Education
Education

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.

Follow Eric Stirgus on twitter
More Stories

Keep Reading

These kits are being distributed to public schools across Georgia to help students who suffer an opioid overdose. (Courtesy of Georgia Department of Education)

Credit: Georgia Department of Education

Officials to install opioid reversal kits in Georgia’s public schools

The kits will contain Narcan, which can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and restore breathing.

Why the Atlanta school board voted to close and repurpose some schools

Sixteen schools will be repurposed under the APS Forward 2040 plan as enrollment falls and the district seeks better resources for students.

Atlanta board of education approves school consolidation plan

The Atlanta school board voted unanimously Wednesday night to approve a consolidation plan, which would result in some school closures in a couple of years.

The Latest

These kits are being distributed to public schools across Georgia to help students who suffer an opioid overdose. (Courtesy of Georgia Department of Education)

Credit: Georgia Department of Education

Officials to install opioid reversal kits in Georgia’s public schools

Why the Atlanta school board voted to close and repurpose some schools

Atlanta board of education approves school consolidation plan

Featured

Ceudy Gutierrez reads a book to her 2-year-old son, Matias, at their home in Buford, GA, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Ceudy Gutierrez is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her three young kids following her husband’s ICE arrest earlier this fall. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

When ICE takes breadwinners, it takes a toll on families ... and on the economy

For immigrant families, brushes with ICE can result in financial precarity that could have implications for the broader economy.

‘I’m a bad kid,’ he told himself. How Georgia’s special ed program failed one child.

Parents find that it's easy to get into the GNETS program, but in some districts, difficult to leave.

‘A lot of blame, but not enough action’: Atlanta leaders lack path to fix jail

Stakeholders across Atlanta and Fulton County grapple with a complex web of issues that contribute to overcrowding, crumbling structure.