The four present board members unanimously approved moving Candace Wilkes from assistant principal at Allatoona High to Lost Mountain; Travis Joshua from assistant principal at Smitha Middle to Lindley 6th Grade; and Bertha Nelson from assistant principal at Cartersville City Primary in Cartersville to Belmont Hills, all effective July 30.
Board members Lynnda Eagle, David Morgan and Tim Stultz were absent.
Wilkes has been with Cobb since 1996 and an educator since 1992. Joshua joined the district in 2004 and started teaching in 1998. Nelson taught at Campbell Middle in Cobb four years ago for a year and has been an educator since 1995.
The district could not provide their new salaries by press time.
The principal openings were created when Lost Mountain Principal Dr. Robert Downs was promoted to principal at Pope High; Lindley 6th Principal Landon Brown was reassigned to an undisclosed position; and Belmont Hills Principal Terry Floyd was named the district’s new director of intervention and support, curriculum, instruction and assessment.
The district still needs to fill vacancies at Sprayberry High and Chalker and Vaughan Elementary.
The board approved moving Ed Wagner from Sprayberry to Kell High and Barbara Swinney from Vaughan to Area 1 Assistant Superintendent last week.
Chalker’s principal JoAnn Sappington announced her retirement in June. Recently retired Chief of Staff Alice Stouder will serve as the school’s interim principal until they find Sappington’s replacement, Hinojosa said.
The board also approved Allatoona High Principal Scott Bursmith’s retirement, effective Dec. 1.
“We were surprised,” Hinojosa said. “It’s uncommon and doesn’t happen a lot. He was thinking about (retiring) before this school year but he changed his mind.”
In other news, Hinojosa told the school board that the district not only met its goal of cutting 350 jobs through attrition, another 300 positions opened up after that.
“We were all worried about meeting the number, but not only did we meet the number, we almost doubled the number,” he said.
Hinojosa said 230 of the 300 have been filled and approximately 70 vacancies remain open.
“It’s less than normal,” Hinojosa said about the 650 positions. “They tell me that Cobb used to hire 1,000 teachers a year, and only the last few years has it gone down to around 500.”
The openings are spread out all over the county, Hinojosa said.
Anyone interested in any of these positions can check the county’s job website, www.cobbk12.org.
“The district website tells specifically which campuses have openings,” he said. “If someone is interested, they need to forward their credentials there or they could send them to a principal.”
The school board approved cutting 350 jobs in May to help bridge a $63 million budget gap.
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Mystery solved!
Seems logical to me.
To see what is right and not to do it is cowardice.
- Confucius
Seems there is something in particular that CCPS is trying to promote. The teachers aren't being heard.
Who knows? Ask Hinojosa.