Columbus Municipal School District trustees on Wednesday offered Craig Chapman the district superintendent position, though Chapman has not yet accepted the job.
The board of trustees offered Chapman a 18-month contract running from Jan. 1 through June 2027 at an annual salary of $160,000.
Board President Robert Smith told The Dispatch on Thursday that Chapman had requested to meet with him that afternoon, but by press time on Thursday, there was no word on whether Chapman would accept the offer.
“No decision has been made at this time,” Joey Barnes, the district’s public information officer, texted The Dispatch just after 4 p.m.
Ahead of the board’s deliberation Wednesday, Chapman spoke to the board about progress made in the district since he was named interim superintendent and how that progress aligns with a list of goals and expectations the board provided Chapman in August.
“Some of the things that we asked him to do from the goal and expectation standpoint, he has done those and some of them, they’re in the developing stages,” Smith told The Dispatch after the Wednesday meeting. “Some of them will not be completed until after this semester.”
Chapman, the district’s assistant superintendent of operations, took on the interim superintendent role in June after former superintendent Stanley Ellis left for a position in the Delta.
Chapman has worked in the district for 10 years, serving stints as principal of Columbus High School, assistant superintendent and once before as interim superintendent.
Speaking to The Dispatch on Monday in anticipation of his meeting with the board, Chapman said he felt confident he had met the goals and expectations the board set for his interim tenure.
“I really believe that I’m capable of doing the job, but I’m one of those (people that) just likes the work to speak for itself,” he said. “Regardless of whatever role that may be, … I’m going to put my best foot forward to make sure that I meet the expectations of the board members but also the community of Columbus. I think I have done what I’ve been tasked to do.”
Realigning curriculum
Chapman characterized the past semester as interim superintendent as “busy” but not “too overwhelming,” noting he has a better grasp now on prioritizing and delegating responsibilities than he had when he began the role in June.
“When you get started, you start thinking that you just need to address and put out everything at one time,” Chapman told The Dispatch. “But now I’m beginning to prioritize and understand what’s more important.”
The board’s expectations for Chapman’s interim tenure spanned three areas: curriculum alignment and academic rigor, talent retention and teacher support and rebuilding community confidence.
In regard to aligning classroom curriculum to comply more closely with the rigor of statewide assessments, Chapman said great progress has been made since bringing on Timothy Bourne as assistant superintendent of support services earlier this year.
Chapman told the board Bourne began reviewing accountability testing data with students themselves in September, helping them identify weaknesses and prompting conversations among administrators and teachers about improving outcomes. Chapman told the board he’s considering adopting a new data-tracking platform in the spring to further the effort.
“As soon as we see the deficits in the students, ensure that we are addressing them and putting these resources in place to support them,” Chapman told The Dispatch. “So when we get to this third grade reading assessment (for example) we understand where some of those deficits (are).”
Additionally, Chapman said the shift to offering professional development to teachers during the fall intersession this year – rather than the usual student enrichment opportunities – was a win for both students and teachers.
“This was a big, big step for us, not having intersession with students, but having Phonics First training for those teachers in the lower elementary,” Chapman told the board. “We had a lot of good feedback from our teachers.”
Chapman told the board he’s worked to strengthen communication within the district both with the board and between departments. He said he hosts weekly meetings with the operations team and the support team as well as sending a weekly report to the board.
District stability
In teacher retention, Chapman pointed to professional development opportunities and the revival of the Columbus Promise New Teacher Mentor Program, which pairs seasoned teacher mentors with new teachers for the semester.
“I’ve seen that excitement from (seasoned teachers), being able to support those new teachers and trying to find ideas of what they can do,” Chapman told The Dispatch. “I’ve had some even ask what they could do next year and could there be roles where they can play a bigger part in supporting new teachers.”
A major step in retaining teachers, Chapman said, will be securing stability for the district, particularly among its leadership roles.
“So when you have that turnover (in leadership), that goes back to the stability of the district,” Chapman said Monday. “It can have you on this … rollercoaster because the expectations change depending on who the leader is. And there are the ideas that come in, they will definitely change because you bring in a new leader with different insight of what they would like to see.”
The district started the school year with about seven vacant administrative positions in the central office, though at least five of those have now been filled, including public information officer, human resources director, assistant superintendent of support services and curriculum coordinator. Additionally, Chapman said the district met its Dec. 1 count with fewer than 5% of teaching positions vacant.
“For me, I have to make sure that I keep those people here because they have a lot of insight, a lot of experience, and they’re bringing a lot of knowledge to their different areas,” Chapman told The Dispatch. “There’s a wealth of knowledge from people we’ve brought in, so if we can utilize that and use those individuals to help support our teachers and administrators, I think that is really going to help move us forward.”
Chapman on Monday detailed efforts to improve transparency and engagement, including community-facing initiatives such as the Superintendent’s Roundtable, the Superintendent’s Student Council and the Hunt Intermediate School reopening event.
Chapman also noted new partnerships – including an upcoming teacher-pipeline collaboration with Mississippi University for Women and ongoing discussions with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History about Franklin – as efforts to strengthen ties between the district and the broader community.
“Knowing what the job entails and the people who are around me trying to support me, I’m humbled with the opportunity to lead the district, and I just want to see Columbus successful, however that may be,” he said.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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