Butch Mosely reflects on life, cancer and five decades in education

ALBANY — It’s been a rough couple of months for Dougherty County School Superintendent Butch Mosely.

Over the Christmas break, his wife of 50 years, June, had a mini-stroke. Days later, he was diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer. Mosely immediately began chemotherapy treatment and announced he would step down at the end of the school year due to his and June’s health issues.

To top it off, two storms rolled through the county on Jan. 2 and Jan. 22, totally wrecking the start of the second half of the school year and costing the system 12 instructional days.

With 50 years in education, including four as DCSS superintendent, Mosely decided he’d had enough.

“I love what I do, and I love to work with young people. I love to see good things happen to them,” Mosely, 75, said.

Over the course of his career, Mosely has been a teacher, a principal and an administrator. He’s been interim or permanent superintendent for seven different school systems in Georgia.

“That might be a record, I’m not sure,” Mosely, a native of Climax, said. “But what I am most proud of is that I’ve never been fired from any of those seven systems.”

In late 2012, Mosely was approached by former DCSS School Board member Darrel Ealum. The system was coming off an arduous CRCT testing investigation, the state Department of Education was questioning the system’s finances and the board was having difficulty replacing former superintendent Joshua Murfree.

Ealum called two retired superintendents and was turned down. Then he called Mosely.

“At the time, the school system was in real trouble,” Ealum recalled. “I called Butch, and he said, ‘Come on down to Climax and we’ll talk.’”

Mosely took the job on an interim basis in January of 2013. Months later, the board made him full-time superintendent.

“When I took this job, I suspected it was going to be difficult, but that was one of the most intriguing things about it,” Mosely said. “I saw Dougherty County as a real challenge. I took it as a commitment to see if I was really good enough to pull the system up. I knew I could eventually turn the system around if I could get enough good people around me and we could get them to buy into what we were trying to do.

“Fortunately for me, they did.”

Mosely made the decision to step down from his post with more than a year left on his contract.

“It was a difficult decision for me personally, selfishly it was difficult. But for the good of my whole family, it was the right decision to make,” he said. “I definitely didn’t want to do it, but I know I needed to do it and that I had to do it.”

As the finish line draws closer, Mosely can’t help but peek back over his shoulder. Sure, there have been difficulties with the DCSS, but he says there are more pleasant memories to think about.

“First of all, I am grateful for how I was received by the community when I got here — from both African-Americans and Caucasians,” Mosely said. “I’m also grateful that the staff accepted me and followed my lead. Even though there is still a lot of room to grow, I am proud of the progress we’ve made.”

But now Mosely has different battles to fight with considerably more at stake.

“I was first diagnosed with cancer in 2002. And I had five different surgeries,” he said. “Normally, they just cut the tumors out, cauterize them, treat me a little bit and I move on. But this last one had gotten into the walls of my bladder, and if it goes through that wall it will spread throughout your whole body. The doctor said if it got through, the longest he’d seen anybody live was a year. That got my attention.

“Of course, my wife had that mild stroke over the holidays, and everything kind of piled up on us at one time.”

And to further add to the pile, Mosely had a reaction to his new chemo treatment and was briefly hospitalized until he could be stabilized.

“My children wanted me to come home, and they love their mama, too,” Mosely said. “I wonder how I am going to adapt without having as much to do. I’m not a sitter, and there is only so much you can do on a farm. There’s always work, but it is physical work that is now beyond my abilities. I’m sure I will keep my (school system) consulting business, and I am sure I’ll be called on from time to time about what is going on here.”

Earlier this month, the board offered Associate Superintendent and Director of Finance Ken Dyer the superintendent’s job. Mosely, who recommended Dyer for the position, says he thinks Dyer is the best fit.

“I have every confidence Ken can handle the job,” Mosely said. “He doesn’t have a lot of letters at the end of his name, but he will. He knows money and he knows the system. He’ll do a fine job.”

But after five decades in education, Mosely is finally headed home.