Liberty County Board of Education members are making tweaks they hope will be the final ones to the job listing for the next superintendent.
Board members have contracted with Georgia School Boards Association to conduct the search for the next superintendent and the listing is up on the GSBA website — but after board members questioned the material that was part of the posting on the GSBA site.
The job announcement is up on the GSBA’s superintendent search page. But there is no other information along with it, aside from the Liberty County School System’s projected enrollment.
Board chair Verdell Jones asked board members to send their revisions by the end of the day January 16. Dr. Sam King of the GSBA, who is heading up the search, asked school board members to send in their revisions to the job announcement as soon as they can. He also recommended changing the closing date for applications to February 23, to allow candidates to have six weeks to review the job posting.
Dr. King also told board members they could call another meeting to go over their changes before submitting them to the GSBA.
“If we wait until we meet, we won’t have a superintendent by June,” said board member Dr. Marcus Scott.
Board members also questioned the material that was a part of the job announcement and how it was handled prior before being sent to the GSBA.
“Why was this draft was prepared without it being shared with the board for review and approval prior to it being posted on the GSBA website?” asked board member Dr. Chante Baker Martin.
Jones said she sent all board members a copy of the draft via a text message last Friday and sent an email out to them Saturday.
Dr. King said the announcement of an opening goes up on the GSBA website but the corresponding material does not get pushed out to its partners until a board gives final approval.
“We’re not going to move forward until you make the edits you need to make,” he said. “You own that announcement. All that I ask is once you go over it, that you have the blessing of the majority of the board. Once that happens, it needs to be given to me so I can give it to my communications department. Then we’ll send the updated version back to your chair.”
Dr. Baker Martin also said the board members completed a survey in December but were not told the results. She also said board member pictures that were part of the package were out of date.
“You need to take down the document in order to make the revisions, not only in content but also in design,” she said. “I have some issues with it.”
“There are so many little things that make us look bad,” board member Carol Guyett said. “Before he posts it, we need to proof it again.”
Dr. King said the GSBA included the required attributes and the preferred attributes based on the survey of the board members. He also said the GSBA staff does not create any of the numbers, such as budget or enrollment.
“You can change and modify any of that based on a majority decision of the board. I can take the current version of the announcement down until a new version is ready,” he said.
Board members, in a split decision, voted in October not to renew Dr. Franklin Perry’s contract as superintendent. The school board later approved hiring the GSBA to conduct the search for a new superintendent.