Dublin school board reopens search for new superintendent

The Dublin City Board of Education is reopening its search for a new school superintendent.

Chairman David Westerfield announced Monday night that the board will again start looking for a superintendent, drawing from the field of two dozen candidates who applied earlier this year.

“It will not be a new search. We will reopen the search that was in progress before,” Westerfield said. “The search is in progress. It is open.”

Former curriculum director Marcee Pool has served as interim school chief since last September, after Superintendent Fred Williams stepped down to take an early retirement when the severity of the district’s financial crisis was revealed.

The school system believed it had filled the position earlier this year following a nationwide superintendent search conducted by the Georgia School Boards Association. The school board picked a finalist but withdrew its offer over a contract dispute.

The board offered the job in July to Marietta City Schools human resources director DeMarcos Holland, naming him the sole finalist from 25 candidates. However, the board finally pulled the offer after several weeks, unwilling to accept Holland’s increased salary demands.

The new superintendent faces some challenges in turning around the struggling school system, including working with a brand new school board. Members of the previous board were suspended and removed from office by Gov. Brian Kemp following a state hearing over the district’s low accreditation rating. The governor then appointed the new members.

History of money troubles

The district’s long history of money troubles reached critical stage last fall. Georgia Department of Education officials contacted the Dublin district last August after learning the system owed $5.6 million to the state health plan after not paying in contributions for the entire fiscal year 2025.

The system had not completed an audit since 2021, and after a closer look at the finances, state School Superintendent Richard Woods declared the district on a “path to insolvency.” 

A subsequent special examination by the state Department of Audits and Accounts, requested by local lawmakers, confirmed the root causes – overhiring and overpaying employees, wasteful spending and lax oversight – but also identified specific concerns ranging from late tax payments to the IRS, “abnormally” high credit card spending and unwarranted travel and expenditures. 

The audit also noted instances of family members traveling on out-of-town leadership retreats at the system’s expense and undocumented payments to a local florist.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating at the request of Dublin Circuit District Attorney Harold McLendon. The FBI has been investigating, as well, according to testimony at the state Board of Education hearing in August.

Williams, who took office in 2015, was promoted from within after working in the Dublin system as teacher, coach and then administrator. At the time, the district was in similarly dire financial straits. He inherited a multi-million dollar deficit and, with the aid of COVID funds, managed to get the system out of the red for a couple of years. 

However, despite warnings in 2022 from the state officials, the system continued to rely on pandemic money to fund positions and programs it could not afford.