This story has been updated.

Decatur, GA — The Georgia School Boards Association has posted the job ad for the superintendent position at City Schools of Decatur across various platforms. The school board is working with GSBA to find the district’s next superintendent.

The job was posted on Nov. 4 and the deadline to apply is Dec. 18. To view the job posting, click here.

A spokesperson for GSBA said the job ad has been posted on the following websites: National Affiliation of Superintendent Searchers, TeachGA, GSBA, Georgia School Superintendents Association, National School Superintendents Association, and Ed Week.

Superintendent Maggie Fehrman took over for former superintendent David Dude in April 2021 after he left the district following months of investigative stories by Decaturish.com that examined allegations raised by the school district’s former human resources director. The board gave Fehrman a one-year contract in May 2021. The school board has publicly encouraged Fehrman to apply for the full-time job.

In February 2022, the board extended Fehrman’s contract for another year.

The school board began discussing the superintendent search at its Jan. 11 meeting.

“The board feels that we owe the community a search for superintendent, and we hope that Dr. Fehrman will submit her name for consideration,” School Board Chair Jana Johnson-Davis said. “The Georgia School Board Association has agreed to come to the board’s next work session on Jan. 25 to give a presentation on how they conduct superintendent searches.”

On Jan. 19, the School Board announced it had agreed to a one-year contract extension with Fehrman to give the district more time to conduct a search.

At the board’s work session on Jan. 25 it discussed the superintendent search with the Georgia School Boards Association and learned about GSBA’s process for conducting such a search. The school board also sought out other consultants to see how they would conduct the search. CSD contracted with GSBA in April.

Johnson-Davis said, at the April 12 board meeting, that GSBA would consider leading focus groups. It would be about $770 to $1,500 per session on top of their initial package. The cost would depend on how many facilitators are needed to lead the focus groups.

“It could potentially be up to three sessions. If we did three sessions at the higher end of the scale at $1,500, that would be $4,500 plus the initial flat fee of $7,500 will put us at $12,000 for the Georgia School Board Association,” Johnson-Davis said. “McPherson & Jacobson and BWP & Associates are $21,000.”

GSBA and the school board hosted community conversations in September and October to invite the community to share feedback for the board to consider as it prepares to create the leadership profile of the superintendent position. Anyone interested in participating must register in advance.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the date in which the job was posted. The story has been updated with the correct information. 

Editor and Publisher Dan Whisenhunt contributed to this article.