Former Clayton County Schools Superintendent Edmond Heatley, who spent a controversial few years in the Southside district, has resurfaced as education commissioner on the island of Bermuda.
Heatley, who was chosen from among 70 applicants, assumed his new role on Aug. 26.
His new job comes a year after Heatley’s abrupt departure from Clayton just as the 2012-2013 school year was starting. At the time, Heatley departed to head a California school district which ultimately did not hire him. Luvenia Jackson, a retired district employee, stepped in as interim Clayton superintendent, a position she still holds.
Heatley is credited with helping Clayton regain its accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. But the former U.S. Marine, known for a tough management style, spent a tumultuous three years at the job, butting heads with school board members over the best way to manage the district and budget cuts as well as repairing the system’s tarnished image.
His efforts to eliminate arts programs, shorten the school year and end bus rides for children who lived near their schools caused a firestorm. He eventually backed off some of his proposals.
Heatley also was criticized for having family members on the school district payroll. In addition, he was the subject of a $40,000 school board-initiated probe to pinpoint the source of rumors about the superintendent’s conduct. That probe proved futile.
A Georgia teachers’ blog blasted the appointment and a Bermuda resident on the site questioned the hiring of an American educator to a school system that relies on a British-based curriculum.
Heatley addressed the controversy in a prepared statement issued with the announcement of his new job.
“The reality of the matter is that anyone in a leadership position will have people who agree with their direction and leadership, as well as those who disagree with the decisions that are made,” his statement read.
In his new job, Heatley said he sees himself as an “agent of change” who wants to “provide our students with a world-class education that prepares them to compete and be successful globally.”
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