On Monday night, Rock Hill Schools’ Board of Trustees approved Dr. Diana Smith as recommended by Superintendent Dr. Bill Cook to become the district’s Executive Director of Student Services.

Smith, who has served in a similar role for the past five years in York School District One, returns to Rock Hill to lead the student services division. In this role, she will work closely with students and families who are navigating issues and concerns related to attendance, expulsion and suspension, as well as guidance counseling, homeless and foster care, mentoring and alternative student placements. Further, Smith will work with Keystone Substance Abuse Services, All on Board Coalition and other local support organizations to ensure wrap around services are made available to all students.

After teaching English for five years in Augusta, Ga. and Columbia, S.C., Smith began her first stint in Rock Hill as a school counselor at Rock Hill High in 1999. In 2005, she moved to South Pointe High as the school’s first Director of Guidance. In neighboring Fort Mill, she helped to open Nation Ford High School in 2008, and then served as an assistant principal for six years. Smith served as principal of New Heights Middle School in Pageland, S.C. for one year before moving to her post in York School District One.

Smith holds a bachelor’s in English education from South Carolina State University. Her post graduate work includes a Master’s and specialist degree in Counselor education from the University of South Carolina. Smith completed her doctorate in educational leadership in 2009 at South Carolina State University. Her dissertation focused on the study of school counselor effectiveness and its relation to prior teaching experience and school achievement.