Brack On Gwinnett School Board’s National Search: “Baloney!”
Gwinnett County Public Schools will select one of three firms to conduct a nationwide search for a new Superintendent. Having fired two Supers over the past four years, the pressure is on to find someone who can provide stability for the long term.
The Gwinnett County Board of Education is pleased to announce that three consulting firms have been selected to advance to the next phase of the superintendent search process. These firms will participate in independent interviews to determine which will partner with the Board in conducting a comprehensive search for a new superintendent.
The three firms selected for interviews are:
- Alma Advisory Group
- Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA)
- McPherson & Jacobson L.L.C.
Meanwhile, Elliot Brack of Gwinnett Forum says there’s no need for a national search.
Perhaps the divided Gwinnett school board does not know the history of replacing school superintendents since 1977. When J.W. Benefield, a former Gwinnett agriculture teacher, retired in 1977, Alton Crews was recruited from Charleston as superintendent. He was somewhat known since he was the former Cobb County superintendent.
Crews was followed 13 years later by George Thompson, previously a principal on the Gwinnett system. David Crews was then an interim superintendent and followed by an outsider, Sidney Faucette, from a national search. He left under a cloud in about a year.
That’s when Alvin Wilbanks was hired, remaining with the school board for 25 years, and leading it to nationally-recognized heights. And where did the School Board pull Alvin from? Why, he was an employee of the system, previously president of Gwinnett Tech, which at that time was run by the Gwinnett school board. No national search needed.
So in recent years, the current school board found that Alvin Wilbanks would not bend to their wishes. Their results: fire him, with a major payout. Then bringing in Dr. Calvin Watts, guess what? The board could not work with him either, himself the product of a national search, though he had experience in Gwinnett. And so they canned him, too.
Alas, a national search will commence soon.
Interested parties can track the hiring process here.
