Cobb County school board members on Thursday named high-ranking district leader Chris Ragsdale as the sole finalist for interim superintendent to replace outgoing superintendent Michael Hinojosa.
Board members, who made the announcement during a morning press conference at the school system’s headquarters in Marietta, said Ragsdale was the most qualified of the seven candidates who applied for the job.
Ragsdale said chief among his goals as interim superintendent will be to try to decrease classroom sizes and help develop a budget for the next school year which avoids serious cutbacks.
“The success of a school district depends on the work school teachers do everyday,” Ragsdale said.
Ragsdale, who serves as deputy superintendent of operational support, is likely to act as interim superintendent close to a year while school board members search for a new superintendent. Hinojosa’s resignation is effective May 31.
School board chairwoman Kathleen Angelucci said Thursday the board will formally vote to approve Ragsdale’s position at the board’s April 24 meeting. His service will begin in May and go through May 2015, she said.
As for finding a new superintendent, Angelucci noted three school board positions would be coming up for a vote in the coming year and that a new board would ultimately decide, who will be the district’s next superintendent.
When asked if he’d consider taking the permanent superintendent position if offered to him, Ragsdale said it was “premature” to talk about it. “Time will tell,” he said.
A nearly 8-year employee with Cobb schools, Ragsdale, 45, is tasked with overseeing a significant portion of the district’s operations, including technology, SPLOST as well as construction and maintenance. He has also previously worked in the Paulding County school system.
Hinojosa announced at a school board meeting in February he was stepping down because he wants to move to Texas to assist with aging parents and is taking a consulting job. Hinojosa has led the district — Georgia’s second-largest with close to 107,000 students in about 114 schools — since July 2011.
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