From Clayton County to Berkeley, Calif: Change of job and coast for school chief

Dr. Edmond Heatley is California bound.

Clayton County Schools superintendent Edmond Heatley apparently  resigned his post here last week to take the top job in the Berkeley, Calif., school system. His resignation is effective the end of this month.

According to the AJC: (This is an excerpt. Please read full piece before commenting.)

Heatley announced his resignation from the 51,000-student Clayton County district last week, just days before officials from the Berkeley Unified School District visited Clayton to interview school board members, teachers and parents. That site visit is the final step in an extensive vetting process to verify the credentials of Heatley, the sole finalist in what was a national search for a superintendent, according to a press release sent out by the Berkeley school district.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to join a high achieving team focused on ensuring that every student has the opportunity to achieve greatness,” Heatley said in the released sent out by the Berkeley district. “I believe in a fair break for every child and that all students can learn. It is great to see that the Berkeley community feels the same way, putting action behind their words.”

Those words come less than a month after Heatley in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reiterated his commitment to Clayton County students. “My plan is to be in Clayton County until the work is done,” Heatley said in the Aug. 21 profile about him. “Is that a number of years? I don’t know. I will know when my team says we’re able to stand on our own two feet … when disciplinary rates go down and graduation rates go up.”

The new job would mark Heatley’s return to familiar territory. Heatley served as superintendent of the Chino Valley Unified School District in California before coming to Clayton in 2009.

–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog