Inside this Issue:
“Arlington’s St. Jude Marathon,” p.4
Best Buddies at AHS, p.12
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Arlington & Lakeland’s Community Newspaper
theview
theview
January 2014
Local Municipal Schools Select Superintendents
Arlington HS and Germantown HS Principals to lead Arlington, Lakeland Systems
By Terry Louderback
Just three weeks after
being sworn into office
the boards for Arlington’s
and Lakeland’s new
municipal school systems
announced their decisions
for superintendent at
separate meetings on
December 23.
Two legacy Shelby
County principals will
lead the new municiapal
systems. The Arlington
Community Schools
Board selected Arlington
High School Principal
Tammy Mason. Just a
few miles away, the
Lakeland School System
Board chose Germantown
High School Principal Dr.
Ted Horrell.
“Tammy brings a
tremendous amount of
experience, almost three
decades, and the personal
contacts to work seamlessly with the other
muni cipal dist rict s
including the Unified
District,” ACS Chairman
Dale Viox stated. “Those
relationships will allow us
to navigate and accomplish things in a very
diverse and complicated
political environment.”
After the Lakelandmeeting Kevin Floyd,
LSS Chairman remarked
“We are excited about the
future. We think Dr.
Horrell will be an excellent visionary. He will
Tammy Mason
give our children and
teachers the support and
tools necessary to achieve
academic excellence.”
Originally, the two
systems had planned to
share the position when
they entered into a joint
search process with the
Tennessee School Board
Association. The two
boards were presented
with the same list of four
finalists by the TSBA, but
interviewed them separately and asked different
questions.
During the Arlington
meeting, Mayor Mike
Wissman spoke briefly to
the board, confessing that
he was “choked up during
the prayer” as this was a
“proud moment” for the
town.
Viox also emphasized
the significance of the
occasion.“The importance
of the day has weighed
heavily on each member
of the board,” he said.
In the end, Arlington
High School Principal
Tammy Mason’s vision
Dr. Ted Horrell
for the school system
and connections within
the local education
community gave her the
unanimous support of
the board to become the
first superintendent of
the Arlington Community Schools.
Mason described
herself as “humbled” to
have been chosen for the
position. “Arlington has
great schools,:” Mason
commented. “Our goal is
to continue the outstanding work of our
teachers and administrators and provide a system
with structures, which
supports the schools. “
“I will work hard to
develop a system of
communication for our
community as decisions
are made.”
Ready to work,
Mason added that she
expects to begin filling
key positions in the
administration within the
next few weeks and “to
create processes and
procedures for keeping
and attracting the most
effective teachers and
administrators to ACS.”
Support for Dr. Ted
Horrell came both from
members of the community during the public
comments and from the
school board members.
Horrell’s emphasis on
long-range planning and
academic achievement set
him apart and led to his
nomination and selection
as the inaugural superintendent of the Lakeland
School System.
Like Mason, Horrell
is excited about “the
opportunity to serve the
Lakeland School System
and the interests of the
more than 2,000 students
living in Lakeland. We
have financial and
logistical challenges
ahead of us,” Horrell
stated, “But we also have
tremendous opportunities
for growth and increased
academic achievement.
The residents of Lakeland
expect the best for their
children, and I look
forward to working to
help make sure those
expectations are met.”
Contracts for Mason
and Horrell are expected
to be approved in early
January .
Lakeland Unanimously Chooses Thomas
As City Manager
By Terry Louderback
After a 45
minute delay for
the
commissioners to mull
over
their
decision, Lakeland
Mayor
Wyatt Bunker
and the Board
of Commissioners unanimously selected Shelby
County Commissioner
Chris Thomas as the new
City Manager on December 17.
Four of the nine
candidates were present at
the Special Called meeting and participated in
several rounds of questioning from the mayor
and BOC. Along with
Thomas, the group
included Jim Lee, a
former
Fayetteville, TN
city administrator, retired
Air
Force
Brigadier
General Randy
Witt,
and
Fayette County
Commissioner Terry
Leggett.
Thomas
called
heavily on his sixteen
years of experience as
Shelby County Probate
Court Clerk and position
as Shelby County Commissioner for the past
three years to answer
questions regarding his
experience managing
staff, projects, and departments. Prior to the vote,
Lakeland Commissioner
Randy Nicholson, who as
an attorney worked with
Thomas at the Probate
Court, spoke in support of
Thomas and his accomplishments as Probate
Clerk.
Thomas began his
position as Lakeland City
Manager in late December. At the meeting he
announced that he will
continue on the Shelby
County Commission until
the end of his current
term in 2014, but will not
run for re-election.
Thomas is a graduate
of Kingsbury High
School and earned a
bachelor’s degree in
Marketing from the
University of Memphis.