ALBANY — Dougherty County Board of Education at-large member Anita Williams-Brown received a letter of recommendation in 2001 from lone school superintendent finalist Joshua Murfree as she sought a principal’s post in the public school system.

Through a Georgia Open Records request, The Herald uncovered a letter of recommendation Murfree wrote for Williams-Brown on April 20, 2001, for her in Williams-Brown’s pursuit of a principal position within the Dougherty County School System.

Williams-Brown is the school board member who made the motion to make Murfree the lone finalist for the school superintendent’s position.
When Williams-Brown was approached for a comment following Monday night’s board meeting, she shook her head and said, “No comment” before the question could be asked.

Although not accepting a question, Williams-Brown went on to say as she exited the board room that, “The only thing you’re trying to do is destroy my name and my office.”

Williams-Brown had been informed earlier that The Herald had requested the records.

She never attained the principal post. The letter from Murfree — in which he refers to Williams-Brown as a colleague and friend:

“Dear School Board:
I am honored to write this letter of recommendation on behalf of Dr. Anita Williams - Brown whom I have know (sic) for approximately three years as Assistant Principal at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School here in Albany, Georgia.

I have observed and worked with Anita as we mentor students through The Center of the African-American Male at Martin Luther King Elementary School. Anita Brown is an outstanding person to say the least. She is motivated and dedicated to education of children and youth. Dr. Brown is a General in the field of education. I know this lady to be fair, committed and dedicated to her school, students, faculty and staff.

Dr. Brown has the ability and the will to lead. She knows that leaders are visible, strong, determined and get results. Dr. Brown is this type of person who will get in the trenches to assist rather than stand on the banks and demand. Dr. Brown allows for creativity and autonomy from her teachers. Dr. Brown takes on activities which benefits students on the elementary, middle and high school levels in the Dougherty county (sic) area. She is well known in the community. Dr. Brown is always willing to assist and help.

It is evident that Dr. Brown is a dedicated leader. She is mild-mannered, and yet very serious. The beauty of her leadership style is that she knows how to listen to others. In her eyes is a determination of goodwill toward education and seeing young people achieve to the highest of their proficiency. She believes that education should start early. Dr. Brown often states, “It is never too early to learn. We must make teaching effective, learning attractive, fun and rewarding and then, the road to success is paved forever."

“Dr. Brown is a great role model and shows her greatness on a daily basis as a mother and grandmother and a dedicated servant of God. She encourages her daughter to be the best that she can in the face of adversity. She teaches her daughter that there is a world beyond the walls of her home and the walls of her school. She let (sic) others around her know that children and youth are challenged by the perils of a society and that they are not the real threat to a society. She believes that students are at risk based on what we as adults have demonstrated and made available. The environment places students at risk not students on the environment.

Dr (sic) Brown fosters, support and admires what she calls team effort. “It is about all of us.” She would sometimes remind me by saying, “Dr. Murfree, the “wagon of life” (sic) would not be so heavy if some of us would just get out and help push.”

Dr (sic) Brown is best described and represented in the true sense of the word as stated by Soren Kierkeegaard (sic, spelled Kierkegaard) ...

“To be that self which
one truly is; is indeed
the opposite of despair.”

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to send this letter in support of a well-deserving colleague, and friend, and . (sic) I strongly recommend Dr. Brown to your organization and formalized learning setting without any reservations. Please feel free to contact me if there is further information that will assist in your evaluation of Dr. Anita Williams-Brown for the position that she is seeking with your system.

I can be reached at Area Code 229.430.3032, by E-mail: jmurfree@asurams.edu or by my mailing address at 504 College Drive, Catherine M. Harnett Building (,) Albany State University, Albany, Georgia 30165.

Respectfully, I remain

Joshua W. Murfree, Jr., Ph.D., MAC, CCJS, ABFE, DAPA
Chairman, Psychology, Sociology and Social Work”

Board members David Maschke and Michael Windom each said Williams-Brown had never divulged her ties with Murfree to them.

Williams-Brown told The Herald Jan. 27 that she and another board member gave their “blessing” on Murfree in a non-meeting setting when they found out he had applied for the superintendent position.

“I gave him my blessing when I found out he applied,” she said. “If I remember correctly, we were looking over about the persons I thought would make an excellent superintendent and I was told he applied and I said, ‘Excellent!’”

On March 1, Murfree became the only finalist for the DCSS superintendent position when the other five candidates that interviewed withdrew their names from consideration. Friday, attorneys for the Dougherty County School Board and The Herald, WALB-TV and WFXL-TV agreed that Monday is the earliest Murfree can be named superintendent. The three media outlets, per the Open Records law, filed a lawsuit Feb. 4 when the school board didn’t release the names and information on the other two finalists for the superintendent position.

According to information in her DCSS personnel file, the last contract issued for Williams-Brown was the 2004-05 school year. She worked approximately six years as the assistant principal at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary. She worked as an assistant principal in Colquitt County during the 1998-’99 school year. She was a teacher at Radium Springs Middle School from 1994 to ‘97 and a teacher at Martin Luther King Elementary School from 1990 to ‘94. She was also a teacher at Lee Correctional Institute from 1977 to ‘90.

According to information off her application for assistant principal in September 1999, Williams-Brown attended Albany State from 1964-69, earning a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education. She earned her master’s in education from American University in Washington, D.C., where she graduated in 1973; She earned her L-5 leadership certificate in 1995 from Albany State and her L-6 educational specialist in leadership from the University of Sarasota (later became Argosy University) in 1998 and was attending Sarasota University (Argosy) for her education doctorate in curriculum and instruction, which she later received.

Murfree currently is the chief of staff, executive to the president and athletic director at Albany State. He was hired April 2, 1999, as the department chair of psychology, sociology and social work, a position that had been vacant for about two years.

According to his superintendent application, before coming to ASU, Murfree was a staff psychologist at Northwest Regional Hospital in Rome from March 1988 to July 1998. From May 1988 to August 1998, he was the executive director of The America’s Future’s Program in Atlanta.

The Herald previously uncovered a business relationship between Williams-Brown and Murfree. A Hawkinsville minister, Williams-Brown is the chief executive officer of her church’s community outreach program, Blessed Community Development Corporation, and Murfree is the chief financial officer of the nonprofit that was created Sept. 3, 2003, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Web site.