The transition of Dr. Steve Barker at the end of March as superintendent of the Coweta County School System will bring several administrative changes to the school system. Barker announced last week the changes in job positions include Dr. Marc Guy who will become Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services, Vince Bass who will serve as Director of Human Resources and Mark Whitlock who will continue to serve as CEO of the Central Education Center but will also serve as Director of Public Policy.
The changes in job responsibilities were approved by the Coweta County Board of Education and will take effect as Barker assumes his role as superintendent.
School system spokesperson Dean Jackson said Guy is currently the director of Human Resources for the school system and will become Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services, assuming the duties currently performed by Dr. Barker as he becomes superintendent.
Vince Bass currently serves as principal of Evans Middle School and will become Director of Human Resources, assuming the duties currently performed by Dr. Guy. Bass is not related to outgoing Superintendent Blake Bass, Jackson said.
Mark Whitlock is the current CEO of the Central Educational Center (CEC) charter school. Jackson said Whitlock will remain in his current position and will take on additional duties as the Director of Public Policy. Whitlock will coordinate the school system’s research and local input processes as the school board considers options for greater flexibility from state law, rules and policy in local governance, said Jackson. The state of Georgia is requiring all school systems to consider those options by 2013, and develop a 5-year strategic plan for local governance, Jackson added.
All three positions will become effective March 1, 2011. An interim principal for Evans Middle School will be named before Bass assumes his duties, and a principal for the 2011-12 school year will be named following a search process.
“It was my goal in filling these leadership positions to maintain an experienced administrative team while also limiting the budgetary impact on the system,” said Dr. Barker. “With these personnel changes, we will be under both the FY 2010 and FY 2011 budgeted amount for central office personnel.”
Noting the work history of the three, Jackson said Guy has served as the school system’s Director of Personnel since 2007. A 19–year educator, Guy became Assistant Principal at Northgate High School in 1997, after working for five years as a teacher in the Clarke County School System. He later served as an Assistant Principal at Madras Middle School 1998-99, Personnel Coordinator for the Coweta School System 1999-2002 Principal of Arnall Middle School 2002-2005, and Personnel Coordinator for the school system 2005-2007.
Guy earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Georgia, his Master’s and Specialist’s degrees from the University of Georgia and his Education Doctorate from the University of Sarasota, Jackson said.
Jackson said Bass is a 20-year educator who began his career at Northside and Atkinson elementary schools. In 1996 he was named assistant principal at Evans Middle School and then assistant principal and athletic director at Northgate High School. In 2000 Bass became the principal of Madras Middle School, later serving as principal of Atkinson Elementary 2002-2007 before assuming the principalship at Evans.
Bass earned his Bachelor’s degree in Education at the University of Alabama, his Master’s degree at the University of Southern Mississippi, his Masters in Educational Leadership from the State University of West Georgia and his Specialist degree in Leadership from Samford University.
Whitlock has served as the CEO of the Central Educational Center (CEC) for most of the school’s 10 years. Jackson said that position represents all aspects of the charter school’s unique governing partnership of the Coweta County School System, West Georgia Technical College and the Coweta County business community, said Jackson.
Jackson said Whitlock worked with Bank of America for 18 years, working in commercial banking and Global Investment Banking. Whitlock served as CEC’s first CEO from 2000 to 2003, before returning to banking as Executive Vice President of Farmers and Merchant’s Bank in Coweta County. From 2003 to 2005, Whitlock chaired the CEC Board of Directors.
Whitlock returned to CEC as Dissemination Grant Facilitator and again as CEO in 2005. Whitlock earned a B.S. in Education (cum laude) and a Masters in Education from the University of Georgia, and earned his MBA from Georgia State University. Whitlock serves as the Chair of Georgia’s Charter Advisory Committee, and leads the CEC replication team to assist other communities to begin their own version of the charter school.
