Superintendent's Office

About Dr. Matthew S. Haas

Dr. Matthew S. Haas has served as Superintendent of Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) since 2018. Now in his eighth year, he emphasizes that one person never accomplishes the work of educating students, but rather it is always a shared endeavor with the School Board, educators, staff, students, families, and community partners. His role is to enact the policies of the Board and to lead the daily operations of the division in a way that reflects the community’s commitment to excellence and equity.

From the beginning of his tenure, Dr. Haas made transparency a guiding principle. ACPS began publishing results for all student groups openly with the community—not only celebrating successes, but also acknowledging areas where students were not yet reaching their goals and sharing clear improvement plans. Out of this commitment grew the School Board’s adoption of the division’s strategic plan, Learning for All, a community-driven roadmap for closing opportunity gaps and increasing achievement for every student.

In 2023, Dr. Haas initiated an instructional practices audit by Bellwether Education Partners, making the results public and creating a dashboard to track implementation of the recommendations. This work strengthened opportunities, deepened community engagement, and enhanced student achievement. As of 2025, ACPS has completed 97% of the Bellwether recommendations.

That same commitment is evident in historic capital investments approved by the Board of Supervisors, including the construction of Mountain View Upper Elementary School, the county’s first new elementary school in more than two decades, and the ACE Academy at Lambs Lane Campus. This high school center will expand learning opportunities for years to come. These projects reflect a broader pattern of investment that has included consistent compensation increases for all employees, a continued trend of pre-pandemic average class sizes, the establishment of a stand-alone Human Resources Department and School Board Legal Counsel, and the incorporation of preschool into the ACPS system by assuming responsibility for the Virginia Preschool Initiative grant.

Under Dr. Haas’s leadership, ACPS has also undertaken an ambitious modernization and maintenance program for its school facilities. Building Services has delivered dozens of innovative large-scale construction, renovation, and modernization projects since 2018, consistently completing the work on time and within budget. Notable improvements include full HVAC replacements that enhance indoor air quality and energy efficiency, extensive roofing upgrades, and critical safety and security enhancements across all schools. The division has also invested in sustainability, expanding LED lighting retrofits, upgrading building controls to reduce energy consumption, and reducing deferred maintenance through proactive planning. In 2024 alone, more than 70 projects were successfully executed, representing a model of fiscal responsibility and operational excellence that ensures schools remain safe, healthy, and conducive to learning.

The division’s instructional work is equally ambitious. ACPS has embarked on Scholars Studios and Scholars Pathways to help students identify their passions and explore career interests as they progress through middle and high school. Through the Early College Program at Monticello High School, students can begin earning college credit and a college degree upon high school graduation in partnership with Piedmont Virginia Community College, giving them a head start on higher education. These programs complement division-wide efforts in literacy, mathematics, Culturally Responsive Education, and Educational Leadership, all designed to ensure students graduate prepared for college, career, and citizenship in alignment with Virginia’s Portrait of a Graduate.

Strong accountability structures have supported this shared progress. ACPS has developed systems to align expenditures with stated goals and then to measure whether investments achieve the intended results, adjusting, expanding, or discontinuing programs as necessary. The Department of Accountability has further strengthened professional learning communities by embedding data-driven instruction, providing teachers with the tools to respond to student needs in real-time. The results are evident: special education students in ACPS outperformed state averages on Standards of Learning tests for the first time in 2024–25, staff turnover and vacancy rates are at historic lows, and while we have much work to do to accomplish our mission of eliminating the predictive value of race, class, gender, and special capacities on student achievement, we are moving in the right direction—transparently.

The partnership between the School Board and division leadership has also supported innovation in community engagement. Communities in Schools (CIS) has expanded into ACPS schools to provide wraparound supports, mentoring, and family engagement. The Albemarle Foundation for Education (AFE) has been established to mobilize community resources in support of innovation and enrichment equitably across the division. And in 2024, the School Board approved a resolution that enables collective bargaining, ensuring employees are engaged in meaningful dialogue about wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Dr. Haas is a first-generation college student who earned his B.S. in Secondary Education and English from Old Dominion University, his M.Ed. from The College of William & Mary, and his Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Virginia Tech. He and his wife, Sheri, also an English teacher, have lived in Albemarle County since 2004. Their children, Mark and Elaine, are proud graduates of ACPS.