After weeks of controversy, the Cherokee County Board of Education made its pick for its next superintendent official on Thursday night.
In a 4-3 decision before a packed audience that included residents carrying placards to show their opposition to the board’s choice, the members approved Henry County Schools Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis for the top job of the 42,000-student district.
“We’ve heard from a lot of parents who strongly support our finalist,” board Chairwoman Kyla Cromer said as the room quieted in anticipation of the vote. “We’ve heard from employees who support our finalist.
“And we’ve also heard from a lot of people who have shared concerns with the school board,” said Cromer, who voted in favor of Davis’ appointment.
Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At the end of January, the board recommended on another 4-3 vote to move forward with Davis as the sole finalist for the job. She will replace longtime Cherokee Superintendent Brian Hightower, who plans to retire at the end of May. Davis’ start date will be announced soon.
“Tonight, I am grateful to the Cherokee County Board of Education for their trust and for this opportunity to serve as the next superintendent of schools,” Davis, who attended the meeting, said in a statement. “My family and I are honored and excited to join Cherokee County and call this beloved community home.”
The appointment of Davis has divided the north metro Atlanta community, with residents supporting the appointment saying it offers a chance for fresh leadership from a candidate for Georgia Superintendent of the Year and opponents complaining that Davis does not share Cherokee County’s conservative values and that the district from which she hails has lower test scores than theirs.
Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
To make sure the meeting stayed peaceful, the board had plenty of law enforcement on hand. Cromer also had to quiet some audience members who rumbled as the voting process was starting, telling them they would get a chance to make their opinions known.
“You know what my recommendation is, ‘Table this and start over,’” Ed McPherson, a 30-year-plus resident of Cherokee County, told the board to raucous applause.
Opponents also expressed concern the district may have to buy out Davis’ contract with Henry County Schools, a three-year deal Davis signed in December at an annual salary of about $350,000.
Credit: Jason Allen
Credit: Jason Allen
Driving much of the opposition was a push to convince the board to hire Mark Merges, a part-time principal at Cherokee’s Mountain Education alternative school and former principal at Creekview High School. Supporters of the idea launched a Change.org petition in hopes the board might stick with a Cherokee candidate. The petition had more than 800 signatures.
But resident Donnamarie Alcott, a parent of Cherokee graduates and a past PTA president, told the board that the idea that outsiders are anathema to the county is false. She said former Cherokee Superintendent Frank Petruzielo, whose name is on the building in which the vote was being taken, came to the district in the late 1990s and saved it from losing its accreditation.
“He (Petruzielo) brought experience and strategies from his former districts — larger districts than ours —that gave him insight into what could and would happen in a fast-growing school district like ours,” she said.
Board member Erin Ragsdale, who voted against hiring Davis, said even though she did not support the incoming superintendent, she planned to fully back the board’s decision.
“Regardless of my personal convictions, the board votes as a majority,” she said. “I will accept the will of the board and I will give my complete support to whomever the board votes on as superintendent because that is ultimately what is best for children.”
