Columbus Municipal School District Superintendent Dr. Phillip Hickman has been invited to a statewide Superintendent’s Academy organized by the Mississippi Department of Education.
Hickman is among 19 superintendents to be invited to the academy, which is new this school year. He was the only superintendent invited from the Golden Triangle.
Organized by the state Department of Education and the Mississippi Board of Education, the academy was paid for with $500,000 appropriated by the state legislature.
The academy gives superintendents an opportunity to see the latest in education technology and participate in advanced leadership training, according to a press release. Participants will visit other school districts to view successful strategies. Academy director Mike Kent said participation in the academy is by invitation only and that being invited should be considered an honor. The participants will be coached by prominent executive trainers such as Dr. Bob Thompson, director of the Center for Executive Leadership at Lamar University in Texas.
“The knowledge superintendents glean from work in the academy is immediately applicable to any district, regardless of size or location,” Kent said.
The academy will hold a three-day “Visioning” session this spring where superintendents and their school boards will be led through leadership training and planning activities. A date for the session has not yet been finalized, according to MDE director of communications Patrice Guilfoyle.
“It will be a joint session to focus on distinct goals and student achievement,” Guilfoyle said.
Guilfoyle said the academy is paid for by the state, with no additional costs to send superintendents and board members to the spring session.
In other CMSD news, the district is expected to name an interim principal to replace Jill Savely for the remainder of the year at Columbus High School at the school board meeting Monday. Savely recently resigned her position to take a job with the state Department of Education.
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