Although Superintendent Xernona Thomas gave the Clarke County Board of Education more than a year’s notice that she intends to retire at the end of 2022, a new permanent superintendent is unlikely to be in place by then.
“We should all be in accord with what we want in a superintendent before we put out a request for one,” board member Linda Davis said at a Mar. 17 meeting. And with three open seats on the May 24 ballot, new board members should also get input into the new superintendent, board member Greg Davis said. He and fellow board members Kara Dyckman and Tawana Mattox will not seek re-election.
Greg Davis said he wants to target hiring a permanent superintendent by the summer of 2023. Another board member, Mumbi Anderson, mentioned having an interim superintendent for a full year after Thomas retires. But the motion the board approved did not include a formal timeline.
“I think we need to talk about what we want in an interim superintendent now and not scratch our heads,” Greg Davis said. Then the board can pivot to identifying a permanent superintendent, he said.
The school board agreed Mar. 17 to reject a request for proposals for a superintendent search firm and instead find an interim superintendent while they invite potential search firms to give presentations individually. Kara Dyckman, the board’s point person on the superintendent search, will reach out to firms, starting with a list of firms that expressed interest in the RFP but did not submit proposals.
The board rejected two search firms that had responded to the RFP without giving an explanation, other than board member Patricia Yager saying “they were not very good.”
The district probably did not get many applicants because search firms are currently busy doing background checks and negotiating contracts for superintendent candidates who are starting July 1, putting CCSD’s process behind other districts in a similar position, according to Greg Davis.
One of the firms that responded to the RFP but were rejected was Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates, which conducted two previous searches for CCSD that resulted in the hiring of Philip Lanoue and Demond Means, Linda Davis said. “They brought us exactly who we wanted,” she said. “Both times we were very satisfied.”
Both Lanoue and Means’ tenures ended in acrimony, with Lanoue leaving under the cloud of an alleged sexual assault at Cedar Shoals High School and Means negotiating an ugly exit after several controversies and feuds with board members.
By rejecting the two firms out of hand, Linda Davis said the district is not being equitable and going against the results of a disparity study. Spreading out the search would give minority contractors a better shot, Mattox argued. “We want people who are normally not getting contracts,” she said.
Complicating matters is CCSD’s ongoing accreditation review, which is bound to draw questions from applicants. By the time a new superintendent takes over, though, accreditation agency Cognia’s investigation—spurred by Means’ accusations of meddling by board members—may be in the past. Cognia recently announced encouraging results from a December site visit, although CCSD’s accreditation remains under review for now.
A monitoring team that met with administrators, board members, principals, parents and other stakeholders found that the board is doing a better job of maintaining decorum and following ethics policies, and has reformed its committee structure.
“Our number one priority is to have the Clarke County School District restored to Full Accredited Status,” Board President LaKeisha Gantt said in a news release. “Although these findings show we are moving in the right direction, we recognize there remains important work to be done by our Board.”
In another personnel move, CCSD announced the hiring of Garrick Askew as director of operations, replacing Dexter Fisher, who is retiring in May. (Fisher is also running for ACC commission in District 5.) Askew currently holds a similar position in the Paulding County school system. He has a doctorate in educational leadership, cultural and historical foundations of education from UGA.
During the public comment period, an often tearful group of Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School teachers and parents came to the podium to complain about the leadership and atmosphere at the school. School administrators made national news in January when they forced a teacher to move a student’s pro-LGBTQ artwork. But that is merely one example of a larger culture of fear, according to speakers. Parent Kathleen Faulke questioned why a complaint filed in December was closed without any of the signees being contacted. And education activist Jami Mays predicted that as many as 50 teachers are considering leaving OAES unless changes are made.
“There has been so much stress inside the building for so long that what should be a once-in-a-lifetime mistake is just one more glossed-over incident in a long string of grievances,” Nicole Crenshaw said.
Other speakers raised concerns about standardized testing, silencing of Local School Governance Team members and the low pay for bus monitors, who start at $9–$9.91 an hour.
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