BOE gives superintendent ‘satisfactory’ review

Superintendent Shannon Adams will remain at the helm of the Jackson County School System for at least another year.

The Jackson County Board of Education decided Thursday to keep Adams’ existing contract, which will have another year left after June 30, 2011. Then, the board — which will include two new members — will have a say in Adams’ employment when it reviews his annual evaluation in December 2011.

Adams, who has been in education for 28 years and superintendent of the district for four years, said he doesn’t plan to retire soon.
“Not for the next two or three years, I hope,” he said when asked after the meeting.

The board’s decision came after it met for an hour and 15 minutes in a closed-door meeting on Thursday to continue discussion of Adams’ evaluation. Earlier in the week, the board spent a total of two hours and 10 minutes reviewing the superintendent’s evaluation — then decided to hold another closed-door meeting on Thursday on the matter.

Like the previous year’s evaluation, board chairperson Kathy Wilbanks said the group gave Adams a “satisfactory” rating, but discussed a “couple of areas for improvement.”

A plan has been established to address those improvements, but Wilbanks declined to discuss those specific details.

And like other employees in the Jackson County School System, Adams won’t get a pay raise — for the third year in a row, according to Wilbanks.

“That’s mainly because of the budget situation,” she said. “We don’t know what kind of cuts are coming down the road.”

The Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts reported that Adams earned $164,700 during the 2010 fiscal year, which ended on June 30.
During its review of Adams’ performance in December 2009, the BOE didn’t extend his three-year contract beyond the existing term. The contract will expire on June 30, 2012, according to Wilbanks.