Rockdale County school Superintendent Samuel T. King is expected to be tapped as the next school chief for Cobb County, sources close to the search told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Cobb school board is expected to announce him as the sole finalist next week, a source close to the search said. By law, the district will have to wait 14 days after naming him before a final vote.
Cobb is Georgia's second-largest school district, with about 106,000 students.
King was named the 2011 Georgia school superintendent of the year by the Georgia School Superintendents Association. He’s about to become president of that association, which carries considerable clout with legislators.
“He’s kind of a rising star in our eyes,” said association Executive Director Herb Garrett, who could not confirm King will get the Cobb job.
Cobb school board Chairwoman Alison Bartlett would not confirm or deny the plans to hire King.
"At this moment we’re in the process of hiring a superintendent, like we have been for the last six months," she said.
King did not return calls seeking comment.
King would replace Fred Sanderson, who retires this year. Before being named superintendent in 2005, Sanderson spent 22 years in Cobb schools as an economics teacher, football coach and principal.
King is a native of Smithville and has 26 years of public education experience, according to the Rockdale district website. He began his career as a math and science teacher and is in his sixth year as superintendent of that district, which has about 16,000 students.
Rockdale board member Katrina P. Young said she had not heard of King's plans to leave the district, but called him an excellent leader.
"He’s a strategic thinker, with a strategic plan. He's helped move the district forward," she said.
Sherri Alderson, a mother of three Rockdale students, said King has “done a fine job” as superintendent.
“He’s worked hard. Like every county, there have been a lot of challenges with everything that’s gone on economically, but he’s not shrunk from his duties," she said.
She said he’s been responsive to parents and has stressed the need to improve the rigor of classwork.
The Cobb school board has been the center of negative attention this year, first for holding a special meeting to elect Bartlett chair, and later for voting to ditch a so-called balanced school calendar one year into a three-year trial.
Board members must answer questions from AdvancED, the parent company of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits Cobb and other Georgia districts. The agency wants Cobb to respond to allegations that school board members have eroded public trust in their ability to govern because of their actions.
John Williams, who has long worked with the schools in his west Cobb neighborhood, wants to see the district united.
“I would like to see someone who is going to come in and see the entire county treated as one,” said Williams, whose son will attend Osborne High School next year. “If one school has something, we all should have the same thing. There should be no east Cobb or west Cobb.”
Staff writers Nancy Badertscher and Janel Davis contributed to this article.
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