DeKalb Schools Choose Superintendent Finalist

The search for a Superintendent for the DeKalb County School District appears to be over.

Friday night, the district announced it has picked Dr. Cheryl L.H. Atkinson to serve as the next superintendent. She’s expected to be installed after a two-week waiting period, the district said.

Atkinson is currently the superintendent of the Lorain, Ohio school district, outside of Cleveland, where she started the ‘Success for All’ academic reform program, through which she helped raise state achievement reading test scores in the district’s elementary and middle schools, according to DeKalb County Schools. She also helped schools go to an electronic grading system that gives parents online access to grades as well as an e-book program that replaced textbooks.

“Dr. Atkinson is a highly respected and experienced educational leader with a proven record of  lifting academic achievement in Lorain, Ohio, and in other districts where she has served,” said Thomas Bowen, chairman of the DeKalb Board of Education. “This was a long process, but in the end we are confident that we have the best candidate to move our district forward. The board is pleased to have her serve the children of our district.”

Atikinson has a Bachelors and Masters from the University of Carolina at Charlotte and a Doctor of Education in Educational Administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

She joined Lorain as Superintendent in August 2007. Prior to that, she’d  worked as Deputy Superintendent in the Kansas City, Mo. School District and Associate Superintendent and Regional Superintendent at the Charlotte- Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina.

“My passion is to give all children, regardless of background or circumstances, a quality public school education,” said Dr. Atkinson in a district press release.

She will be visiting the district within the next two weeks, the district said.

Current Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson will be serving in a senior advisory role during the transition period, the district said.