Butch Mosely reviews two years in charge of Dougherty school system

ALBANY — In January 2013, Butch Mosely became interim superintendent of the Dougherty County School System, inheriting a system reeling from a CRCT cheating scandal, abysmal test scores, federal funding issues which resulted in Georgia Department of Education intervention, and underperforming schools.

As his two-year anniversary as superintendent draws nearer, the CRCT mess is fading in the rear view mirror, test scores are rising, oversight by the Georgia Department of Education is easing and four schools have been removed from the state’s watch list of troubled schools.

“We have people in place now that are serious about their work,” Mosely said. “They are serious about their behavior and are doing their jobs well. That permeates throughout the entire system. When people see positive moves in the right direction, they are proud of that effort. They are not losers, and its because of the combined efforts of our teachers, principals and staff.”

Mosely pointed to the academic resurgence of Albany High School, due in large part to a three-year, $3 million School Improvement Grant. While the grant has expired at Albany, Dougherty and Monroe have been placed into the program and he hopes to see similar gains at those two schools.

The superintendent has been pleased with the results of the Performance Learning Center at Monroe which had 30 at-risk seniors this past year, 20 of whom graduated. Mosely also said the system will revisit establishing a College and Career Academy which was voted down by the School Board in 2012, but has regained traction over the past two years.

“We’re going to have to do a better job explaining the concept to the community,” Mosely said. “There were a lot of misconceptions floating around last time. A college and career academy is important to the system because it may influence those who want to come here.”

Next year will also see the implementation of the district’s new One-To-One Technology Initiative, a $14 million program which will place a computer tablet in the hands of each of the system’s more that 15,000 students. The $14 million initiative is the largest non-building related expense in the school system’s history.

“We’re ahead of the curve on that one,” he said. “We’ve also got to make it work. That’s a little scary.”

Mosley said he was also excited to receive the recently released Fanning Institute report which offered recommendations on improving the county’s PK-16 education systems. He added that he thought the district’s Strategic Planning Committee composed of teachers staff and students would also be helpful in moving the DCSS forward.

“We’re going to find out what is working and what is not effective,” Mosely said. “We are going to keep plugging away and we expect positive results. I also expect to give and to get. We still have challenges, but we are seeing improvement. It was, and still is, all a matter of getting the right people into the right places.”