Bell: New superintendent search to start in 2020

The search for a new superintendent for Laurens County District 55 is to begin in earnest after the New Year.

Laurens County District 55 Board of Trustees Chairman Robby Bell said the board will conduct a work session in early January to map out a plan for replacing Dr. Stephen Peters. Peters resigned Monday night during the board’s November meeting, but will remain on the job through the end of the academic year.

“We have several legal options, and we’ll sit down and decide which one we will take,” Bell said. “We’re very fortunate this go-round. I think the district is in a good position financially, and we’re poised to make some great strides in the future. I don’t think we’ll have any problem getting a new superintendent. Dr. Peters has left us in great shape.”

Bell said he hopes to have Peters’ successor in place before July 1, which is the start of the new fiscal year and Peters’ last official day on the job.

“We have a lot more information to gather, and we’ll be getting that information together, and we’ll put it on the table at the work session and move forward.”

Bell said the board was not taken aback when Peters offered his resignation due to his family circumstances. Peters’ wife, Dr. Angela Peters, took a job as provost and vice president of academic affairs in Albany State University in Albany, Georgia.

“We didn’t want him to resign but we knew when his wife got the job in Albany that, like any family man, he would want to keep his family intact,” Bell said. “He had another year on his contract, and we wanted him to stay, but I understand. If I was in his shoes, I’d do the same thing.”

Bell said he believes there are several potential candidates already working in District 55, though he does not know where the next superintendent will come from, but he expects the process to move forward quickly.

“We won’t drag around,” he said. “We’ll want to have someone in place before (Peters) is gone, so there will be a seamless transition.”