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Dr. Joshua W. Murfree, Jr. |
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| Superintendent's Office - Superintendent's Message | |||
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Quick Links Superintendent's Office |
July 2011 As we began the past school year, my first as superintendent of the Dougherty County School System, I issued a challenge to our system encouraging our employees to reach higher and do more to provide educational achievement beyond all expectations. Our goal continues to be to build a cycle of success for all of our students in order to break down the cycle of failure.These are challenging times for public education, times in which, colloquially speaking, “we cannot do what we’ve always done and continue to get what we’ve always got.” I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about our system over the past year. In May I proposed a realignment of school leadership to our board. After much discussion with system leaders, a vision for the future of leadership for the district is taking place. Our vision is to build a district where feeder schools grow with superior academics that lead to reducing the number of drop outs, increasing the graduation rates and exceeding the state and national standards for student performance testing. The outcome of this vision is focused on the success of children, from pre-kindergarten through placement after high school graduation. True leadership doesn’t come from uninformed opinions in the grocery stores or restaurants or through the media, but comes from very close inspection of a system’s operation, leadership capabilities and past success. This system has made some remarkable gains in past years and we can do better. With motivated leadership inspiring the students at all levels, we can achieve higher results. A second part of the plan for achieving student success (supporting leadership alignment) is an effort to communicate this vision of high expectations to students. Before last year’s graduation, I visited our high schools speaking to student assemblies of ninth through eleventh graders. I reminded students how important education is for their future and pledged my support for identifying new and innovative ways to help them achieve success. I also challenged them to focus on the central objective of school – academics. In my first year, I have spoken throughout the community about the importance of partnerships and all segments of our community coming together to support our system. Our teachers and leadership need to feel your support and benefit from your assistance just as students need to know their parents and family members want to support their work to achieve at the highest levels possible. Significant changes to how we measure knowledge acquisition have been prescribed by the state’s directives for graduation rate computation. Other changes in education delivery include dual high school math curricula and the effort to move to national core curriculum standards. We work to stay ahead of the changes to improve learning for our students. The leadership for this system has to begin with the vision for the future in the office of the superintendent. I intend to make that vision a reality for the benefit of all of our students and for our community. Dr. Joshua W. Murfree, Jr. |
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Dougherty County School System
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Disclaimer The statements set forth in this website are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as the basis of a contract between the Dougherty County School System and any individual. While every effort will be made to insure accuracy of the material stated herein, Dougherty County School System reserves the right to change any provision listed in this website without notice to any individual. The Dougherty County School System is an Equal Opportunity Employer |
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