Clarke County School District Superintendent Dr. Demond Means talks with Athens community members during the CCSD Board of Education meeting at the Athens Community Career Academy on Dec. 3. The meeting, conducted in executive session, was focused on whether Means will continue his work within CCSD. “I want to move on where we are respectful of each other’s roles, that we are respectful of one another, that we can respectfully disagree and that we can keep the focus not on distractions, but truly implementing our strategic plan and making sure that the focus of our work are the students,” Means said. Photo by Luna Reichert
The Clarke County School District Board of Education and CCSD Superintendent Dr. Demond Means discussed his contract termination as Superintendent on Dec. 3 at the Athens Community Career Academy during an executive session.
Clarke County School District Superintendent Dr. Demond Means and the CCSD Board of Education called a meeting, held at the Athens Community Career Academy on Dec. 3, to discuss the status of Means’ contract with the CCSD.
Prior to the executive session, Means articulated his stance on the way the CCSD schools have functioned.
“When I continue to look at our student performance data, (it’s) concerning, and in my opinion as Superintendent, we have to do something. We have to dismantle a system that has been constructed to marginalize many of our students who attend the Clarke County schools. That’s just a system that we have, and so what we’re trying to do is is to clearly address those disparities and help all students, but in particular, people who have been marginalized and left behind for years,” Means said.
Athens community member Mary Bagby believes that Means should continue his role as Superintendent of the CCSD.
“(Means) needs to be here (because) he’s showing us the data, he’s showing us where we need to make corrections, and that’s what we need,” Bagby said. “We need somebody here to tell us, show us, (and) he’s laid it out, the evidence cannot be denied. (Means) has shown us where our children are failing, specifically children of color.”
Most of the evening was spent in a closed executive session that the public was not privy to, but after the night’s meeting was adjourned at 9:09 p.m., Board President Dr. LaKeisha Gantt made a formal statement.
“The Board has started the negotiations with the Superintendent to discuss his exit,” Gantt said.
The final result about Means’ contract as the CCSD Superintendent will be discussed between the Board and Means at an open session on a date later to be determined, according to CCSD District Eight Board member Dr. John Knox.
“To make any decision on hiring or firing of a Superintendent, not just firing, but any kind of change with the Superintendent, a vote has to be taken in open session in public, and (the Board hasn’t) done that yet,” Knox said.
According to Board Vice President Linda Davis, the community members in attendance had more questions than the Board had answers for.
“After the meeting, people wanted to know, ‘What’s the story, how’s it going?’ and we said that ‘The Executive Session is confidential, we can’t talk about that,’ but right now Dr. Means is still our Superintendent,” Davis said. “I’m actually in shock that we are in this place, because I felt like we did all the right things and yet, here we are.”
