BOE will soon begin selection process for superintendent

Members of the Enterprise Board of Education spent several hours interviewing five finalists for the position of superintendent of Enterprise City Schools Nov. 14.

After spending nearly hour on each candidate, the board adjourned.

Board President Ross Cotter said the board would likely call an executive session next week to discuss selecting a permanent candidate.

Each board member asked his or her own questions of the candidates and subjects ranged from school curriculum to board and superintendent relations.

Dr. Camille H. Wright, the current director of instruction for Madison City Schools, was the first candidate to interview.

Wright is a graduate of Auburn University, and received her doctorate from the University of Alabama.

She taught several age groups for many years and has served as a counselor and principal at the elementary and secondary level.

She has also performed adjunct work with Jacksonville State University.

“Enterprise City Schools is already a great school system, but I believe I have the skills it takes to make it excellent,” Wright said in her closing statements. “My skills align very well to what’s needed here.”

Wright said she defined herself as a collaborative and distributive leader, adding that she wouldn’t have applied for the position if she didn't’ think she could bring something to the table.

“I don’t have all the answers and don’t even pretend to, but I know how to surround myself with people who do,” Wright said. “I will work to empower the people around me to excel at what they do.”

Greg Faught, who works with the Enterprise system as a secondary curriculum supervisor, was the second to interview.

Faught has served in his current capacity since 2007, and also worked as a principal at Enterprise Junior High School and an assistant principal at Girard Middle School in Dothan and Westwood Middle School in Florida.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Florida Southern College and a masters of science in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Faught was been instrumental in writing and receiving several grants for the Enterprise system, including most recently a $300,000 A+ College Ready Grant.

He also organized and led the system’s College And Career Ready implementation team during the transition into Alabama’s Plan 2020.

Faught said he considered the opportunity to step up to superintendent more of a calling than a job opportunity.

As one of two in-house candidates, Faught was asked certain questions specific to his situation, including, how he would handle personnel matters involving faculty members he has worked with and how he felt the system as a whole could improve.

“At the end of the day, we’re here for here for the kids,” Faught said. “If a decision isn’t in the best interest of the students, we don’t need to do that. We should have loyalty to the system as a whole, not to individuals.”

Faught also said he felt a math initiative would greatly benefit the system, which he outlined in a 100-day plan he submitted to the board previously.

Faught said Enterprise could start producing some of the best math students in the state with more rigorous math courses and by focusing more on high-quality professional development training for math instructors.

“Math is difficult to learn and it’s difficult to teach,” Faught said. “We live in a country where it’s become OK to say, ‘I’m not good at math,’ or ‘my child’s just not good at math.’ You would never hear someone say that about reading or English because it’s not socially acceptable. We have to change that mindset.”

Dr. Christopher Quinn was born in Augusta, Ga. but has spent the majority of his education career in the northeastern United States.

He has served as an assistant superintendent for Buffalo Public Schools in Buffalo New York and is currently the executive director of curriculum and assistant superintendent for Stafford County Schools in Stafford, Va.

When asked by Cotter how he could guarantee student improvement, Quinn said it takes a system-wide plan.

“One thing I know about school improvement is that everyone has to be pulling together,” he said. “You have to be intentional and targeted about what you’re trying to accomplish.”

Quinn said teachers at a low-performing school might give 30 to 40 explanations about how they are working on student achievement, but at high performing school, teachers give only a few answers because they are all on the same page.

“Teachers have to have an action plan, a focus, they need to know exactly what to do and they need to be committed to excellence,” Quinn said. “You can do right things wrong and wrong things right, but excellence is doing the right things right and I know how to do that.”

Quinn said any success in education is about building an effective team and working toward a strategic goal.

Dr. Irma Townsend, who is also currently employed by the Enterprise system, received her bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees from Auburn University.

She has served as guidance counselor and principal in the Coffee County Schools system, and volunteers regularly with the Coffee County Family Services Center and the Coffee County Youth Leadership Program.

“This is my second stint in the central office,” Townsend said. “These wonderful experiences have brought me here and I know that, tonight, I’m here by divine appointment.”

Townsend said she is a person of integrity and called herself driven.

“My biggest weakness is that I expect the same from others, and I don’t always get that,” she said. “If it’s time to go home but the job isn’t done, work isn’t over.”

When asked about board members being contacted by parents, Townsend said she felt most issues should be resolved before a board member needs to be involved.

“Hopefully, those issues can be resolved at the teacher’s level,” she said. “If not then, maybe the principal can solve it and move it up the chain of command if need be.”

Since 2003, Townsend has worked for Enterprise City Schools as a principal, as a student services supervisor and presently as the director of human resources and personnel.

She has also served as the project director for several grant applications including the Department of Defense Activity Grant and the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Grant, both of which the Enterprise system received.

Dr. John Green, current superintendent of Jackson County Schools in Suwanee, Ga., was the final candidate to be interviewed.

Green received his bachelors degree in mathematics education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, his masters degree from Georgia State University and his doctorate in education administration from the University of Georgia.

He served as a mathematics teacher, a coach, an athletic director, assistant principal, principal and a superintendent in multiple school systems in Georgia and Alabama.

Green was also a finalist for the 2011 Broad Superintendents Academy.

Follow the Southeast Sun for more updates as the board of education makes it final selection in the coming days.