Public Education CheerleadHER
Purveyor of Don’t Flinch Leadership | Nyah Hamlett serves as the Chief Equity and Development Officer for Montgomery County Public Schools (MD), proudly returning to the community that nurtured her as a student and shaped her educational journey. Under her leadership, the departments of systemwide equity, shared accountability, professional learning, and student conduct and appeals are guided with a focus on enhancing their impact through strategic planning and organizational development.
As the former Superintendent of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS), Dr. Hamlett led the district through a transformative era in the midst of the pandemic, marked by courageous leadership and a relentless pursuit of excellence. Under her leadership, CHCCS achieved a record-high graduation rate of 94.8% in 2023, with the largest class of graduates in the district’s history crossing the stage in 2024. Her focus on equity resulted in significant improvements in student performance, with 3rd grade reading proficiency rising over 23 percentage points in the 2023-24 school year alone.
Dr. Hamlett is dedicated to ensuring that all students, including those from historically marginalized backgrounds, receive the support and resources they need to succeed. During her tenure at CHCCS, she successfully reduced low-performing group designations from 12 schools in 2019 to just 4 in 2023 and achieved a 99.7% fill rate for school-based certified positions in 2025, reflecting her commitment to recruiting and retaining quality educators.
Before arriving in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Dr. Hamlett enjoyed a long and successful career in public education in Virginia. She previously served as chief of staff for Loudoun County Public Schools, serving as a key strategic advisor to the superintendent and other cabinet members. In her work with the Superintendent and School Board, Dr. Hamlett supported and coordinated the governance team approach to serving over 84,000 students and 12,000 employees. While there, Dr. Hamlett also played an important role in supervising the director of equity and leading the district’s equity efforts.
Prior to that, Dr. Hamlett spent twelve years with the Henrico County Public Schools at both the school and central office levels, ultimately working for five years as assistant superintendent for instructional support. In this position, she supervised a number of instructional and support programs, including exceptional education (special education and gifted education), family and community engagement, school improvement, professional learning, mental wellness and social-emotional learning. Under Dr. Hamlett’s leadership, HCPS won first place in the National School Boards Association’s 2017 Magna Awards for the district’s overhaul of the code of student conduct and its development of preventative behavioral support programs. Hamlett began her career as a special education teacher in the Virginia Beach City Public Schools.
Dr. Hamlett received her bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology and audiology with a minor in special education from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She went on to earn two master’s degrees in K-12 reading and educational leadership from Regent University in Virginia Beach, and a doctorate in educational policy, planning, and leadership from The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Dr. Hamlett also earned an urban superintendent certification from the AASA Howard University Urban Superintendents’ Academy.
Dr. Hamlett is a champion of high-quality, equitable and affirming learning experiences, Relational Leadership, Culturally Relevant & Responsive Pedagogy, School-Based Mental Health, Disrupting the School to Prison Pipeline, Gifted Identification of Underrepresented Student Populations, and more.
She is a proponent of asking students what problems they want to solve versus what they want to “be” when they grow up … Deep Learning.
She also believes in asking students what happened to them versus what’s wrong with them … Restorative Practices.
Dr. Hamlett and her husband live in the DMV area with their three school-aged children.
Purveyor of Don’t Flinch Leadership | Nyah Hamlett serves as the Chief Equity and Development Officer for Montgomery County Public Schools (MD), proudly returning to the community that nurtured her as a student and shaped her educational journey. Under her leadership, the departments of systemwide equity, shared accountability, professional learning, and student conduct and appeals are guided with a focus on enhancing their impact through strategic planning and organizational development.
As the former Superintendent of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS), Dr. Hamlett led the district through a transformative era in the midst of the pandemic, marked by courageous leadership and a relentless pursuit of excellence. Under her leadership, CHCCS achieved a record-high graduation rate of 94.8% in 2023, with the largest class of graduates in the district’s history crossing the stage in 2024. Her focus on equity resulted in significant improvements in student performance, with 3rd grade reading proficiency rising over 23 percentage points in the 2023-24 school year alone.
Dr. Hamlett is dedicated to ensuring that all students, including those from historically marginalized backgrounds, receive the support and resources they need to succeed. During her tenure at CHCCS, she successfully reduced low-performing group designations from 12 schools in 2019 to just 4 in 2023 and achieved a 99.7% fill rate for school-based certified positions in 2025, reflecting her commitment to recruiting and retaining quality educators.
Before arriving in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Dr. Hamlett enjoyed a long and successful career in public education in Virginia. She previously served as chief of staff for Loudoun County Public Schools, serving as a key strategic advisor to the superintendent and other cabinet members. In her work with the Superintendent and School Board, Dr. Hamlett supported and coordinated the governance team approach to serving over 84,000 students and 12,000 employees. While there, Dr. Hamlett also played an important role in supervising the director of equity and leading the district’s equity efforts.
Prior to that, Dr. Hamlett spent twelve years with the Henrico County Public Schools at both the school and central office levels, ultimately working for five years as assistant superintendent for instructional support. In this position, she supervised a number of instructional and support programs, including exceptional education (special education and gifted education), family and community engagement, school improvement, professional learning, mental wellness and social-emotional learning. Under Dr. Hamlett’s leadership, HCPS won first place in the National School Boards Association’s 2017 Magna Awards for the district’s overhaul of the code of student conduct and its development of preventative behavioral support programs. Hamlett began her career as a special education teacher in the Virginia Beach City Public Schools.
Dr. Hamlett received her bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology and audiology with a minor in special education from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She went on to earn two master’s degrees in K-12 reading and educational leadership from Regent University in Virginia Beach, and a doctorate in educational policy, planning, and leadership from The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Dr. Hamlett also earned an urban superintendent certification from the AASA Howard University Urban Superintendents’ Academy.
Dr. Hamlett is a champion of high-quality, equitable and affirming learning experiences, Relational Leadership, Culturally Relevant & Responsive Pedagogy, School-Based Mental Health, Disrupting the School to Prison Pipeline, Gifted Identification of Underrepresented Student Populations, and more.
She is a proponent of asking students what problems they want to solve versus what they want to “be” when they grow up … Deep Learning.
She also believes in asking students what happened to them versus what’s wrong with them … Restorative Practices.
Dr. Hamlett and her husband live in the DMV area with their three school-aged children.