Decaturish is reporting that Decatur Superintendent Phyllis Edwards announced at this evening’s Board Meeting that she is resigning and will stay on until the School Board finds a replacement.
Dr. Edwards has been Decatur’s Superintendent since 2003.
Decaturish reports that Dr. Edwards told the Board that she will be moving moving back to Florida to spend more time with her family.
Board Chair Garrett Goebel said that the Board planned a “national search” for a replacement.
thank you for your extraordinary service, Dr. Edwards, and best wishes for a wonderful next chapter for you and your family.
+1000
Thank you, Dr. Edwards, for your extraordinary leadership over these past 12 years. The community of Decatur has been made stronger and decidedly better because of your work. You have met every challenge courageously and have always kept the students of the City Schools of Decatur as your driving force. Bless you!
Since so many armchair quarterbacks on DM seem to know better than Dr. Edwards when to close the schools for bad weather, how to estimate student population growth, what the grade configurations should be, and where to build a new school, I would think the search for a replacement could be contained within Decatur.
” I would think the search for a replacement could be contained within Decatur”
Perhaps even one of the experts on this blog.
I agree.
When I read about this, I was thinking how hard it must be for Dr. Edwards to be in the midst of trying to solve a pretty major issue for CSD and have the added stress of other things like snow day complaints from parents. I don’t blame her one bit for heading for the hills and from my limited knowledge, it seems like a huge loss to CSD.
A big loss and hard shoes to fill. But solving major issues while fielding customer complaints is a large part of a CEO’s job, hard yes, but part of the job and she was compensated well for her efforts.
I think Dr. Edwards has done a fabulous job! She’s a big part of why our schools are in such high demand. It’s so easy to be critical of decisions when on the outside. Thank you Dr. Edwards! We love and appreciate you!! Good luck in the future.
On the whole, Dr. Edwards has been a very good superintendent: let’s hope her successor is good too.
But be prepared for changes with the new administration… There always are.
I wouldn’t want to put up with us either, honestly. Best to her.
Where did Rob go? I was going to respond, but his comments have disappeared.
I think his comments are on the trailer thread.
Why is Dr. Edwards falling on the sword for the Decatur Board of Commissioners? The Mayor has been quoted as implying that he had no idea about the City of Decatur Schools over crowding problem. Really? If so, then why not? Put the blame back on the backs of those that are deserving.
I have been thinking the same thing Dixie Firefly. I just hope that our Mayor’s unfortunate choice of words for his AJC interview didn’t prompt Dr. Edwards to make this decision. I can’t say that I blame her. All of her hard work building our system into something extraordinary is being threatened by forces out of her control.
See the link to the AJC interview I just posted. That doesn’t seem to be the case.