CSD sent out this announcement yesterday…
The Georgia School Superintendents Association shared the following announcement this week:
Georgia School Superintendents Association’s (GSSA) selection committee has narrowed the 2015 Superintendent of the Year competition to four. The four candidates are: Dr. Phyllis Edwards of City Schools of Decatur, Dr. Philip Lanoue of Clarke County, Dr. Curtis Jones of Spalding County, and Dr. Randy Shearouse of Effingham County. Congratulations to all four finalists, their Boards of Education, and school communities they represent. All of these candidates have been working on some very special things in their respective school systems. Their communities and students are certainly the beneficiaries of the leadership each is providing. We had nearly 30 nominations for the selection committee to review and discuss. The selection committee is made up of past Georgia Superintendents of the Year that are still active in their profession. All the nominees represented Georgia from all over the state and the decision making process was very challenging to narrow to just four finalists. Again, GSSA is proud to have these four finalists represent Georgia as 2015 Superintendent of the Year!
“This is a tremendous honor to be named a finalist and I sincerely thank the Board of Education for nominating me,” said Dr. Edwards. “Beginning my twelfth year as Superintendent of Schools in City Schools of Decatur, I can say that it has been a joy to lead this system of caring and dedicated teachers and staff!”
Dr. Edwards and the other nominated finalists will now apply to become the Georgia Superintendent of the Year to be announced at the Georgia School Superintendents Association/Georgia School Boards Association conference in December.
Congratulations Dr. Edwards!
Well deserved and, frankly, overdue. Congratulations Dr. Edwards.
There are many reasons our school system is so good, and Dr. Edwards is one of them. Congrats!
Effingham! [tee-hee hee]
Now that I live in Birmingham ( formerly Decatur ) that was my first thought! Food is not as good here in F-ing-ham, and there aren’t as many festivals!!
Indeed, well deserved! She held the course despite the naysayers and stuck with her vision. Congratulations to her and to the City of Decatur families and community who now reap the benefits of her wisdom and leadership.
I would argue that Dr. Edwards did well at least in part because she DID listen to the community, parents, teachers and students, and in fact developed a system charter that includes school leadership teams. There’s an NPR piece airing this week that indicates that superintendents alone cannot have a huge effect on student performance–teachers, principals, School Boards and parent involvement have the most influence. I think most folks would agree that Dr. Edwards did a good job with hiring good teachers and principals, retaining them, and working well with the School Board. Parent involvement has always been a given in Decatur. It may be a pain in the neck sometimes but it’s clear that a lack of it bodes poorly for student performance.