School board, Cowart close deal
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Scott Cowart, the new superintendent for Carroll County Schools, addresses a crowd of system employees gathered at a reception at the school board offices Friday. (Photo by Thomas O'Connor/Times-Georgian.)
Cowart, who will be paid a salary of $170,000 per year, takes over as the chief administrative officer of the school system at a difficult time, with state revenues declining and severe budget cuts proposed for education. Millions of dollars in federal stimulus money helped prop up public school systems across the country this past year, helping to defray many of the state cuts. That money likely won’t be on the table for next year.
But, he will start out with the full backing of the board and of the community.
“The superintendent search has been a complete community involvement and today’s 7-0 vote is reflective of that,” said board Chairman Donald Nixon. “It’s a hard job coming, but the work ethic is there and the experience is there.”
Though Cowart’s three-year contract does not take effect until June 1, he will work as a consultant from March 5 through May 31. He will spend up to 28 working days with current superintendent John Zauner, who will officially retire on May 31. Cowart will be paid $534 for each full day of service provided during the transition period.
Under his three-year contract, Cowart will also be paid $1,000 a month for automobile expenses, plus mileage, meal and lodging reimbursement for any out-of-town travel involving school system business. He will receive annual raises equal to those given to other certified employees in the system and he will also be eligible for annual merit bonuses of 3 to 5 percent of his salary based on his achievement of various goals set by he and the board.
Cowart said he was thrilled to be coming back to the school system where he started his education career. He joined the system in 1985 as a teacher and basketball coach at Central High School and became an assistant principal in 1991 and a principal in 1994. He left Carroll County in 2000 to become superintendent of Monroe County schools. He served eight years in Monroe County, leading that school system to improved student achievement. In 2008 Monroe County became one of only 17 school districts in the state in which all the schools made adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act for three consecutive years.
“We’re just excited to be back in Carroll County,” he said after Friday’s board meeting. “It’s a system that’s been good to me and good to my family. And to have an opportunity to come back and serve and give of my time and talents is a great opportunity. We look forward to working with the Board of Education, the parents and the entire community. Many good things are happening in this school system and we just need to continue to move forward.”
He praised Zauner for his work over the past decade.
“Mr. Zauner has done an excellent job and has positioned our system well for the future. Now it’s our job to move forward and we believe we can do that with the support of this community and make this the premiere school system in Georgia.”
In 2006, Cowart was awarded the 2006 Georgia School Superintendents Association Achievement award and in 2007 he was a finalist for Georgia’s Superintendent of the Year.
Cowart has spent the last two years working at the Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement. In that time he has worked with school districts across Georgia developing strategic plans, implementing balanced scorecards and providing training to educational leaders.
“We think his two years experience at the GLISI is going to be valuable to our system,” Nixon said after the meeting.
the Carroll County Superintendent's and the City of Carrollton Superintendent's current salaries($204,258.12 and $213,954.00 respectively). I commend Mr. Cowart(my former history teacher) for accepting $170,000 salary with all the headaches and sleepless nights he will go through as our Superintendent. If you do the math...he will be making LESS money($34,258.12 less to be exact!!!) As a middle school math teacher I think your focus should be about our students and collectively supporting our community and school system instead of always trying to "tear down" or undermine the success of others. To vetwife, you can access any salary of anyone in any school system in the state of Georgia(www.open.georgia.gov)
Wasn't he hired because he was so highly qualified! Why couldn't he just been provided briefing books and budget books to take home each night and on the weekend to transition! Why must he (or anybody) be paid $534 a day to learn the job for which he is supposedly uniquely and singularly qualified!
Shame on the BOE for wasting our money!
on its's own. Don't know wny. Hoping it don't double space this time but we will see. It is especially aggravating when a word shows up in the middle
of a line. If it double spaces on this..will
use my hubby's puter. Thanks.
Our present Superintendent makes according to
records, 180,000 plus and the data researched
was from 2007. Carrollton City School Super showed 175,000.
This is what happens when people are not watching
their tax dollar at work and the argument will be
that even though revenue is down, the salary is
nothing new but the perks are for sure.
Mr. Cowart was making 160,000 in Monroe in 07.
This is not right. The average teacher salary is
58,000 and when taxpayers are paying administrators like CEO's there lies the problem.
We also have so much going to salaries and perks
that there is very little left over for actual
appreciation of teachers and their pay and education in itself. The system is clearly broken and yes this whole Administration pay is greed. No one can convince me that the administrator works harder than the teacher.
There is a watchdog group in Illinois and they
are quite furious over this same kind of overkill in salaried government educational administrators.
I never did find out the pay scale for the
BOE members but people all over the need to reignin this type of overspending
I guess this is trickle down spending and abuse of the taxpayer at the expense of teachers and bus drivers and
our children.
We are in two wars, we have record high unemployment, we are at all time high in foreclosure and this is all unacceptable IMO.
Where is the oversight! We produce nothing,
we sell little, people are hurting and there
is precious little tax payer money to fund
these high salaries.
everyone on here is in complete agreement.
Please, Mr. Cowart, I don't know you, but
please do what is right for our community.
keep the salary. if you make a go of this mess you will have earned it.
however, you are a nut if you con't conceed the bonus stuff and the car allowance and so on.
scott you were a teacher when i first met you and a principal when i last saw you. you are a good guy and a man of charecture and integrity. remember where you came from. see where these teachers are now. understand that para pros custodians and bus drivers don't do it for the money./ same as you didn't when you began.
scott you are wrong! you should never forget where you came from. you should always remember what it was like and let that guide you. you are wrong here and you can make it right. all by yourself. you can make it right.
as far as the boe . next election vote their asses out. all of them
negotiations on just about everything in the County. Not everyone is going to agree on everything but people are getting tired of paying and paying and receiving very little.
This, they do agree on and across political lines. We should have known and should have
demanded to know what the job was going to pay
and how much it was going to cost the taxpayer.
It isn't only just THIS job but THIS one stands out for sure. I am still gulping over the Nutrionist making 90,000. How much money, our money
is going to waste?
Remember, all politics are local and it stops and
starts with the taxpayer and the voting booth.
Now don't think that the Board is not aware of
making career decisions because they are. I know for a fact that many told them this again and again.
We the people need to be informed before the fact, not after. They obviously have forgotten
who really does pay salaries. People have an obligation to their children and own well financial well being to stop all the abuses. Call it a tea party, call it a Watchdog, call it
We the People, but do let your voice be hear.
It is your money, your vote and your right. Use it as long
as you still have it.
I know of no one making money on sweetheart deals. I personally do not fall into the friends of the comfort zone. Everyone I know is strapped for cash all the way down to their socks.
If you are angry and disgusted at our elected School Board Members for wasting our money, then quit simply ranting here and instead telephone these fools and tell them to stop wasting our tax money:
Donald Nixon - Chairman @ 770-834-3877
Bernice Brooks - Vice-Chair @ 770-459-6464
Bart Cater @ 770-258-8229
Chris Gammon @ 770-834-7013
Mike Huckeba @ 770-832-9835
Dorothy Callaway @ 770-562-4282
John C. Stephens @ 770-832-0009
Tell them the Tea Party is coming soon!
"If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed and if we are not willing to change, we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by insects" (Jacques Yves Cousteau).
Back to Carroll County's economic plight....we can't afford this type of wasteful extravagance with our meager tax money. It's insulting. I hope this new Superintendent does renegotiate downward this outrageous gilded compensation package.
I also hope the voters in Carroll County will protest to the School Board Members who are reckless and wasteful with our taxes.
If the Tea Party movement is real, then all Tea Party supporters should go to the next BOE Meeting and tell these people to be more responsible with our tax money.
will happen. Did the BOE not think the citizens
and voters would be outraged? The President of
the United States up until the last 10 years made
200,000 for governing a nation. It was not until
the last decade that it was bumped to 400,000.
People on here brought up other administrators, such as the Sheriff. I agree.
This may be a big job but I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see if this super was courted
for that amount of money. Was this amount offered to the others? I am really curious as
why the excessive amount, especially the car allowance and transition pay along with the miniature AIG like salary.
We just can't afford this. I know of no one in
this community that can afford this type of pay.
As I said before, the majority I believe will think there is a whole lot more in the kitty and
will start demanding services for their teachers and bus drivers and children's learning environment. How do you even justify that amount? Someone, please educate me here, because I know senior citizens and military did not even get a cola this year nor will they next year. THEY ARE THE VOTERS AND THEY WON'T UNDERSTAND.
Scott, show the BOE and the taxpayers of Carroll County that you are a fiscal conservative and that you will be a good steward of our tax money!