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Fayette school system has a rich pool of applicants, many from Clayton

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

The Fayette County School System seldom has to look very far to find qualified people to employ when job openings are posted.

The school system’s personnel department literally has hundreds of active resumes on file from all over the country, as well as neighboring school districts, and even accepts them over the internet.

“It’s tough to get a job in Fayette County,” acknowledged Superintendent John DeCotis, and he should know.

In the late 1970s, he took the train from New York to Atlanta and then a bus to Fayetteville to interview for his first local teaching job, at J.C. Booth Middle School.

The district also has resumes from highly qualified educators who already live in Fayette County and choose not to work while waiting for the right opportunity in the school system to come along, DeCotis said.

“There already is a qualified talent pool of teachers here who are just waiting for a position to suit them,” he said, adding that his preference is to look at area residents first when considering new hires.

In the past two years, that has meant hiring dozens of teachers and administrators who’ve left the troubled Clayton County Public Schools, some of them already Fayette residents.

DeCotis said Fayette County has never tried to openly hire anyone away from Clayton County or any other school system. Instead, all potential employees apply through standard procedure and are looked at on equal terms.

The most-qualified and highly recommended are usually given the job, DeCotis said.

Considering that, it is clear that Clayton County’s loss has been Fayette County’s gain in recent months. DeCotis has filled several high-profile jobs with former Clayton educators.

The most vital new appointment has been former Clayton Schools Chief Financial Officer Lee Davis, who became comptroller in Fayette County on Oct. 1.

Davis, who replaced James Stephens upon his retirement this fall, has the formidable job of balancing the school system’s books, which last year included nearly $200 million in both operating and capital expenditures.

A Clayton native and graduate of North Clayton High, Davis spent his entire career in the neighboring county until taking the Fayette job. The father of three lives in McDonough but said he hopes to move to Fayetteville soon.

On Feb. 1, Lee will be joined by a familiar face. The Board of Education has approved hiring Laura Brock as the system’s first internal auditor. She has held a similar position in Clayton County, working alongside Lee for several years.

DeCotis said he had no hesitation about hiring Lee and Brock from right next door, though he agreed that ordinarily the system would conduct a much broader search for top applicants.

In this case, the best people for the job were already close by. “We do hire from outside if it is a specialized position and his is a specialized position,” DeCotis said of Lee. “But he came to us highly recommended.”

DeCotis said Lee serves on the board of directors for the Tara Credit Union, which services the public employees in Clayton and Fayette counties, and he knows the community well.

“Brock has also worked with our people here,” said DeCotis. “She is a CPA and is versed in the new laws. We didn’t have anybody on staff who could do that, so it’s going to pay us in the long run to have this position.”

Another high-profile hire was C.W. Campbell as director of safety, discipline and athletics, a position created last February to address federal requirements brought on in the wake of the Columbine, Colo., shootings.

Like Lee, Campbell also spent nearly his entire career in Clayton. He was head football coach and athletic director at Lovejoy High School from its opening until 2000, when he became transportation director in Clayton.

Again, DeCotis said, Campbell was a natural choice for the safety job. “We never had a full-time designated athletics coordinator,” said DeCotis, who saw an opportunity to tap into Campbell’s experience and resources.

“Plus, he’s a Fayette County resident,” added DeCotis. Lee moved his family here from Clayton in 1999. He has a daughter who graduated last year from Starr’s Mill.