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Thursday, May 8, 2008
Our old friend surfaces in Memphis search
James A. Williams
When the news broke last week about Dayton Superintendent Percy Mack was a candidate for superintendent in Columbia, S.C., we talked a lot about whether he had been job hunting or not.
Mack insists he was not looking when Columbia’s search consultant called him, but he said he was frequently contacted by districts searching for superintendents. Just since the start of the school year, Mack said, he was contacted by districts in Wisconsin, Louisiana and Tennessee but did not respond. That’s because, Mack said, he only wants to work here in Dayton or at an urban district close to his native Georgia.
To make the point, he got out a letter he received from Memphis schools asking him to apply for superintendent there. Memphis is a huge district with more than 100,000 kids and superintendent there is a high profile and well-paying job. Mack argued if he were really just trying to springboard out of Dayton to a better job he certainly would have applied in Memphis.
Well, yesterday Memphis named its five finalists. Mack is not one of them, but guess who is? Yep, our old friend James A. Williams.
Williams was forced out as superintendent in Dayton in 1999 after a financial scandal that led the school district into some of its darkest days. But it all worked out OK for Williams, who got a $200,000 buyout and went to Montgomery County, Md., where he got an assistant superintendent job that paid even better than his superintendent gig here.
He left Montgomery County, Md., by mutual agreement, but he wasn’t out of a job long. He landed in Buffalo, N.Y., another big district, where he has been at the center of controversy again as superintendent of schools.
When Williams was in Dayton, he was constantly looking for bigger, better jobs (he interviewed, for instance, in Dallas). Now he is back in the mix for a big time superintendency.
I imagine a few people in Dayton are shaking their heads today that his problems here appear to have had little affect on his career arc.
(Image credit: Artvoice)
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