McClung, new superintendent

Following two rounds of voting Friday afternoon, the Escambia County (Ala.) School Board selected Michelle M. McClung as the next superintendent to replace the retiring John Knott.

"I'm very excited and elated about this opportunity," McClung said Tuesday. "It's a great opportunity to work with teachers and principals at the schools for the betterment of the students."

McClung currently serves as the director of teaching, learning and assessment for the Mobile County Public Schools' Board of Education.

She received her bachelor's degree in elementary education and her master's degree in K-12 education leadership from the University of South Alabama.

She began her educational career as a teacher in the Mobile County Public Schools from 1993 to 2003. From 2003 to 2007, she served as supervisor of curriculum, instruction and assessment in Mobile. She served as an assistant principal in the Mobile system from 2007 to 2009 and as an intermediate principal from 2009 to 2018 and then took over her new position.

After applying for the position in Escambia County, McClung said she not only toured the campuses in Atmore, East Brewton and Flomaton but made stops in each area at convenience stores and restaurants.

"The people were so kind and sweet," she said. "I was taken back with how nice everybody was."

She said she received positive impact from the people on the street about the school system, but learned there was some rivalry between the schools.

McClung will officially begin her duties as superintendent on Sept. 1, but is scheduled to greet all the county school system employees at the teacher institute scheduled for 8:30 a.m. today (Thursday) at the Flomaton High School auditorium.

First ballot

Friday's school board meeting was moved to the main courtroom at the Escambia County due to COVID-19 concerns and an expected large crowd.

Board Chairman Cindy Jackson explained that the Alabama Association of School Boards helped narrow the list of superintendent applicants to six and all six were interviewed by the school board.

School Board Member Danny Benjamin made a motion that the list of six be narrowed down to two.

Ballots were then handed out to all seven board members. When the ballots were counted the top two were McClung and Gary K. Glass, principal in the Monroe County School System.

In the first round of voting, Loumeek White voted for McClung and Barbarietta Turner, director of student services for the Monroe County School System.

Mike Hoomes voted for Glass and Sandra Reid, the current assistant superintendent for the Escambia County (Ala.) School System. Danny Benjamin voted for McClung and Stephen 'Clay' Webber, principal with the Marshall County (Ala.) Board of Education. Coleman Wallace voted for McClung and Turner.

David Nolen voted for Glass and Reid, Jackson voted for Glass and Reid and Mike Edwards voted for Glass and McClung.

The final tally in the first round was McClung 4, Glass 4, Reid 3, Turner 2 and Webber 1. Applicant Wade Shipman, superintendent with the Tallassee City Board of Education did not receive a vote.

Final ballot

Board members were then given a ballot with the top two names of McClung and Glass. White voted for McClung, Hoomes voted for Glass, Benjamin voted for McClung, Wallace voted for McClung, Nolen voted for Glass, Jackson voted for Glass and Edwards voted for McClung, giving McClung the position on a 4-3 vote.

After the final vote, Benjamin made another motion to have the board vote unanimously for McClung. Edwards issued the second and the motion carried unanimously.