With the hiring of new Superintendent Joseph Barrow this year, the Fayette County School System also created a new high level position for his wife.
Dr. Susan Barrow was hired July 21 by the Board of Education to fill a newly created position: RTI and PBIS (Response to Intervention and Positive Behavior Intervention and Support) Specialist.
School system spokesperson Melinda Berry-Dreisbach said the position is one that Director of Exceptional Children’s Services Director Chris Horton has been working to bring online for some time due to the need for help in the area of increasing student achievement.
“The position was included in a list of recommendations generated by a committee of elementary school principals who were studying how to improve RTI and PBIS at the elementary level. Wenonah Bell, principal of Braelinn Elementary, chaired the committee,” Berry-Dreisbach said.
Mrs. Barrow will begin work with the school system with a salary of $75,554 based on her qualifications, a Ph.D. and 14 years experience.
Mrs. Barrow’s position is on the teacher salary schedule rather than the administrative salary scale, Berry-Dreisbach said.
Barrow will be stationed at the Lafayette Education Center (LEC) and will report to School Improvement and Professional Learning Director Rae Presley-King.
School board Chairman Marion Key said other positions exist within the school system which have staff on the teacher salary schedule stationed in areas such as LEC or central office.
Pertaining to hiring family members of the superintendent, Berry-Dreisbach said there is no policy in place about the hiring of family members, or specifically, that of the superintendent. She noted that former superintendents John DeCotis and Jeff Bearden also had spouses teaching in the county.
A sampling of Mrs. Barrow’s responsibilities in the new job include identifying and coordinating training, developing and presenting staff training in data collection, progress monitoring, interventions and mentoring; providing program evaluation through analysis of school data; working with administrators and teachers to develop system-wide PBIS practice and ensure continued implementation; assisting teachers in interpreting assessment data; and coordinating a continuous assessment and accountability system.
Berry-Dreisbach said the board on July 21 also decided to leave vacant the position of director of elementary school improvement/professional learning, which had been vacant and left unfilled since October 2012.
“(The position) was left unfilled due to budgetary constraints, but was not removed because of the need to have someone in this position to help elementary principals and educators continue to improve and enhance instruction at the elementary level. The intent was to fill this position in the future once the budget was stabilized. Kim Herron, formerly the principal at Fayetteville Elementary, was hired for the position,” said Berry-Dreisbach.
