Former state superintendent leads coastal district

Former Georgia schools superintendent John Barge, who tried and failed to take Gov. Nathan Deal’s job in the last election, has secured the top position in the McIntosh County School System.

Barge became superintendent of the coastal school district on Friday, and told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was hired under a 3-year contract. McIntosh had, at last count in March, 1,564 students. It straddles I-95 in southeast Georgia and includes Sapelo Island.

Barge had not run a local district before he was elected state superintendent, though he did hold administrative educational positions in north Georgia, in the school districts in Bartow County and Rome.