The sudden selection of a single finalist to become DeKalb’s next school superintendent is worrying parents and others who fear the district leadership could be reverting to old tactics.
Some say the process of selecting Kansas City Public Schools Superintendent R. Stephen Green to succeed Michael Thurmond reminds them of times of questionable hiring and leaking information to further personal agendas. Others are content with the process, saying a credible superintendent will emerge, allowing the district finally to move away from years of multimillion-dollar deficits and board infighting.
“There was a rush to make this happen,” said DeKalb County Board of Education member Joyce Morley, who said she won’t take part in votes on the matter because of her concerns with the selection process. “There’s no clear succession plan” for outgoing Superintendent Thurmond. “All of a sudden, there was this person. And it happened so fast.”
Parent Dawn Forman raised concerns about similarities to previous processes that have not fared well long-term with the district, including the hiring of Thurmond predecessor Cheryl Atkinson, who had been superintendent of a small district in Ohio that had a history of low achievement among students. Green, 61, oversees about 15,000 students in a low-achieving district.
In the end, Atkinson left DeKalb before her contract expired, with the district on the verge of losing its accreditation.
“To have this happening again is very disconcerting,” Forman said. “It’s not even about this man. It’s about this process. We want to know we’ve got the right person.”
The latest issues hark to dark days in DeKalb’s recent history. A 20-page report from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in late 2012 found the school board at odds and questioned staff hiring and fiscal responsibility that led to a $14-million deficit that year.
Atkinson announced she would step down in February 2013. Thurmond was hired by the board to oversee the district on an interim basis.
That same month, shortly after the Thurmond hire, Gov. Nathan Deal replaced six of the school board’s nine members.
Thurmond was later offered the position full-time after helping turn around the district’s deficit. Thurmond, though, has never been seen as a permanent fix to the district’s ills, and his contract expires June 30. But ProAct Search, the firm tasked with finding his replacement, was fired two weeks ago amid misconduct allegations levied upon a sister organization elsewhere.
Last week, board Chairman Melvin Johnson announced Green as sole finalist “by general consensus” to replace Thurmond.
With the announcement of the firing came assurances from the board that additional vetting would take place to ensure no finalist had ties to ProAct Search or its owner.
Johnson said the decision to fire ProAct Search had no impact on the selection process.
“If you go in and shop for a suit, if you see the same one you want, are you going to continue shopping, or are you going to buy that suit?” Johnson asked. “We found our man. Why are we going to interview someone else?”
Johnson said the process changed slightly when the board decided to select Green as its sole finalist for the superintendent’s job.
Between the week of April 20 and the beginning of June, DeKalb County Board of Education members, along with a Community Liaison Committee — a group of parents and county residents — and a team from ProAct Search were to whittle down the list of candidates until the board was ready to offer one a contract.
Instead, the board, using the list of finalists received from the community advisory group, invited eight candidates to interview during special meetings May 1 and May 2 at the Sheraton Atlanta Airport Hotel, at 1900 Sullivan Road. It was after those meetings, Johnson said, that the group decided through a general consensus that Green would be their sole finalist.
That meant there was no need for further interviewing, though the process planned had called for full board interviews, another round with the board-appointed Community Liaison Committee and a public interview process.
Rick Callihan, a member of the Community Liaison Committee, said the lack of a group of finalists meant their job ended there.
“People were miffed they didn’t get another bite at the apple,” said Callihan, a former schoolteacher who owns a firearms accessories company. “But it was never guaranteed. At the end of the day, I’m just glad Thurmond is leaving. The candidate the board nominated will do a much better job.”
Diane McClearen, another member of the Community Liaison Committee, said she was pleased that each member of the advisory group got a chance to express his or her opinion during the process.
“Certainly, it sped up in the end,” said McClearen, incoming chairwoman for the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce. “It was the board’s ultimate decision to make.”
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