Cherokee County Schools working with GSBA for their next superintendent

Cherokee County Schools is turning to the Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA) to help aid them in finding the next leader of the district after the current Superintendent, Dr. Brian V. Hightower announced his plans to retire at the end of this school year. During the September 14^th meeting, Bill Sampson, the GSBA Board Development Specialist, spoke to the school board about the GSBA’s services and the timetable to find suitable candidates.

“Since 1996 all school boards are elected and all superintendents in Georgia are appointed. Since 1996, GSBA has majority of 300 searches and I wanted to make it clear in our protocols that they are vetted they are completely sound and successful in those searches.” Said  But, I do want to make it clear GSBA, is not a headhunting firm. We do not pick people for you to interview or hire. All information we gather we collect on behalf of the board based on your qualifications that you say are most important.

Dr. Hightower has served as the Superintendent since 2016 after serving as a social studies teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal, and Deputy Superintendent. Cherokee County School hosts 42,000 students and 5,000 students and Dr. Hightower has been named as a finalist as Georgia’s Superintendent of the Year.

The Cherokee School Board members will start the process immediately starting with the qualities they want in their next leader. GSBA will use that criteria along with state requirements for superintendents to announce the job opening. Once approved by the school board, the job posting will be advertised state and nationwide. Once a list of candidates has been established GSBA will facilitate interviews.

According to state law, after selecting one to three finalists, school boards in Georgia must wait two weeks for public input before voting to hire the next superintendent.