School District Five names new Chief Operations Officer

Lexington-Richland School District Five has named Allen Knotts the new Chief Operations Officer for the district. He replaces Dr. Gerald Gary who left the district to become superintendent of the Sumter School District.

Knotts has been serving the role in an interim capacity since April. He joined the district in August 2022 as Director of Facilities. Before joining the district, Knotts served as director of engineering at University Health Care System, where he handled engineering and plant operations for multiple facilities totaling over 1000 beds. Knotts also served as the Director of Engineering at McLeod Health and as an engineering operations manager at Palmetto Health in Columbia. While at Palmetto Health, Knotts helped with building Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge.

Knotts is also acting 1st Sergeant of the G6 with the South Carolina National Guard, based out of Joint Force HQ.