Board names elementary director

The Columbia County school board named Michele Sherman, the principal of Greenbrier Elementary School, as the county's new director of elementary student learning Tuesday.

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Sherman will replace Phyllis Means, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

Sherman came to Greenbrier from Martinez Elementary in July 2006 amid controversy over the demotion of former Greenbrier Principal Jon Pike. At the time, many parents of Martinez Elementary pupils protested the transfer.

In other action Tuesday, the board posted an evaluation document that will be used to assess Superintendent Charles Nagle's performance.

The evaluation includes 10 goals that the superintendent is expected to achieve.

The goals include requiring the superintendent to provide leadership in developing, administering and evaluating action plans to support the system's vision; assist the board in the continuous improvement of the school system; provide effective communication with community members; and provide sound fiscal management.

State law requires school boards to evaluate the system superintendent annually.

Under the Georgia School Board Association standards, school boards and their superintendents mutually agree on the evaluation instrument and its contents. The document includes the goals and the steps needed to achieve those goals.

The board will begin the evaluation process in May.

Nagle became the school superintendent July 1 at a base salary of $144,000.

Board members and administrators also discussed the adoption of new high school math textbooks for next year. The board, however, tabled the matter until it could get more information.

The textbooks would be issued to rising ninth-graders, who will be subject to the new Georgia high school graduation requirements that go into effect beginning with the freshman class of 2008-09.