Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 19, 1990 TAG: 9005190428
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
The Georgia School Board was to meet this morning for a final talk about Burns and the other three finalists - all of whom visited the community to meet with groups ranging from students and teachers to business leaders this week.
"There were two candidates that really were kind of heads and shoulders above the others," Mike Gaymon, president of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, said Friday. "He [Burns] was certainly up there at the top, if not on the top of the list."
Columbus business leaders grilled Burns at a breakfast Friday and he passed with flying colors, Gaymon said.
"We fired some hard questions at him," Gaymon said. Trying to get beyond the usual "smoke and mirrors" that superintendents typically offer, business leaders asked, among other things, "What do you bring to the table that's different from other folks?"
"Our goal is to become the best school system in Georgia," Gaymon said. "We want someone who has a vision and a willingness and the resources to lead our organization and the community in that pursuit to be number one."
"Business as usual will not get the job done," Gaymon said he and others told Burns.
Gaymon said Burns struck him as an innovative educator. "I think he brings to the table a willingness to break through tradition . . . a risk-taker, if you will.
"I was impressed with the guy," he said. "He seemed very much in control. He was not quite as anxious as one or two of the other candidates."
Muscogee School Board Chairman Dan Doleman said he does not know when the board will make a decision. But Burns told Pulaski County School Board member Thomas Thompson that he would know today.
Thompson said he thinks final interviews with the other three finalists were just a formality. Burns has been the top contender for weeks, he believes.
Moreover, Burns told Thompson his salary in Georgia would be $95,000, Thompson said. Doleman would not confirm this. "We've not settled on any type of contract," he said.
Burns came to Pulaski County last July from Indian River County (Vero Beach), Fla. He is being paid $79,500, with a 5 percent increase raising it to $83,492 as of July 1.
Pulaski board members have said they see no problem releasing Burns from the remainder of his four-year contract if he wants to leave.
"It's best for him to leave now," Thompson said. "If he really had the Pulaski County school system at heart he'd at least stay here for four years."
"I think we're all disappointed," said member Nathaniel Tuck. "We have been feeling good and positive" about the changes Burns has brought to the school system.
"On the other hand, I feel like we can get another superintendent and proceed right along," Tuck said.
Liza Benhan, an education editor with the Ledger-Enquirer, has followed Burns for the past two days as he's met with teachers, students and business leaders.
"There's no doubt in anybody's mind that he's going to be the man," she said. "They like him down here, they really do."
by CNB