New superintendent attends his first school board meeting
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on July 7, 2015 1:46 PM
The new Wayne County Public Schools superintendent was initiated into the role by the school board Monday night in grand style -- a three-hour closed session followed by a two hours-plus meeting.
Dr. Michael Dunsmore took it all in stride as part of the job, he said.
The regular monthly meeting began more than two hours later than usual. The Board of Education meets the first Monday of the month at 4 p.m., going into closed session before the regular business meeting convenes around 5.
In recent months, the open session has incrementally started later and later, leaving Board Chairman Chris West with the task of explaining the delay.
"Seems like every meeting we have to apologize," he said at the latest session.
This marked the superintendent's first board meeting since being sworn in July 1. Since the administrative offices were closed Thursday and Friday for the Fourth of July holiday, Monday was his second full day at the helm.
"I'm just more inspired every day, working with some wonderful, wonderful people," he said during the board comment segment of the meeting.
He said he was already looking forward to the upcoming school year.
"I'm going to work extremely hard, looking for some good results," he said.
As board members welcomed Dunsmore to the role, several referenced the extended meeting.
Board member Eddie Radford gave the superintendent high marks.
"I will grade you on today, give you an A-plus," he said.
"I want to personally say to Dr. Dunsmore, thank you for listening to me," board member Dr. Dwight Cannon said. "I can only speak for myself. Know that I respect your position. You have a hard task ahead of you."
Cannon suggested the new leader had "gone through a warzone a few hours ago" and passed the test.
"You're going to be a wonderful general, especially when you listen to your soldiers," he said. "It really felt like you were an active listener and I do appreciate that."
Board member Rick Pridgen added, "You got a taste of everything today. I can assure you, you'll have some better days and the more people you get to know, you're going to like Wayne County. We're glad to have you on our team."
West's welcome for Dunsmore included the hope that he wasn't too discouraged by the lengthy closed session, prompting board member Pat Burden to chastise the chairman good-naturedly.
"He (Dunsmore) learned a lot about us tonight," she said with a laugh.
The issue did not go totally unresolved. An addendum was made to the agenda, with the board voting to change future board meeting start times from 4 p.m. to 3 p.m., to allow more time for the closed session.