Carly Farrell
AMERICUS — The Sumter County Board of Education (SCBOE) has narrowed its search for the district’s next superintendent to three — Steve Ballowe, Roy Brooks and Valya Lee.
The Americus Times-Recorder has published major parts of their resumes recently. The public was introduced to Ballowe at 7 p.m. Monday. Lee will be introduced to the public at 7 p.m. today in the cafeteria at Sumter County Middle School and Brooks will be introduced to the public 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, but the Times-Recorder has learned that Brooks and Lee were two of the top six candidates chosen by the Dougherty County School Board. Both withdrew their names, though, when they discovered the Board had chosen some of the finalists without following protocol.
This article delves more thoroughly into Lee’s history.
For the majority of her career, Lee has worked for the Clayton County School System (CCSS,) which is best known for losing its accreditation in 2008. 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.” It officially lost its accreditation in August 2008.
The system tentatively gained back its accreditation May 1, 2009, but the system remains on probation today.
Gov. Sonny Perdue fired four of the CCSS board members, and the remaining five didn’t seek re-election.
Of the three candidates, Lee has the least amount of experience; she’s never served as a full superintendent, but has served as CCSS interim superintendent for about five months after the CCSS Board of Education fired then-Superintendent John Thompson after the system lost its accreditation. The Clayton County school system has more than 50,000 students, whereas the Sumter County school system has a little more than 5,000 students enrolled.
Lee applied for the full-time superintendent’s job with CCSS, but an advisor with SACS recommended the Board hire a superintendent with at least four years experience being a full-time superintendent, so the Board did not choose Lee as a finalist for that position. There were a number of supporters who wished Lee would have been picked as the full-time superintendent, though, according to several CCSS Board members to whom the Americus Times-Recorder recently spoke.
Lee still works as an assistant superintendent for the CCSS, but has been picked as a finalist for three other superintendent positions in other districts, as well — one in Dougherty County and the others in Birmingham, Ala., and Nashville, Tenn.
Craig Witherspoon of North Carolina won the Birmingham post of superintendent. Three members originally on the Alabama Board voted for Lee, but split votes require in Alabama a second vote, which resulted in a unanimous vote for Witherspoon, according to the Birmingham News.
Lee also lost out to another candidate in Tennessee.
The Americus Times-Recorder tried contacting each of the CCSS Board of Education members. Some returned the Times-Recorder’s calls; others had not at press time. The Americus Times-Recorder also tried contacting CCSS’ Superintendent Edmond Heatley. Heatley wasn’t available, but one of his staff members told the Times-Recorder he most likely won’t make a comment until Sumter County’s Board of Education makes its final decision for superintendent.
Every Board member the Times-Recorder spoke with had glowing things to say about Lee except for one, who did not wish to be named so is not quoted here.
Alieka Anderson, Clayton County Board of Education’s chairman, said, “That’s wonderful!” when hearing Sumter County’s Board of Education had named Lee a finalist.
“She’s a highly-motivated person, and yes, she’s very ambitious — in a good way,” Anderson said. “She’s a very good communicator and highly motivated. I really think it’s time for her to move up to that position. She’s always wanted to be a superintendent, and now’s really her time. She’d do an outstanding job. Of course, the school district would truly miss her because she’s been a great asset with her wealth of knowledge. She’d be hard to let go, but (the Board) doesn’t want to stop anyone from reaching their goals.”
As for the accreditation issue, Anderson said Lee didn’t contribute to the district losing it, but “she definitely helped getting it back — she helped write reports (to be turned into) the SACS team.”
Board member Pam Adamson agrees with Anderson.
“(Lee’s) a smart lady, and would definitely make a really great leader,” Adamson said. “Instruction is at the core of who she is — that’s what she’s all about — the children learning. But, she has a handle on the rest of it, too. She’s a good candidate. (Lee’s) very competitive and ambitious, but not in a bad sense. (Sumter County Schools) want someone who will fight (for them,) and (Lee) has all of those instincts.”
As for the accreditation issue, Adamson said Lee had no part in it.
“It was the bad behavior of Board members — that’s why Clayton County lost its accreditation,” Adamson said. “It was about politics — that loss had nothing to do with the children or the leadership of the school system.”
Another Board member, Jessie Goree, parroted Anderson’s and Adamson’s sentiments.
“Right off, I can tell you (Lee’s) the best candidate (the Sumter County Board of Education’s) got,” Goree said. “There are so many things I can tell you. If you want a superintendent with great leadership, (Lee’s) got it. (When Lee was interim superintendent for CCSS,) we had our highest morale ever — she brought it up from the lowest morale ever because we’d just lost accreditation; I’m telling you, everybody’s morale was great. She got us moving in the right direction. A member of the SACS team told us we needed to hire someone with four years of superintendent experience, but a great majority of the people on our staff would have chosen (Lee) as our (full-time) superintendent. She’s knowledgeable about everything — and you can’t get a better person with better experience. She’s been a leader in an elementary school, middle school, high school and she has experience at the college level, too. (Lee’s) got great management skills, interpersonal skills, a great sense of community involvement. There’s just not a better person for the job.
“I wouldn’t say she’s ambitious. Dr. Lee is a person, if you look at her work records, she worked in private sector. She came in a teacher, and she’s risen through the ranks. She wasn’t a person who was ambitious — she got in a particular job and moved forward because her supervisor saw a good leader. I can recall when I met her, I was a parent of a child, and she was my daughter’s teacher. She was just wonderful.”
Goree also said Lee had nothing to do with the Clayton County school district losing its accreditation.
Goree said, “If it had not been for Dr. Lee, we wouldn’t have gotten it back. She authored the documentation that was turned into the SACS team.”
