Rockdale County residents have suspected for some time that Samuel King’s career aspirations went beyond being their county's very visible school superintendent.
King's naming as 2011 Georgia school superintendent of the year only added to the speculation that, after nearly six years in Rockdale, he was positioning himself for a bigger job.
King made a short list of candidates for the DeKalb County school superintendent's job. And now he has emerged as the lone finalist for superintendent in Cobb County, the state's second-largest school system with 106,642 students and 114 schools, sources involved in both searches told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
An official announcement is expected this week, and landing that job could put King's past positions on issues such as school calendars and President Barack Obama's Race to Top grant program under the microscope.
Cobb parents have been at odds over whether to have a so-called balanced calendar with an earlier start date and more short breaks, or have a later start date. King will be coming from a system with one of the state's earliest school start dates, in late July.
He also was instrumental in Rockdale signing onto Race to the Top, a program that the Cobb school board wouldn't join.
In Rockdale County, school bus driver Cecil Goodroe gives King high marks as superintendent.
“Everyone knows being the leader of any public school system these days can be really challenging, but he has handled the challenges very well,” he said.
King brought a refreshing “youthfulness” to the superintendent’s job and was “something of a cheerleader for high achievement,” Goodroe said.
“I believe under his leadership, our system has seen some significant improvements in both student performance and staff performance,” he said.
In King's tenure, the school district as a whole has made Adequate Yearly Progress, a critical benchmark of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, for five consecutive years. The system also posted a record graduation rate of 84 percent and has been lauded for being debt-free.
King's tenure has overlapped what has been a time of huge demographic change for the Rockdale County school system.
Nine years ago, the school system had 13,000 students, with 27 percent of them economically disadvantaged and 32 percent minority. Today, the system has 16,000 students, 63 percent of whom are economically disadvantaged and more than 70 percent minority, according to school system data.
Heather Simpson Duncan, a mother of four children in Rockdale schools, said, “I am hoping he doesn’t leave, but he would do great in any system. The work ethic is there. The drive is there. The passion is there.”
She said she’s most impressed with the relationship he’s maintained with parents, holding superintendent forums in which top administrators address any parent's questions.
“I have seen lots and lots of improvement, though I think we have a long way to go,” she said.
“He’s on the cutting edge of what’s important in education now. We’re constantly moving in that direction of growth and academic rigor so the children are competitive academically.”
King, a native of the small South Georgia town of Smithville, spent 10 years in Clayton County Schools, starting out as an assistant principal of an elementary school and moving up to be principal of a middle school, an area superintendent and then finally assistant superintendent.
He began his career as a classroom teacher of mathematics and science at the high school, middle and elementary levels. He has a bachelor's degree from Mercer University, a master's degree and specialist degree from the State University of West Georgia and his doctorate in education leadership from the University of Sarasota (Argosy).
He was a finalist for state school superintendent in 2009 and 2010, before landing the top honor this year. He's also president-elect of the Georgia School Superintendents Association.
"We consider him a rising star," said Herb Garrett, the association's executive director.
By law, the Cobb district will have to wait 14 days after naming King before a final vote.
Staff writer Jaime Sarrio contributed to this article.
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