COBB COUNTY school Superintendent Fred Sanderson, who played football at UGA and cut his teeth as a coach on the high school level in Cobb, put in a game plan last week that met with the approval of many supporters of the school system: He announced his pending retirement, effective next June.

Sanderson, who has managed to polarize many diverse constituencies of the Cobb system - i.e., parents, teachers, taxpayers, bus drivers, and more - made his announcement at Thursday's board meeting. Though unfailingly warm and gracious on the personal level, he has presided over what has frequently been described as a school administration where deception and deceit have been at the top of the agenda.

Sanderson, a popular career educator in Cobb, was hired in December 2005 to heal the wounds left by his predecessor Joe Redden's bare-knuckled and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to use SPLOST funds to equip each middle and high school student and teacher with a take-home laptop computer. After a soothing start, the Sanderson administration soon found itself falling into many of the same habits as Redden, sparking one controversy after another and keeping the system in near-constant turmoil.

He was barely installed in his new office before getting snared in racial redistricting controversy regarding Hillgrove and McEachern high schools. Things only got worse in 2008 when he hand-picked Dr. Lawrence Bynum for promotion as principal at North Cobb High School, even though Bynum was the target of an ongoing sexual harassment investigation - a fact he withheld from the board, as he eventually admitted to a Cobb grand jury looking into the matter. Even so, the board secretly voted to give Sanderson a two-year contract extension and 14 percent raise.

Such secret votes have been de rigueur during the Sanderson era. Then-board Chairman John Abraham told the MDJ in July 2009 that the school board had voted in secret 55 times, which was a clear violation of the state's Open Meetings Act. Sanderson was present for those meetings and votes, of course. The board continues to violate that law, as was reported by the MDJ last week.

Sanderson last year pulled out all the stops to ensure implementation of an ultra-controversial Standards-Based Report Card for third graders; successfully pushed the system closer to a year-round calendar, to the loud complaints of many parents and others; and waited until the week before the current school year started last August to announce that more than 1,000 bus stops were being eliminated as a cost-saving measure.

Despite plenty of warning, Sanderson seemed unprepared for the deep budget cuts required by the failing economy. Rather than bringing the public into the process, he played it close to the vest. The system ultimately laid off 1,000 teachers - only to, bizarrely, announce a few weeks later that half of them might be rehired.

Meanwhile, a succession of county grand juries released a series of scathing reports about the system and especially its transportation department last fall - news of which Sanderson seemed to take no notice.

Many employees have described a system in which fear and retaliation predominate and where teachers are afraid to speak out. That culture of intimidation might not have originated with Sanderson - but he didn't do anything to reverse it, either.

Moreover, barring a near-miracle between now and next June when Sanderson heads for the locker room, the system likely will still be on the Needs Improvement List under No Child Left Behind, just as it was when he was hired.

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LIKE REDDEN, SANDERSON has been a victim in part of his own board, which rather than show leadership and provide direction for the superintendent has let him lead it by the nose. Like Redden, Sanderson has sensed a vacuum of power and tried to fill it. As we've noted before, the Georgia Constitution states that all school systems are to be under the "management and control" of the board of education. That Constitution applies in Cobb, too, even though here it's the board that's under the leadership and control of the superintendent.

Cobb's school board has suffered from a number of weak chairmen since the departure of Lindsey Tippins at the end of 2007, with incumbent Chair Lynnda Crowder-Eagle arguably the weakest yet. Her attitude, and that of most of the board, were aptly summarized by member Holli Cash, who memorably attended one meeting dressed in cheerleader togs with pom-poms in hand to root for the super.

While there's talk - and fear - that the current board might race ahead and hire a successor for Sanderson, that job belongs to the new board that takes office after this year's elections. They are the ones who must work with Sanderson's predecessor, and it should be their responsibility to find someone who shares their collective vision for the system and how to implement it.

And as for talk that Deputy Superintendent Dr. Steve Constantino might be tapped to replace Sanderson, that would be a mistake. While his academic bona fides are no doubt in order, he is too closely associated in the public's mind with Sanderson. Hiring him would be akin to the 2005 school board hiring Redden's No. 2 to succeed him. No, what the Cobb system needs is a clean break from the past - and a thorough housecleaning at the headquarters on Glover Street - to make the current culture of "deception and deceit" an unhappy memory. It's time for the healing to begin.