the district’s new chief operating officer. 

Herrel spent the last eight years in an executive position with Indianapolis Public Schools in Indiana. 

He joined a media tour Friday at the new Richmond High School for the Arts, which is under construction, and told The Richmonder that facilities will be a top priority as he gets to work. 

“One of the things that really drew me to Richmond was projects like this, the way the city is collaboratively thinking about how to invest in students and giving students what we know they deserve,” he said. “There’s a lot more of that we can do.” 

Former COO Dana Fox resigned in February to take a similar position in Hanover. Fox had been promoted into the job after Alana Gonzalez resigned. At the time, Kamras said Gonzalez felt she was “harassed, undermined and demeaned” by the School Board. 

Herrel attended the College of William & Mary but said he has not lived in the region since. 

“My plan initially is just to learn a ton,” he said. “I’m not from Richmond. I haven’t lived here since I was in school here many years ago, so I want to learn a lot.” 

After a week dominated by headlines of mold and HVAC issues in schools, he said he’s coming in with his eyes open. 

“I know it’s going to be really tough,” he said. “Really, really tough.” 

“It’s, how do we figure out collectively as a community what our vision is for what we think our students deserve, and how do we make that possible? Then internally, how do we make sure that we are running a really, really good, efficient, great-use-of-public-dollars shop in terms of the backbone of the organization: technology and transportation and facilities and upkeep and all of those things.” 

This story originally appeared on TheRichmonder.org.