TRENTON, Ga. – Dade County Schools Superintendent Patty Priest will retire at the end of the year, but school board officials hope to have a replacement installed well before her exit.
“I’ve been in this business for 40 years,” Priest, 62, said Thursday. “I started teaching in 1968, and it’s time to retire.”
Priest hopes her replacement will have expertise working with the grants awarded this year to Dade County High School and with Dade’s share of $400 million in federal Race to the Top funding that could be dispersed to districts any day.
The Franklin County, Tenn., native started out as a math teacher at South Junior High School in Cowan, Tenn., and served as Franklin County Schools chief before she retired from education in Tennessee.
Priest said she wants to spend more time with her husband, Mackie, who is 69.
“He wants to do some traveling; we like to camp,” she said. The couple also will move back to Middle Tennessee, she said.
School board chairwoman Carolyn Bradford said she hates to lose Priest.
“She’s a very good superintendent, and I really don’t like the fact that she’s retiring, but I understand people retire,” Bradford said.
Board members want to move quickly because Dade County High School has a $2.6 million, three-year federal School Improvement Grant and Race to the Top money involved, Bradford said.
She said it’s important that the incoming superintendent gain as much experience as possible while Priest still is on the job.
The plan is to pick a replacement in December who can start work in January, she said.
She said the board has sent out brochures and posted the job on various websites.
“We’re waiting for applications,” she said.
Priest joined the Dade Schools central office in June 2001, working in federal projects and as testing and curriculum director and a curriculum specialist. She was appointed superintendent in March 2005, officials said.
Priest said the greatest challenge of her career has been the fallout from the current economic crash and the demands of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, implemented in 2001.
Dade has struggled with job losses, state funding cuts, teacher furloughs, a shortened school year, an increasingly strict curriculum to meet No Child Left Behind requirements and new state standards to improve student test scores, she said.
“The economic downturn has been one of the hardest things I have ever had to deal with,” Priest said.
The new superintendent will have a tough job as the economy continues to stagger, she said.
“I think there’s some more challenging times to come,” Priest said.
DADE SEEKING SUPERINTENDENT
Applicants for Dade County Schools superintendent must send a packet containing a formal letter of interest, a completed application form (available on the school website at dadecountyschools.org), a copy of their Georgia leadership certificate or evidence of eligibility and three references. A resume is optional.
* Deadline is 4 p.m. Nov. 1
* Application and reviews to be conducted through November
* Tentative date to name the new superintendent is Dec. 20
* Tentative date to report to work is January 2011
* Take over duties of superintendent July 1, 2011
* Mailing address:
Superintendent Search
Dade County School System
P.O. Box 188
Trenton, GA 30752
Source: Dade County Schools