When Joshua Williams departed last July as DeKalb County schools’ chief operations officer, officials said a national search would commence. The same was said when chief legal officer Jennifer Hackemeyer left the district in December.
District officials said searches are not currently taking place for either position, though Williams has been gone nearly a year.
“DeKalb County School District is currently working with an executive search firm to fill the position of chief information officer,” the district said in a statement. “Otherwise, there are no active searches for chief operations, legal, and human capital management positions at this time.”
DeKalb County School District currently has four vacant chief positions, for its legal, operations, human resources and information technology divisions. The communications chief position, previously held by Eileen Houston-Stewart, was eliminated.
Since the beginning of 2017, more than half a dozen department heads and regional superintendents left their posts for various reasons, including reassignment, retirement and new opportunities outside the school district.
Former chief human capital management officer Leo Brown was reassigned to a position in the operations division in February 2017. District officials said Brown missed nearly three months of work before being reassigned upon his return. He resigned from the district in January.
Former chief academic and accountability officer Lisa Martin abruptly resigned in January 2018 after less than two years on the job.
Former regional superintendent Rachel Zeigler retired at the end of the 2017-2018 school year.
Williams, the former chief operations officer, left in July 2018. Gary Brantley, the district’s former chief information officer, left in October. Ramona Tyson, the previous chief of staff, took a reassignment where she now reports to the school board. Hackemeyer, the former chief legal officer, retired at the end of December. Former chief human capital management officer Bernice Gregory resigned in January.
Late last summer, Green said turnover showed the district had done well in staffing itself with sought-after talent.
“It’s a testament to the fact that we’ve got good people here,” he said. “It tells me this is a place where opportunity exists. It’s better than the alternative, where you have to create the turnover.”
About the Author
