Contract is signed

Michelle M. McClung will take over as superintendent of the Escambia County (Ala.) School System on Sept. 1 after the school board gave Board President Cindy Jackson the approval to sign the contract during a meeting last Thursday in Brewton.

The school board voted 4-3 on July 30 to select McClung as the new superintendent. McClung's attorney made some changes to the original contract and the board voted to accept some and not accept others. The revised contract was signed by McClung and sent back to the school board.

Jackson signed the contract on behalf of the board last Thursday.

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

In a news release from the county school board it states that McClung feels it's important to make the teachers' lives easier and make teaching fun.

"If you want to make your system thrive, you need to get in the classrooms," she said. "You have to build relationships."

She also said she doesn't believe in 'teaching to the test', a concept she feels often leaves students without the skills they need.

"Teach them what they need to learn," She said. "Better educated students will be the result."

She also said she believes in a positive discipline approach, noting the standards need to be the same from kindergarten through high school.

"Teach every child what is to be expected," she said. "They must act responsibly, be respectful and be resourceful. That needs to be the common goal in every grade."

She also said it's important that the faculty and staff in each school need to remind students they are loved by all.

"We are here for them," she said.