DAHLONEGA, Ga — New Lumpkin County School Superintendent Dr. Robert Brown said he was attracted to his new job by the beauty of the mountains, the quaintness of small-town living and the fact that the school system has performed very well in recent years.

“My hope is that I can come here and make a good thing a little better,” he said Tuesday.

Brown was the unanimous choice of the School Board to replace Dr. Dewey Moye, who retired after 35 years of working in the school system, including 12 as superintendent.

Brown has served in public school education for 20 years. He holds a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Alabama, a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Jacksonville State University, a B.S. in Physical Education & Health from Carson-Newman College and a B.A. in Psychology from the same institution.

He has been a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal and superintendent. His schools have been identified as some of the best in Georgia with recognition as a Governor’s Cup winner, Title 1 High Progress winner and a “Fab 4 District.”

Prior to coming to Lumpkin County, he served as superintendent of Jeff Davis County Schools from 2012 to 2016.

Brown says one thing he brings to his new job is a new set of eyes.

“I’ve had the benefit of working in different places and seeing how things are done a little differently,” he said. “Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees. So, I bring in a new perspective. The Board here was open to that because Mr. Moye had been here for such a long time and had done a really good job but sometimes you get stuck in the way things are going and you don’t look outside.”

Brown said one of the most attractive things about his new job was that the system didn’t need a major overhaul.

That does not mean there won’t be challenges, however.

Just before Brown was offered the position, a heavy-handed Obama Administration handed down guidelines stating that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom that is consistent with their gender identity, not necessarily the one on their birth certificate. This was accompanied by a threat to cut off federal funding if school systems did not comply.”

Asked about the guideline, Brown took a firm stand. “We won’t have girls going into boys’ bathrooms or boys going into the girls’ bathrooms,” he said. “They will use the bathroom of their own sex as designated on their birth certificate.”

Challenge number two came during his first week on the job when Lumpkin County High School’s head football coach resigned.

“Any time you have a head football coach resign in May, that’s a challenge,” he said. This past Monday, former Forsyth Central head coach Shane Williamson was hired.
The next big challenge will be replacing the school’s Finance Director who has accepted another position within the system.

Next comes the biggest challenge of all, managing the school system’s $30 million budget.

“The whole world of educational finance has become a struggle, especially for small districts,” Brown said. “When you’re looking at significant austerity cuts of a million dollars off what you would have earned by 1985 QBE standards, that’s a huge hit. You have to find ways to save money and be open to how you are doing things.”

Brown said he would have to get into the budget to really know where our money is going in Lumpkin County. “It’s going to be a continuing financial struggle. There is never a school board member or elected official that wants to raise taxes. My job is to make sure every tax dollar we do get is being spent wisely.”

Brown came up with some innovative ideas at Jeff Davis to save money. “One thing we did was stop outsourcing some things and we bring them back inside,” he said. “We outsourced custodials and saved about $250,000 there. We in-sourced our grounds maintenance which had been contracted out and saved some there. We just had a willingness to sit down and look at how we could provide the highest quality of service for our kids at the best value.”

Brown said he made very few recommendations about changes to the Lumpkin County system during the interview process. “The Board, I believe, was more interested in my thought processes than changes I might recommend,” he said.

“Besides, It wouldn’t be fair to the folks who have worked here so long and have so much invested in the system if I showed up on day one and said this is what we need to change without doing some homework and due diligence.”