The Charleston County School District Board of Trustees will consider at least two candidates from within the district as it searches for a superintendent to replace Nancy McGinley, according to a press release from Chairwoman Cindy Bohn Coats.
In the release, Coats writes that the board will consider acting Superintendent Michael Bobby and Deputy Superintendent Lisa Herring as candidates, along with former Horry County School District Superintendent Gerrita Postlewait. The board will conduct “initial discussions” with the three candidates in late March or early April, according to the release.
The school board chose Bobby as interim superintendent to fill a gap after McGinley resigned in October 2014. Bobby previously served as the district’s chief financial and operations officer, and the school board and the press often called upon his expertise when discussing issues including the district’s credit rating, fleet bus management, and the funding of teachers’ automatic salary increases.
Herring previously served as the district’s associate superintendent for academic and student support, and she was promoted to her current position in July 2013. She was involved in securing the $19 million worth of federal Race to the Top funding, and she helped oversee district-wide programs focusing on McGinley’s Vision 2016 achievement goals, which have had varying levels of success.
Postlewait served 10 years as superintendent in Horry County before resigning in 2006. According to a June 21, 2006, report in the Loris Scene, Postlewait resigned citing a need to focus on “family matters,” including an aging mother in Arizona. “The board believes that the district is in sound condition academically and fiscally, and from a management standpoint, Dr. Postlewait has provided excellent leadership as superintendent since 1996,” school board Chairman Will Garland said in the report. The Horry County School District had an Average absolute rating and a Below Average growth rating on its state report card when Postlewait stepped down in 2006.
According to Coats’ press release, the district chose to consider the three candidates based on the recommendation of Paul Krohne, executive director of the S.C. School Boards Association, who has helped conduct superintendent searches around the state for 15 years. At a March 3 school board meeting, Krohne “suggested that before engaging SCSBA in conducting a national search, given the time, expense, and other practicalities involved, the CCSD Board of Trustees should give careful consideration to the two internal candidates,” according to the release. Coats writes that Krohne also recommended Postlewait as a potential candidate.
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