Rachel Brown
Dalton Daily Citizen
DALTON — Whitfield County Schools superintendent Katie Brochu is one of three finalists for a superintendent position in a South Carolina school district.
Brochu was one of 99 candidates who applied to head up Richland School District Two in Columbia, S.C. According to the school district’s Web site, www.richland2.org, there are more than 24,000 students enrolled, and the budget is more than $322 million.
The Whitfield system has about 13,500 students and a budget of about $107 million.
“It’s one of those things that I don’t blame her, if she’s looking for a new challenge, and I think that’s what she’s doing,” said Whitfield Board of Education member John Thomas. He said he learned on Monday that Brochu had applied for the job.
Brochu earns $184,500 annually and also receives $750 a month for automobile expenses. Board members in June extended her contract through June of 2012. It was set to expire at the end of the current school year.
Brochu became superintendent of Whitfield schools in 2005. Before that, she was superintendent in York School District One in York, S.C., from 2001 to 2005. She was also a superintendent in Sumter County Schools in Americus from 1994 to 2001. In 1997, the Georgia School Superintendents Association named her Superintendent of the Year.
Board chairman Tim Trew said the Board of Trustees in the Richland school system is expected to pick one of the final three candidates by Monday.
Trew said local school board members would “cross that bridge when we get to it” if Brochu leaves. He expressed confidence in employees throughout the school system. He said Brochu met with principals and other key leaders on Tuesday to inform them she had applied for the position.
Thomas said he’s enjoyed working with Brochu and “she’s done an excellent job” and is a “wonderful lady who has done “a great job” for the system.
“We’re at a point where somebody else can get on board and do a great job and will be able to fill her shoes,” he said. “There’s more than one astronaut that can pilot the space shuttle. There’s other fine superintendents out there, and I don’t think we’ll have trouble finding one.”
Board member Gary Brock said the school system will have to “keep moving” if Brochu lands the position.
“The system is going in the right direction,” he said. “We wish her luck if she gets the job, but if she (doesn’t), she’s still with us.”
Board member Thomas Barton said he learned of Brochu’s finalist status around lunch Tuesday when she called him. Barton said the fact that three board members are up for election this year could have a bearing on how soon the board names a new superintendent, if one is needed.
“Should we rush to name a superintendent? No, I don’t think we should,” he said. “You’ve got three people — that’s the majority of the board — up for election this year.”
The board members currently in those seats are Trew, Brock and Thomas.
Efforts to reach board member Jerry Nealey were unsuccessful.
