THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 11, 1995 TAG: 9505110416
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Virginia Beach schools Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette has been offered a job leading a school system in Georgia - two days after telling his staff and his family that he'd withdrawn his name from consideration.
Faucette was the unanimous choice of the Gwinnett County School Board, which interviewed four finalists last week and this week, and then made its offer Wednesday without making the customary visits to the candidates' districts.
Faucette, who has led Beach schools for nearly four years, said he will decide by Friday whether to accept.
``It's just something now I have to sit down and think a whole lot about,'' he said.
Faucette had vowed as late as Monday that he was not interested in the job. He sent a memo to his top staff and to principals that he was withdrawing. He also notified Beach School Board Chairwoman June T. Kernutt and Gwinnett Chairman Joel Taylor.
``My future is with you,'' Faucette's memo said. But he said Wednesday that the offer was too tempting to reject out of hand.
Gwinnett, a fast-growing suburb of Atlanta, has many characteristics that are similar to Virginia Beach. The school system has about 80,000 students; the Beach has nearly 76,000. The School Board hopes to promote a move requiring principals to share responsibility for decisions with parents and teachers.
One key difference is that the Gwinnett board has the authority to levy taxes to pay for its budget; the Beach board does not. The Beach board must negotiate its budget with City Council every year. This year, the process has been particularly contentious.
``Having been down there and talked to them and talked to their budget people, it definitely is a plus,'' Faucette said.
Gwinnett's School Board chairman, Joel Taylor, said Faucette and the board have yet to discuss contract specifics, such as salary and fringe benefits. The board had advertised a base salary of $135,000. Faucette's base salary now is $120,000.
Faucette said money would not be a deciding factor. What would make him stay, he said, is to have an affirmation of the unqualified support of the Beach School Board. The board has struggled with divisiveness since last May, when six of its 11 members were elected in Virginia's first-ever school board ballots.
Kernutt, the School Board chairwoman, said about Faucette's offer: ``I hope he doesn't take it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Sidney L. Faucette
by CNB