Richland 1 looks to outsiders for superintendent

By BILL ROBINSON - brobinson@thestate.com

Superintendents of three out-of-state school systems with smaller enrollments are candidates to replace Allen J. Coles as Richland 1’s top administrator.

The finalists are:

• Gerald D. Dawkins of Saginaw, Mich.

• Percy A. Mack of Dayton, Ohio

• Craig Witherspoon of Edgecombe County, N.C.

All are native Southerners — Witherspoon, 42, was born in eastern North Carolina; Mack, 57, was born in Savannah; and Dawkins, 58, was born in Spartanburg.

Each oversees a public school system with fewer than the 23,000 students in Richland 1, but their credentials also include career stops in communities with enrollments far larger than the capital city’s district.

The public will get a chance to meet all three one week from tonight at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. The Richland 1 school board will host an hour-long “meet-and-greet” event starting at 6 p.m. in the district’s “Hall of Fame” room.

School system trustees spent the past two weeks meeting privately to review credentials of a pool of candidates that numbered between 12 and 15.

“We’re real pleased with the group of finalists we have for the superintendent position,” board chairwoman Wendy Brawley said. “They represent the kind of characteristics that the community felt important and as well as the board, not only now but into the future.”

CHALLENGES AHEAD

Brawley said the seven-member board felt strongly job candidates should have experience as a superintendent.

Richland 1’s next superintendent will take the helm of a school system that has spent more than $400 million on new construction and major renovations since 2002 but has a sizable number of students who struggle to meet annual state academic achievement goals.

Five schools — Alcorn Middle, C.A. Johnson Preparatory Academy, Eau Claire High, Gibbes Middle and W.A. Perry Middle — were put on notice a year ago that they face state sanctions for repeatedly failing to meet minimum academic performance goals.

To turn those schools around, Coles launched a $6 million plan he called “A+Schools.” Strategies included: additional instructional time each day up to 60 minutes; an extended school year (up to 10 days); special summer classes; more tutoring during the school day; parent involvement coordinators; and teachers who can earn higher salaries for extra work hours, plus performance and retention bonuses.

The search for a new superintendent also comes at a time when districts across South Carolina are getting a clearer picture of how tax law changes will affect revenue available to operate public schools.

Coles’ administration has crafted a $253.9 million budget for the 2008-09 school year, but it has no major new academic initiatives and relies on additional revenue restricted by a state cap. Richland County Council must sign off on the final amount.

And in addition to the academic and financial challenges,

the new superintendent could find himself working for a far different group of school trustees in November than the panel that will make the hiring decision. The terms of four seats expire in November and Jeanette McBride, who has two years remaining on her term, is a candidate for court clerk in Richland County.

THE FINALISTS

Mack, a superintendent for six years, said the Richland 1 job appealed to him after he read about the recent fact-finding trip to Mobile, Ala., where school and civic leaders visited to learn how that community turned around failing schools. He called the community involvement encouraging.

Dawkins has worked three decades in Michigan public schools, the last seven in Saginaw. He said he and his wife, who also is an educator, are “continually looking for challenges ... and (for) places to continue to learn and contribute.”

Witherspoon has the shortest tenure as a superintendent — two years— but is familiar with Columbia. He was a middle and high school principal in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg public schools.

Mack and Dawkins began their careers as social studies teachers, while Witherspoon was a middle school music teacher.

In addition to next week’s “meet-and-greet” event, the candidates will go through more intensive private interviews with Richland 1’s board.

Richland 1’s board advertised a salary range for its next superintendent at between $195,000 and $230,000. Coles’ contract called for him to make $175,000 when he signed it in 2005, and he has not received a raise since.

Reach Robinson at (803) 771-8482.