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Chalk this one up to leadership

By J. FRANK LYNCH

You might have missed a short item that ran on the inside of last Wednesday’s Citizen, reporting that the Fayette County Board of Education voted unanimously to renew Superintendent John DeCotis’ contract for another three years starting July 1, 2005.

Of course, this news was no surprise to anyone. Had any of the five board members dared to vote AGAINST keeping DeCotis at the helm, that would have qualified as a “shocker.”

The veteran local educator has more than two decades of experience in Fayette schools under his belt, from classroom teacher to five years now as “The Super.” In more than a year of covering education in Fayette County for The Citizen, I have yet to hear one truly cross comment about the man, his professional manner or his caring, committed character.

Neither his stature nor his ego are large, but DeCotis manages to draw awe from administrators and teachers. Even parents seem to approach him with reverence.

When issues do arise, as they did nearly a year ago with miscommunication over bus route changes and the failure of seven schools to meet Adequate Yearly Progress, DeCotis rises to the occasion, rallying leaders of the community with members of his own staff to reconcile the differences and get on with the business of teaching.

In fact, whatever beef you may have with Fayette County Schools, this fact cannot be denied: Under DeCotis’ watch, a good school system has evolved into a great school system.

And despite the challenges of growth and shifting demographics, it keeps getting better.

The latest evidence came just this week, when the state released the 2003-2004 results on Adequate Yearly Progress, the nationally mandated report card on each school required by the No Child Left Behind Act.

The words “fail” and “Fayette County Schools” are seldom spoken in the same sentence, and that’s why it was such a shocker when seven local schools failed AYP in 2002-03.

In the latest report, made public Monday, not one Fayette school fell short of meeting all the requirements last school year. Of 28 campuses, 28 schools reported Adequate Yearly Progress, a rate of 100 percent.

As a point of comparison, 48 school districts in Georgia also managed to pass 100 percent of their schools. But most of them have just a handful or fewer of schools to monitor, like Quitman County (one school), Pike County (four schools), or Screven County (three schools).

In fact, Fayette County was far and away the largest school district in the state to see every one of its schools meet the state and national requirements for “NCLB.” Just one other district throughout metro Atlanta managed to do the same, Rockdale County, where 17 of 17 schools passed AYP.

Though John DeCotis didn’t singlehandedly twist the arms of 28 school principals to ensure a 100 percent passing rate on AYP this time around, he commands a level of respect from those beneath him that values excellence and is committed to achieve. He is the glue that keeps Fayette schools so firmly held together.

With the contract renewal, DeCotis will receive a slight increase in base pay, to about $142,000 a year. This, my friends, is a bargain compared to what superintendents make in some neighboring communities where school performance doesn’t begin to compare.

John DeCotis is CEO of the largest “corporation” in Fayette County, a non-profit industry that employs more than 2,000 people, operates one of the state’s largest bus transit systems, serves up a million meals a year and looks after and cares for more than 21,000 children every day from August to May.

How big a job is it? Let’s put it this way: It’s why you live here. Our schools drive our economy. How this year’s seniors perform on their SATs will have a direct effect on how much you’ll be able to sell your house for next summer. It’s why businesses choose to locate their offices here. It’s why parents work their butts off to be able to afford to rent here.

Hiring a CEO to run the school district is one of the three main (and remarkably simple) responsibilities of the elected school board, which itself will remain stable for at least the next two years with the reelection of Marion Key in last week’s primary.

The other two functions of the board: Approve policy, and adopt a budget and set a tax millage rate. In fact, that last function was performed just last night in a special called meeting.

I’m sure the crowd was sparse. It usually is for such things. If anyone from the public was in attendance, they could have rejoiced in this fact: Despite an $8 million jump in the new budget over last year, your taxes are not going up, and in fact, they might actually come down a little.

Perfect school performance. Spiraling test scores. Bargain prices.

Grateful? Express it. The school district’s mailing address is 210 Stonewall Avenue East, Fayetteville, 30214. Dr. DeCotis’ e-mail, simply enough, is jdecotis@fcboe.org.

When you send your most prized possessions off on Big Yellow again on Aug. 9, don’t take it for granted.