Teacher recruiter is 'an exemplary guy'
Columbia County's primary teacher recruiter doesn't believe race should play a factor in education.
Anthony Wright is the assistant human resources director for the Columbia County Board of Education.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
"I do the recruiting for our school system, and it is a predominately white school system," said Anthony Wright, the assistant human resources director for Columbia County schools. "I'll tell anybody that I meet that I'm not interested if you have two heads, are striped and have a horn. I'm interested in you if you can teach. That's what we want, and I think that's what the parents want."
Wright, 49, moved to Evans three years ago when his wife, Sheree, took an administrative job with the Medical College of Georgia.
Originally from Lexington, Ky., Wright has come to regard Columbia County as home.
"It's definitely a good place to raise your family," said Wright, whose daughter, Molly, is a freshman at Lakeside High School. "The values are first-rate. There's a real home-friendly atmosphere here."
The third youngest of six siblings, Wright graduated from the University of Kentucky before joining the U.S. Army as a lieutenant. After 22 years, he retired from the Army in 2000 as a lieutenant colonel.
He then became the human resources director for a college in Virginia before moving to Evans and taking a job with the school system.
"He's an exemplary guy in all ways," Columbia County Schools Human Resources Director Connie Davis said. "He's a role model for everyone, not just African-Americans."
Wright reluctantly admits to his role-model status, but he said it's not because he is an African-American, but because he is an honorable man.
"I was always taught that you could cut corners and get away with it, but there's your personal integrity that is the most important thing you carry with you," he said. "No one can take that away from you. The person you ultimately let down by cutting corners is yourself."