Then and now
Here’s a breakdown of the Cherokee County school district since 1998, the year Frank Petruzielo became its superintendent.
1998
Schools 32
Students 24,446
Budget $149 million
2016
Schools 44
Students 41,122
Budget $363 million
Source: Cherokee County School District.
A new era is about to begin in Cherokee County.
Frank Petruzielo, the brash veteran educator who’s been the school district’s superintendent since February 1999, is retiring this month. Longtime Cherokee teacher and administrator Brian V. Hightower will become the new superintendent.
Known to many in Cherokee as “Dr. P.,” Petruzielo was hired amid school board infighting and concerns that the school district could lose its accreditation, which would make it tougher for students to enroll in college. Today, there’s no such inquiry and Cherokee students, on average, fare better academically than their metro Atlanta peers.
Still, there is some anxiety about the 41,000-student school district’s future. The transition comes amid a major growth spurt in Cherokee. Cherokee’s student population has increased by 25 percent over the past decade, the second-largest increase in metro Atlanta, behind Forsyth. New home sales increased by 23 percent between 2013 and 2014, while new construction starts were up 12 percent.
How Cherokee educates the influx of new students will be key to its future.
State data show more low-income students are in the Cherokee system than five years ago, as well as more students who have trouble speaking English. PTA leaders, school board members and others in Cherokee say the school district has done a good job, but must do more to teach students skills that will help them get good-paying jobs once they graduate.
“We don’t have enough plumbers, mechanics and electricians,” said Dawn Stastny, president of the Cherokee PTA.
Much of the concern about the Cherokee school district’s future is focused on an ornate building about 50 miles away — the state Capitol. Cherokee, like other Georgia school districts, has received less money from the state over the past decade because of austerity cuts. While Cherokee is more affluent than most of its metro neighbors, some parents and educators, including Petruzielo, want an end to those cuts. Cherokee outsourced its janitorial services more than three years ago, due to a reduction in state funding for employee health care costs, officials said.
“The state has to hold up its end of the bargain,” said Lisa Marie Haygood, a Cherokee parent who is also president of the Georgia PTA.
Petruzielo can talk for days about what he says are state mistakes in education policy. For example, he’s a vocal critic of Gov. Nathan Deal’s proposal to have the state take over chronically low-performing schools.
Petruzielo began his education career 50 years ago as a teacher in Florida and rose up the ranks to become a superintendent in large districts such as Houston, Texas and Broward County, Fla. He came to Cherokee in 1998 to spend more time with his grandchildren, but was recruited to take over the troubled school district in his new home.
“When he came here, hot mess doesn’t describe what we were,” said Stastny.
Petruzielo put together a 15-page plan detailing what he expected from teachers and administrators.
“I’m not a man who puts out fires,” he told principals during a meeting shortly after taking over. “I start fires.”
He also put more money and other resources in schools with large percentages of low-income students. Petruzielo took the unorthodox step of moving some high-performing staffers to low-income schools.
“Have I done something wrong?” one reassigned principal asked him.
“No, you’ve done something right,” Petruzielo replied.
Convincing parents his ideas would work hasn’t always been easy. He was criticized when he pushed for higher property taxes to pay for school operations.
Described by some in the same sentence as “intimidating” and a “Teddy bear,” Petruzielo has strong views and eagerly expresses them. Some of his proposals, such as when he proposed raising property taxes, have put Petruzielo at odds with many in this politically red county where each school board member is a Republican.
“We know he has the best interests of the district at heart,” said school board chairwoman Kyla Cromer, explaining the work relationship.
Not all school board members have trusted in his judgment. Petruzielo's clashes with board member Kelly Marlow made headlines in 2013 when Marlow filed a false police report that the superintendent tried to run her over after a meeting. Marlow was sentenced to 60 days in jail and resigned her board seat.
Sometimes, Petruzielo said, you “have a board member in a different pew.”
Hightower is expected to continue many current practices, such as a biannual roundtable meeting with PTA leaders where Petruzielo encouraged them to ask him anything.
Petruzielo said he may write a book and take up fly fishing.
As for being involved in the classroom, Petruzielo said “I think it’s time to pass the baton.”
