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High turnover rate for Metro Atlanta school superintendents

Gwinnett County Schools superintendent Alvin Wilbanks is the longest-tenured metro Atlanta area school superintendent. He's been on the job since March 1996.

Credit: JASON GETZ / AJC FILE

Credit: JASON GETZ / AJC FILE

Gwinnett County Schools superintendent Alvin Wilbanks is the longest-tenured metro Atlanta area school superintendent. He's been on the job since March 1996.
By
Nov 25, 2015

Once a month, about two dozen men and women drive hours to a hotel conference room in Macon to learn how to run a school district.

With the average tenure of a superintendent in large American school districts being just three years, some of them joke about the perils of their quest.

“If they don’t like you, you’ll get fired,” quipped Ed Shaddix, an assistant superintendent in Gwinnett County, one of the classmates in the training program for superintendents.

» ON MYAJC.COM: Read the full story here

About the Author

Eric Stirgus joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001. He is the newsroom's education editor. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Eric is active in the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and the Education Writers Association and enjoys mentoring aspiring journalists.

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