AMERICUS — The Sumter County Board of Education (SCBOE) has narrowed its search for a new superintendent to three candidates.

The public will be introduced to each next week — Steve Ballowe at 7 p.m. Monday in the gymnasium of Sumter County Primary School, Valya Lee at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the cafeteria at Sumter County Middle School and Roy Brooks at 7 p.m. Thursday in the gymnasium of Sarah Cobb Elementary School.

No one within the Sumter County School System applied for superintendent of schools.

The public is welcome to e-mail questions to the Sumter County Board of Education at suptsearch@sumterschools.org before or after each forum.

This is part two of a three-part series about each of the candidates. This part will focus on Lee, who will be meeting the public at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the cafeteria at Sumter County Middle School.

Lee is the assistant superintendent for the Clayton County School System, and has been since 2009, but she’s been with the school system since 2007. She was the interim superintendent for the system from 2008 to 2009, until the its Board of Education hired a new one, and she was also the schools’ chief of staff from 2007 to 2008. She is paid $149,500 as assistant superintendent, made $187,500 as interim superintendent and made $143,095 as chief of staff.

She also worked as a teacher with the Clayton County School system from 1994 to 1998, an assistant principal from 1998 to 2000, principal from 2000 to 2003, and as an assistant superintendent for the school system from 2003 to 2005.

She then left the Clayton County School System for Rockdale County Schools because she was recruited by the system, she said in her application for Sumter County’s superintendent. She accepted the job there as assistant superintendent at a salary of $121,000. She served 16,000 students while at that school, where she worked from 2005 to 2006.

Clayton County serves 50,000 students, and has recently been in the news for loosing its accreditation in 2008.

It was the first system in the nation to lose accreditation since 1969, and it means students had a tougher time getting scholarships and getting into some colleges and universities.

The loss was blamed on a “dysfunctional” board, though, and a judge removed four members from the Clayton County Board of Education.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) has nine mandates schools are required to meet, and in 2008, the system only met one.

The association issued a report in February 2008, calling Clayton County’s school board “dysfunctional” and “fatally flawed,” and was given until Sept. 1, 2008, to overhaul the system.

The System regained its accreditation within a year, but the school was put on probation for two years, of which they’re still serving.

As for her education, Lee has several degrees.

She most recently graduated from Argosy University in Atlanta, where she received her doctor of education degree in educational leadership in 2006. Lee graduated from Troy State University in Phenix City, Ala., in 1998 with an educational specialist’s degree in education administration. She also received her master’s of education degree in 1995 from West Georgia College in Carrollton, where she studied middle grades education. In 1980, she graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta with a bachelor of science degree in political science.

Lee has received the Atlanta Braves/Bell South Excellence in Education Award, teacher of the year, Rockdale County Public Schools District Leadership School Improvement Award and the Clayton County Outstanding Servant Leadership Award for Education.

She’s also conducted eight educational workshops, and is involved in many national and state educational associations.

Lee said she’s proud of her career accomplishments, especially several programs she began when she returned to the Clayton County School System.

“Upon my return to (the system), I began several initiatives inclusive of the Effective Schools and Quality Instruction Intervention Plan designed as the means to ensure that educators find and implement proven practices that will increase student achievement and close achievement gaps,” Lee said. “The plan began with the establishment and implementation of the Strategic Action Teams (SAT) assigned to each school. Comprised of central level instructional staff from the department of teaching and learning as well as the Student Services Department, SAT facilitate large-scale assessments through benchmarks and diagnostics. They provide schools and the system with a thorough review and analysis of student performance data to inform instruction, improve student learning and gauge students’ progress. Teams also visit classrooms and make anecdotal observations focusing on instructional delivery and the implementation of a set of common classroom norms, called Classroom Expectations and Learning Essentials designed to improve the quality of instruction. The Effective Schools and Quality Instruction Intervention Plan has the district poised for continuous improvement as evidenced by marked performance gains during its first year of implementation.”

She also said helping improve student achievement in testing.

“During one year (2005-2006) of service as assistant superintendent for support services in (the system,) I facilitated major growth in student achievement with two critical subgroups. My strategies enabled the school district to make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) for the first time since the era of education accountability began.”

Another accomplishment she’s proud of is bringing up student achievement for another year, too.

“(The year) 2003-2004 marked a year of underachievement for (the system’s) middle schools. Eleven out of 12 schools failed to make AYP due to under-performance on the Georgia Writing Assessment, the second indicator for AYP. Appointed assistant superintendent for middle schools in 2004-2005, I implemented a writing initiative that enabled 11 out of 12 middle schools to increase their writing scores an average of 12 points. Although the state DOE (Department of Education) disallowed writing as the second indicator, middle schools celebrated their accomplishments and restored community confidence in the schools.”

Lee wrote a short essay about her approach to leading a school system as part of her application for Sumter County School System’s superintendent.

She wrote, “An effective school system begins with a vision for excellence, solid relationships, a challenging curriculum and implementation of best practices in education. It is a school system that is student-centered, educationally sound, fiscally responsible and one that fosters open communication with all stakeholders. An effective school system is one that operates on the promise that all children can and will learn, given the appropriate learning opportunities and supportive environments conducive to learning.

“Data-driven and high-performing are characteristics of an effective school system. It is also one that has highly-qualified and caring teachers who ensure the highest-possible student achievement coupled with effective teachers, support staff at the school and central levels deliver on-time and on-budget services to schools and are a part of the total ‘effective school system’ package. Also included are parents and community members that are actually engaged in the educational process. An effective school system is one where all responsible parties are committed to seeing every child succeed.”

Lee also explained why she wished to become Sumter County School System’s new superintendent.

“Home to five Georgia Schools of Excellence and one National School of Excellence, Sumter County Schools has a long-standing tradition of high expectations and student achievement,” Lee wrote. “Having been recommended for district-wide SACS accreditation in 2009, the community’s passing of a SPLOST (special-purpose local-option sales tax) for renovation of all schools and the central office, coupled with continued student performance gains, it is evident that the legacy lives on. My current and previous experiences in the field of education have enabled me to develop a vast knowledge base and varied skill set in leadership and school administration, which makes me a natural fit for leading a school district with dynamics evidenced in Sumter County to even higher heights. The rich culture of the county seat, Americus, is yet another drawing card for Sumter County. Named a Georgia City of Excellence, Americus is home to several cultural establishments and historic sites that make Sumter a great place to live as well as learn. The professional diversity among Sumter school board members is also an added bonus for the school system. Representing various segments of the business and education community, the Board is in a position to make informed and sound business decisions for the district. Overall, Sumter County Schools and the county at large are very appealing to me. I believe I can offer instructional and learning opportunities that will enhance and improve educational experiences throughout the school system and thereby serve as an asset to the Sumter community.”

Also, Lee said in her application that she’s a “veteran educational leader with a demonstrated ability:

• To increase academic accountability for results at all levels; increasing student achievement, closing gaps, increasing graduation rates and decreasing drop-out rates.

• To motivate, develop, support and delegate to a high-performing and caring team of central office leaders, teachers, principals and support staff.

• To maintain fiscal responsibility in challenging times and of data-driven decision-making; building a highly-competent team to oversee daily operations and finances.

• To use data, with a focus on real-time data, to drive both academic and operational decisions; motivate others to move in the directions to which the data point.

• To reconstitute and transform low-performing schools; think strategically and systemically to address the schools’ needs and to increase student achievement.”