Newton Citizen

Photo by Howard Reed

COVINGTON -- The Newton County School System's central office administration will be reorganized later this year to save $143,000 annually.

The Newton County Board of Education approved a realignment of the staff during executive session Tuesday evening, but NCSS didn't announce the changes until Wednesday morning.

"(NCSS Superintendent Gary Mathews) wanted to announce the new realignment to the principals and those affected prior to releasing it to the public," said Sherri Davis Viniard, director of Public Relations at NCSS. "It was the first item on the agenda ... during his meeting (on Wednesday) with principals and central office administrators. Once it was announced in the meeting, it was distributed to all employees via email."

The change is effective beginning July 1, 2011, following the retirement of Dr. Linda Hayden, associate superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology.

Dr. Ken Proctor, currently director of Elementary Education, will serve as executive director for Elementary Education. Elementary school principals will co-report to Proctor and Mathews. Additionally, the positions of director of Federal Programs, director of Special Education and the coordinator of School, Parent & Community Collaboration will report directly to Proctor.

Currently, those positions report to Hayden.

Samantha Fuhrey, current director of secondary education, will serve as executive director for Secondary Education. Secondary school principals will co-report to Fuhrey and the superintendent. Additionally, the positions of director of Career, Technical and Agriculture Education, director of Students Services and the grants coordinator will report directly to Fuhrey.

Those positions also report to Hayden.

The positions of director of Technology and director of Testing, Research & Evaluation will report directly to the superintendent. They currently report to Hayden.

All directors in the Department of Operations headed by Deputy Superintendent Dennis Carpenter will remain the same -- the directors of Human Resources, Operational Services and Support Services, as well as the business manager, all report to Carpenter.