ALBANY — Although it's not a complete picture, an Georgia Open Records request by The Albany Herald has lead to the discovery that 23 males and 13 females were applicants for the Dougherty County School System's superintendent post.

The Open Records request also revealed that of those 37 applicants, 15 were black, eight were white and 14 were unknown. The search attracted 39 applicants, but one application was incomplete and the second was not processed by Georgia School Boards Association.

The Dougherty County School Board was required to furnish the number of applicants and the composition of the list by such factors as race and gender, as provided by the Official Code of Georgia 50-18-72.

"Apparently, the application did not require information regarding the race or gender of any of the applicants," DCSS Attorney Tommy Coleman wrote. "As you know, all of the applicants were not interviewed. Consequently, the Board can rely only on the information on the application for most applicants. In those cases where the Board has been unable to determine the gender or the race of the applicant, we have put that individual under the category 'unknown.' "

Jennifer Oliver, vice president for communications for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, said that the 11-state regional accreditation agency had not received a formal complaint about the school system as a result of the board's decision Wednesday to remain with its decision to name Albany State University executive Joshua Murfree its sole superintendent finalist.

The Herald, WALB-TV and WFXL-TV have partnered to sue the school board for violating the Georgia Open Records law.

Georgia School Boards Association consultant Bill Sampson said the lawsuit was the first time a search that he conducted had turned into a legal matter. However, he did note that at least two other GSBA searches went into litigation in the past in Valdosta and Bartow County.

"In my personal experience, I've not had this kind of situation," said Sampson, a former superintendent for Cook County from 1998 to 2003, who has conducted 26 superintendent searches for GSBA since 2005.
He also was a principal at Lee County High School from 1986-98 and a principal at Crisp County High from 1974-86.

Sampson is one of four GSBA employees who specialize in superintendent searches. Don Rooks is the director of the nonprofit organization's superintendent searches. Donna Davis and Pamela Harris are staff assistants in the GSBA superintendent search division.

Due to the continuing questioning of Murfree being ranked 34th out of 37 applicants, The Herald asked Sampson to further clarify the GSBA rankings and how they are used to help school systems. The confidential Dougherty County rankings released in executive session were leaked to the media on Jan. 27.

"Number one, we don't rank people, we do a review on people," Sampson said. "After the application period is closed, we take all the applications and we have a panel take those applications and we take them to a (school) board. We (then) utilize those qualifications that (the board) agreed upon.

"We have three people go through them and they go through this independent of each other and they come together and combine those rankings and they take generally a third, a third and a third," he said. "(They say), 'This group meets all or most of the qualifications the Dougherty board has listed. This group meets some and the third group they feel like has fewer, or they have some of the criteria.'"

Sampson said the rankings are "relative" and are meant to be a "starting place."

"It's a relative (thing)," he said. "We do that to give the board a starting place. Within each of those tiers the applicants are put in alphabetical order (by last name); the list of applicants was given to board members along with the applications. Board members have access to any applicant.

"We don't say this person is anything. We provide the list by tiers. We don't assign numeric values to anyone. ... They're ranked in tiers so I can call references on 10-12 instead of 39. I supply references on all those people; and once I give them a list, it doesn't matter if they're in the first, second or third tier.

"I'm not going to comment on any person being on any tier or rank. I gave that to the board in executive session in confidence," he said. "That information is not supposed to be released, just the names of as many as three finalists. Georgia School Boards Association hasn't ranked anyone in any numeric rank, it was released to the board in three tiers — those that meet some, those that meet all and those that meet few. The board has authority or the right to move one group from one tier to the other or anyone that they want to interview."

Thomasville's J. Renee Gordon, of E-Squared — Empowering Educators, questioned much of the GSBA process that the Dougherty County School System followed. Including its 17-step "Superintendent Search Board of Education." Sampson said the 17-step process was developed in conjunction with the GSBA attorney, Harben, Hartley & Hawkins, a Gainesville firm that specializes in school law. Dougherty Board Chairman David Maschke said the school board stopped its selection process at about the 12th step.

"As a professional recruiter, I have never used a 17-step process to find the right candidate," said Gordon who has worked with E-Squared since 1984 and primarily recruits school principals. "When you have a process that's that lengthy you will always lose interest mid-way through.

"The second thing is establishing a criteria with a three-page anonymous survey will never give you the agreement in the group that is necessary to find the right individual. In the recruiting trade, you start by writing a job order and that job order is some of the typicals: relocation and the benefits. And, we cover the bases because we don't want to recruit someone that is making a $190,000 for a $135,000 (position). I don't want to talk to anyone where I have to take a vow of poverty."

"From a very distant observation, school districts that fail to meet their objectives are school districts that fail to hire the right people," she
added.

Lee County Board of Education Chair Sylvia Vann said Lee County School System used GSBA to conduct its last superintendent search which resulted in the hiring of current Superintendent Lawrence Walters.

"Seven years ago, when we did a superintendent search, we asked the Georgia School Boards Association to help us in the selection process," Vann said. "We found their fees to be very reasonable for the quality of work that they did for us and we've been more than pleased with the results of their search."