GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The Gwinnett County school board voted 3-2 Thursday night to hire a Chicago-based firm to conduct a nationwide search for a new superintendent, despite concerns about the firm’s experience and cost.
The board selected Alma Advisory Group to lead the search, though board members Steve Knudsen and Steve Gasper voted against the decision.
“Alma has been a part of 20 superintendent searches. The other two have been over 800 and over 1,000,” Knudsen said during the meeting.
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The search begins three months after the board terminated former Superintendent Calvin Watts’ contract, a decision that cost taxpayers an estimated $750,000 and has generated criticism from community groups.
Board member Dr. Tarece Johnson-Morgan defended hiring Alma and the additional estimated $25,000 required to bring them aboard.
“The people who have used them have overwhelmingly said very positive things about them,” she said Thursday.
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The Gwinnett County NAACP has raised concerns about the board’s transparency regarding Watts’ termination, claiming the board may have violated Georgia’s Open Meetings Act by discussing his firing behind closed doors.
“The public wasn’t given any answers. Everybody, even to this day, still doesn’t have any clarity on why they did what they did,” said Edward Paul, president of the Gwinnett County NAACP branch.
Paul told Channel 2 Action News that he requested records from the executive sessions that discussed Watts’ termination.
While district officials have provided few specifics about the termination, Board Chair Dr. Adrienne Simmons cited student performance issues during a recent town hall.
“We have 38% of students from underserved communities at third grade not reading proficiently,” Simmons said. “Our Hispanic student performance is declining in ELA.”
Whoever is hired will become the third Gwinnett superintendent in four years. The NAACP warns that frequent leadership changes could harm the district’s effectiveness.
“Gwinnett is on a sort of destructive path by following some of these bad habits,” Paul said.
The school board did not respond to requests by Channel 2 Action News for comment Thursday.
Officials hope to have a new superintendent in place before the start of the next school year.
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