Educator Tom Sisk says he asks himself two questions before he goes to sleep at night:

• Did I make a decision today that harmed a student?

• Did I make a decision today that helped a student?

The answers guide his actions the next day.

The 47-year-old Baldwin County Schools human resources director is the Limestone County school board’s choice for superintendent.

Board members voted unanimously Thursday to offer Sisk a contract for the job, including a starting salary of $115,000 and possible incentive pay. They will hammer out the details of the contract at a meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Board members cited Sisk’s experience in handling personnel issues, his working for a large school system, his outgoing personality and his willingness to help obtain money to buy laptop computers for students as evidence of his promise.

If he accepts the contract, which he said he intends to do, he will replace Interim Superintendent Zebbra Green, who was among the five finalists for the job. 

In a telephone interview Thursday, Sisk said he was “ecstatic” upon learning the board had selected him above the others vying for the post.

Roots

Born in the small city of Bellaire, Ohio, but raised in West Virginia, Sisk said he was adopted when he was less than a week old and raised by loving parents. He has met his birth mother and has a “pretty good relationship with them.”

“Everybody has baggage,” he said. “I understand the extended family because of this experience. I understand the conflicts and how it impacts kids.”

A Boy Scout, coin collector, husband, and father of three, Sisk seems at ease with himself. He answers questions without fanfare or paranoia. He is not the shy, quiet type.

His philosophies — at least the ones he had time to share — seem straightforward:

• Treat people the way you want to be treated.

• Look, listen and learn before you try to lead.

• Get involved in the community; don’t just be someone at the other end of the phone.

• Approach situations involving employees and students with the belief the person is innocent until the facts are in.

• Don’t micro-manage; find the best person to put in front of kids and the best person to run the building, and manage those assets.

Sisk and his wife, Jennifer, who is a second-grade teacher, currently live in Foley. His mother, Opal Sisk, lives nearby and would make the move to Limestone County with the family, he said. The couple also has three grown children — Katherine, Joseph and Sarah.

Involved in Boy Scouts for 29 years, Sisk said he had brought Scouts to North Alabama for camping in the past and “loved” the area. He also has some Scouting friends here, he said.

“Like I told the board, I’m not just looking for a job, I’m looking for a place to call home,” he said. “Limestone County has much to offer.”

Aside from Scouting, Sisk is also an expert in early American currency and is a certified appraiser. He caught the coin-collecting bug when he was a Scout.

Where he’s been

For the past nine years, Sisk has been serving as human resources director for Baldwin County Schools, the fourth-largest system in the state. He was an assistant principal for Foley High School for four years. He also taught special education and was a football coach, softball coach and a member of various committees at Foley.

He earned an educational specialist degree in administration from the University of South Alabama in Mobile — which makes him Dr. Sisk —and he has 24 years of experience in curriculum development.

What perked the board’s ears about Sisk were his efforts to help obtain grant funding to buy 1,200 laptop computers for students in Baldwin County last year; they will receive 7,000 more this coming year. (Can he do the same here in cash-strapped Limestone County?) The board also admired his and a colleague’s willingness to travel to the Philippines to interview and hire 14 Filipino math and science teachers when there were not enough people willing to take such teaching jobs in Alabama. Many such experts choose careers in higher paying private-sector jobs such as engineering or find better pay at schools in other states.

“Me and my colleague had to interview 300 people in three days; it was a marathon,” he recalled. Then we had to get them here and get them certified.”

Although some parents were not initially pleased with teachers for whom English was a second language.  But Sisk remained firm.

“My son was taking physics at Foley High, and I told them if I’m willing to put my child in front of this teacher, why wouldn’t you?” Sisk said. “It was the right thing to do at the time.”

Selection process

School board members recently completed a six-month search for a replacement for Dr. Barry Carroll, who retired Dec. 1, 2011, after serving 10 years. Green, who is elementary curriculum director, has been serving as interim superintendent since Carroll’s exit. The board hired a consultant in December 2012 to help in the nationwide search. The consultant received 23 applicants and the board chose five finalists to interview.  One dropped out to take a position elsewhere.

Sisk was the only one of the five who had never been a superintendent, though Green had served only a few months as interim superintendent.

Board member Bret McGill was the one to nominate Sisk during the board’s called meeting Thursday, saying that Sisk “stood out” from the other finalists.

Board member Earl Glaze, who initially had settled on three other finalists, said he changed his mind after the board interviewed the candidates.

“Sisk has worked in a very large school system,” Glaze said. “The things he said in his interview impressed me. I like that he has worked for a large (school) system as an H.R. (human resources) person. Over the last 10 years, we have seen a lot of H.R. problems; he brings that to the table. I like that he sought funding to put laptops in the students hands.”

Glaze pointed out that Huntsville City Schools agreed this week to lease laptop computers for students in sixth-through-12th grades, after already buying them for students in fourth and fifth grades.

Board member Charles Shoulders, a veteran board member like Glaze, also agreed on Sisk, describing him as “well-rounded in all phases of our (school) system” and a candidate who has also worked for a large system.

“I had another candidate in mind, I felt equally strong about but it doesn’t seem necessary to offer their name because one is strong in one area and one is strong in another.” he said. “They are both qualified to serve as superintendent.”

After board members commented on the nomination, they voted 7-0 to offer the contract to Sisk. He still has to accept the contract before he would become superintendent in June.

Glaze then suggested the board offer Sisk the low end of the $113,000 to $130,000 salary range because, while he has had 14 or 15 years as a school administrator, he has no experience as a superintendent.

McGill also restated a suggestion made earlier in the process of offering incentive pay to Sisk for raising the graduation rate, lowering the dropout rate, getting more students into advanced placement classes and other improvements.

“I don’t care if he makes $30,000 (more) as long as he improves our system,” McGill said. Incentive pay has not been a part of a superintendent contract in the past but other school systems, such as Dothan, offer it. Board members will discuss that when they meet Tuesday.

Leading in bad times

Like any Alabama school dependent on the highs and lows of sales-tax collections, Sisk is no stranger to the funding shortages. His system has had to lay off 600 in the past three years. As H.R. director, he often had to deliver the bad news.

As for the prospect of bolstering the states education budget by passing a state lottery — which some Alabama residents have proposed — Sisk said he has no personal opinion on it.

“If it comes to a vote, let the people decide,” he said.

While he is happy to have been selected, he has no illusion he was the only one for the job.

“Any one of the four candidates could do this job,” Sisk said. “I’m no better. I’m honored the board has given me this opportunity, and I will do my best that their trust in me is not misplaced.”