Decatur school superintendent Phyllis Edwards been waiting to pick the right moment to leave for a long time, in the view of Valarie Wilson, who served on Decatur’s school board with her from 2003-13.
Edwards announced her resignation at Tuesday’s board meeting. Afterward she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she’s been working since she was 15 and doesn’t plan to stop, though she doesn’t know what the next step is.
“She’s often talked about going back home to Florida,” Wilson said Wednesday. “I want her to stay forever, of course. But she told me a couple weeks ago, and I think she’s convinced now’s the time to move on.”
Edwards agreed to remain to at least the end of the school year or, if needed, through the end of the calendar year.
Her announcement came as the board is preparing to ask city commissioners for a November referendum on a bond issue up to $82 million for new construction and renovation of various schools.
Enrollment is projected to grow to 7,300 by 2020 even without Decatur’s planned annexation, and to 8,145 with annexation. There are 4,336 students now, an all-time high, and the schools’ capacity is supposed to be 3,859. Mayor Jim Baskett recently called the school building needs “a crisis.”
Board Chairman Garrett Goebel said, “Yes, I’d agree the timing is not great. But there’s never a good time. There’s always a crisis. If anyone’s earned the right to decide when to go, it’s Phyllis. She’s met every challenge thrown at her, and she’s done it with grace.”
Edwards is only the City Schools of Decatur’s ninth superintendent, dating from 1900. When she arrived enrollment was around 2,500, its lowest in at least 60 years with, in her words, “25 percent of all fourth-graders leaving the system entirely,” usually to private schools.
Edwards closed two schools and spearheaded a controversial reorganization of the school system into three (now five) K-3 schools and a 4/5 Academy beginning in 2004-05.
In January 2014, veteran board members Wilson and Marc Wisniewski, who’d been on the board during the tumultuous mid-2000s, left the board, replaced by Annie Caiola and Lewis Jones.
The new board didn’t always see eye to eye with Edwards. Last month members unanimously voted to ask commissioners for an $82 million bond issue while Edwards recommended $75 million. In January, after being nominated by Cailoa, Goebel challenged incumbent Bernadette Seals for board chairman and won by a 3-2 vote. In the past incumbents typically were unanimously re-appointed.
“Every board has a new personality,” Edwards said. “There’s always an adjustment. The fact is, I was thinking of leaving after Marc and Valarie left, but this new board asked me to stay on. I did stay, for over a year, but now it’s time to go. There are a lot of challenges ahead, and I think it’s time for a change, which could be a very good thing.”
“The transition was rocky in places,” Jones said. “But I think we were working out the adjustments. This was definitely Phyllis’ decision and not the board’s.” He said Edwards “took a system and not only pulled it out of trouble, she made it extremely strong and sought-after. People are now moving to Decatur for the schools. It is not just a good public school system, but it competes with best schools in the state.”
Edwards said there is no issue with her contract, renewed last summer, which runs through June 2016. But she will leave long before that, moving back to Palm Coast, Fla., where she worked 21 years as a teacher and assistant superintendent before coming to Decatur.
Goebel said the board will get help from an executive search firm or the Georgia School Board Association on a national search for Edwards’ replacement. He said it could take three to six months.
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