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Thursday, September 2, 2010
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Decision nears on hiring Boaz superintendent
Published July 29, 2010
Boaz School Board members interviewed two candidates for the system’s top job Monday night.
Thomas Alexander Sparks, of Orangeburg, S.C., and Randall Michael Lindsey, of Evans, Ga., spent Monday touring Boaz schools, meeting with faculty and staff members, and answering questions before a packed meeting room. Board President Tony King said he hoped the board would have a decision made by early next week to replace the former superintendent, Leland Dishman, who retired in May.
A third candidate, David A. Copeland, of Walker, Mo., withdrew his name from consideration Monday following a family emergency.
“His father-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma today,” said board member Roger Adams. “He and his wife made the decision to drive home and removed his name from consideration due to the uncertainty they are facing.”
Sparks, the current superintendent for Orangeburg Consolidated School District No. 4 took his turn first, answering questions from board members for nearly an hour.
Lindsey is the director of student learning for grades 6 through 8 for the Columbia County School System.
The following are some of the questions asked by the Boaz City School Board members and the responses offered by the two candidates.
Both men were given the opportunity to tell the audience a little about themselves.
Sparks: I was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tenn. I attended the University of Tennessee on a baseball scholarship. I was signed as a pitcher by the Atlanta Braves and played with them for three years in minor leagues.
“I was able to play a short season that allowed me to teach until June and play ball all summer. I got three years of teaching experience and pitching experience before they called me in and said I might want to consider another career besides pitching,” Sparks said.
“I worked my way through teaching and then moved to South Carolina, where I met my wife. I taught most of my career there in high school mathematics and calculus. I was fortunate to be selected math and science program coordinator, then assistant principal and principal.
“Seven or eight years ago, I was selected assistant superintendent for instruction. In a small district such as that one, the term assistant superintendent means I did a little bit of everything, from transportation, instruction, technology and everything.
“About a year or so ago, I was selected as superintendent. I can hear you asking, ‘Did they run him out of town?’ and the answer is no. I told them the only way I would leave South Carolina would be to be closer to my mother, who is in her 90s and lives on Signal Mountain. I would like to be closer than 7 hours.”
Lindsey: I was born and bred in Alabama. I started at New Brockton High School. I grew up a country boy and went on to George C. Wallace Community College on a basketball scholarship.
“I coached just about every kind of ball there was and taught sciences for 10 years after I graduated. I decided I wanted to go into school administration and was hired at Daleville as assistant principal for the middle school. I moved to high school principal for seven years. I was assistant superintendent for two year and in that role I did everything but file a budget.
“It was an opportunity for me to learn the central office. After a 25-year career in Alabama, I retired and moved to Georgia. There, I was hired in an instructional role as middle school instructional leader for 5,400 students. The school system has a total of 23,000 students. I have always missed a smaller school system.
Question: If parents and students in your current schools were asked to write a statement of what drives you, what would they say?
Sparks: They would point out the fact that I realize my only job is to do what is best for the children. I am a hands-on superintendent. My No. 1 priority is academics. I have an open-door policy. I don’t take myself too seriously, but I do take education seriously. The No. 1 thing I use as a yardstick when making a decision is what is the best thing that will affect the most students in the district.
Lindsey: Achievement and improvement is what drives everything I do. I enjoy and appreciate seeing students learning in the classroom and seeing achievement improve. I work hard to make opportunities for kids and to see them improve.
Question: What are your feelings on technology and its use in the classroom?
Sparks: When I was an AP calculus teacher, I thought calculators were the downfall of the classroom because now students only had to punch a button and get the answer. I have evolved since then. I believe if used correctly, technology can be a great tool to help teach students.
“The problem comes if we have teachers that are not trained correctly in the use of the instruments and the instrument itself becomes the lesson. Technology is only a tool to teach the standards. It can’t be a bells and whistles show. We can’t survive without state of the art technology, as much as we can afford. However, when the power goes off, we still need to be able to teach.
Lindsey: Technology in education is extremely important. Our students exist in a technological world at this point. I see technology in two phases: as a teaching tool and making sure the students are capable of using it. Technology makes the teacher more effective.”
Question: We have worked hard as a school system to build up a good fund balance in just six years. How would you keep low overhead in our system, specifically in regard to the central office?
Sparks: In fiscal times like we are facing now, you have to make cuts … and everyone thinks the central office is always overstaffed all the time anyway. I know what I have to have to get the job done. I have to have a finance director and an operations person. I need an instruction person. I would look to see that everyone I have is essential and they have the support they need with no fat.
I like the central office to be lean and mean. We don’t work from 8 to 5. We work from can to can’t.
Lindsey: It would be a little presumptuous of me to give you a staffing plan without knowing what you have. I like using strengths. Staffing is driven by priorities. I am not sure I would require a large central office staff. I think we need to operate a central office in a manner best suited to do our job.
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