Randy Shearouse.

Board members said it was out-of-the-box thinking and previous experience that ultimately led them to unanimously nominate a soon-to-be-retired Georgia superintendent for the same job in Limestone County.

Randy Shearouse served as superintendent in Effingham County, Georgia, for 15 years, and he announced he’ll retire in June after a total of 32 years with the system. However, when interviewing in Alabama in January, he told members of the Limestone County Board of Education that he wasn’t done with education yet.

“You really can make a difference in the life of a child,” he said. “… There’s no job I feel that can make a bigger difference in the life of a child than a superintendent.”

During Tuesday’s board meeting, LCBOE attorney Taylor Brooks explained board members could each say who they wanted for the position, or “ditto” another member’s nomination, then discuss and vote on a motion to offer the job.

Each member nominated Shearouse.

“He’s got the experience to match where we’re going as a group,” board member Ed Winter said, referring to the school system and board.

Board member Charles Shoulders voiced a similar sentiment, saying Shearouse’s years in Effingham County stood out to him.

“It speaks well of a person who has been with a system as long as Dr. Shearouse has been with that system and serving in that capacity,” Shoulders said. “That’s kind of unheard of, that a superintendent be in that place that long.”

Part of the superintendent search included stakeholder surveys, and board member Ronald Christ noted the experience matched what stakeholders wanted.

“He had experience as a teacher, experience as principal — both high school and elementary — and experience as a systemwide administrator,” Christ said. “… He built public confidence in the school. Three times, he got a 1-cent sales tax passed in the district, which obviously requires a lot of confidence in the school.”

Meanwhile, it was Shearouse’s ability to think outside the box that hooked board member Earl Glaze. He noted the purchase of a large farm in Effingham County, which students can not only visit for field trips and hands-on learning but also help operate.

Glaze said staff members got the chance to meet candidates during the interview process, and “the vast majority seemed to feel the same as the board.”

“He’s energetic, and I think he can bring some good things to the system,” Glaze said.

As for making sure the candidate is all his resume said he is, board chairman Bret McGill said Shearouse was “vetted to the point of stalking. I told him at one point during the interaction that if there’s a skeleton in his closet, it’s buried pretty deep.”

Shearouse’s resume says he received his doctorate in educational leadership from Capella University and his master’s and specialist degrees in educational leadership from Georgia Southern University. GSU and Capella are listed in the U.S. Department of Education’s Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs.

After a vote to approve offering Shearouse the job, Brooks provided members with a sample contract, though he made it known there were several intentional blanks. He said the contract resembled that of former superintendent Tom Sisk’s, but it did not include a salary amount and the contract would only be good for two years.

After that, Brooks said, members could add another year or provide 90-day notice they would not be renewing the contract. The contract did include language about the possibility for incentives, such as those for meeting system debt goals or maintaining a healthy fund balance, McGill said.

Other business

In other business, board members approved the following:

• Using the Ardmore High soccer field for an alumni soccer game Feb. 22, hosted by the Ardmore soccer team as a fundraiser;

• Using the tech center’s culinary facility for the JROTC Military Ball, March 7, hosted by the JROTC program;

• Using the Cedar Hill gym for Cub Scouts Pack 282’s Pinewood Derby Race on Feb. 21–22 and District Pinewood Derby Race on March 20–21;

• Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama meetings in the Johnson Elementary cafeteria, Feb. 24 through the end of the 2019-2020 school year;

• Purchase of commercial dishwasher for tech center culinary department;

• Purchase of 73 iPads with shock-proof cases and four charging stations for Johnson Elementary;

• Purchase of materials for Tanner High greenhouse;

• 2020-2021 Limestone County Schools Comprehensive Course Offerings Booklet;

• PowerSchool SIS Training/Onsite Certification, July 20–21, as PowerSchool SIS will replace iNow/Chalkable Student Management System in July 2020;

• Use of University Instructors Inc. for EPIC Summer Camp, a summer leadership camp for 65 students in grades 6–9;

• Joint maintenance agreement between LCBOE and Lincoln County (Tennessee) Board of Education for bordering school students in the 2019–2020 school year;

• Sale of 31 spare buses; and

• Job descriptions catalog.

Visit https://bit.ly/LCBOEagenda for complete list.

Personnel actions

The following personnel actions were approved during the Feb. 18 meeting:

• Retirements — East Limestone physical education teacher Lisa Flanagan and LCCTC custodian Chris McNatt;

• Resignations — Elkmont Elementary principal Haley James, Johnny Stephens as Tanner assistant softball coach only, Sugar Creek custodian Jeffery McPhearson;

• New position — Bus aide for Creekside Elementary/Creekside Primary/East Limestone High;

• Contracts — Blue Springs instructional assistant, itinerant bookkeeper, West Limestone Title I math intervention teacher, Clements/Blue Springs bus driver, interim special education director, Elkmont Elementary interim principal, Piney Chapel after-school English Language instructional assistant, Johnson instructional assistant, Sugar Creek instructional assistant;

• New personnel — Creekside bus driver, Creekside Elementary special education teacher, Cedar Hill teacher, West Limestone special education teacher, Tanner LPN/aide, Creekside custodian, Creekside/Johnson technical specialist, Tanner Elementary bookkeeper, East Limestone itinerant instructional assistant, Sugar Creek custodian;

• Volunteers — East Limestone/Piney Chapel drumline mentoring program, volunteer assistant softball coach at Ardmore High, six Elkmont High volunteers, one Sugar Creek volunteer, West Limestone fishing captains, chaperones for Clements High gifted program trip to Camp McDowell, chaperones for fifth-grade gifted trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee, three Blue Springs volunteers, two Tanner High assistant soccer coaches, one Elkmont Elementary volunteer, Ardmore High assistant soccer and football coach, State Restaurant Association Competition chaperone, two West Limestone volunteers; and

• Suspension — Tanner High teacher Annie Knight, five days without pay.

Visit https://bit.ly/LCBOEagenda for the complete list.