Superintendent's Contact Information

Carol Rankin

Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent/Board of Education
(252) 830-4264
[email protected] 

Superintendent's Biography

Dr. Steve M. Lassiter, Jr.

Dr. Steve M. Lassiter Jr. was appointed Pitt County Schools Superintendent on November 4, 2024.

Lassiter, who assumed the district's top leadership duties as interim superintendent beginning August 1, formally succeeded superintendent Dr. Ethan Lenker following the latter's retirement after 11 years of service.

Prior to his three-month interim role, Lassiter was promoted to deputy superintendent April 8 in an effort to provide stability and continuity during the leadership transition. He also held previous positions within the county for a collective 15 years that include assistant superintendent for education programs and services (2018-2024), principal, assistant principal and teacher.

In addition to his tenure in Pitt County, Lassiter spent two years (2016-18) as an assistant superintendent in the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools system and one (2012-13) in Martin County as a principal to account for his 18-year career as an educator.

Before providing successful curriculum and instruction oversight, and spearheading professional development for a district of 24,000-plus students and 3,000-plus employees with PCS, he supplied leadership to all operational aspects of human resources, transportation, child nutrition and maintenance departments during a two-year central office tenure in Elizabeth City.

Lassiter earned National Distinguished Principal designation and Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year honors in 2015 while heading Pactolus School. He was credited with implementing Professional Learning Communities across the all content areas and securing $35,000 in recurring funds for afterschool programs, which helped reduce teacher turnover rate by 50 percent in one year. Additionally, Pactolus was named a Model Positive Behavior and Intervention Support School through his award-winning efforts. Lassiter also served as assistant principal there for two years before accepting his first top on-campus leadership role at Martin County's Edna Andrews Elementary School, which was recognized as a "Reward School" by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in 2012-13.

He began his educational career in PCS classrooms, teaching fifth grade at W.H. Robinson Elementary School and sixth-grade science, social studies and language arts at E.B. Aycock Middle School.

Included among many of his other honors spanning back to 2004, were recent selections to the ECU College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership Advisory Council and North Carolina Cognia Advisory Committee in 2023. He was also a recipient of the 2024 First Bank Out of this World Educator Award.

Lassiter currently serves on the North Carolina Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development Board, North Carolina Science, Technology Education Center Board of Directors and Education North Carolina Board of Directors. He also served as a North Carolina Governor Appointee to the Pitt Community College Board of Trustees prior to the completion of his term on June 30, 2024.

An oft-requested speaker and presenter at national, regional and state leadership, professional development and curriculum conferences, Lassiter's innovative expertise has also been featured in three educational publications.

An Edenton native, Lassiter received his bachelor's degree in elementary education from East Carolina University in 2004 before following with a master’s degree in school administration from ECU in 2010. He completed a doctorate in educational administration and supervision from North Carolina State University in 2019.