McComb School District trustees on Thursday hired a new superintendent in a specially called meeting.
Dr. Cederick L. Ellis of Mound Bayou, superintendent of the Shaw School District in the Mississippi Delta, will assume his new post in McComb on July 1, and secured a three-year contract with the district.
Ellis thanked the board for the opportunity to lead and promised to do so “with the highest integrity.”
“This board will always be informed and will never be in the dark,” he said after trustees made the formal decision.
In a brief interview after the vote, Ellis said he looks forward to his new job and continuing to move McComb schools forward.
“I’ve found that anytime the Mississippi School Boards Association conducts a search, they’re very thorough in the process,” Ellis said.
He said he appreciated the board’s respect for a candidate’s privacy and that he originally had asked for a closed interview.
However, when asked by incoming board president Chris Richardson if he would have an open interview, with community representatives present, he changed his mind.
“(Citizens) were here and they did include the public,” Ellis said. “I never want to shut the public out, and I never want them to think we have anything to hide. I’ll operate with transparency.”
Ellis said he’s already studied scores and accountability data within the district, and knows “where the weaknesses are.”
“My first goal is to unpack the data, then meet face-to-face with the staff and reach out to community members in a partnership with the district,” Ellis said. “I just want to let them know my door is always open.
“I’m very excited. I thought it was time to lead a larger school district, and McComb is just the right size,” he said.
Ellis, 47, is married and has a daughter who will be a senior and a child who will be in the sixth grade.
Ellis earned an associate of arts degree from Coahoma Junior College in 1986, majoring in computer science. He earned a bachelor of business administration from Delta State University in computer information systems and a master of business administration from DSU. He earned his doctorate in educational administration from Jackson State in 2000.
He has been superintendent at Shaw since 2008. Before that he was director of the South Buffalo Charter School in Buffalo, N.Y., and was principal in the Clarksdale Municipal School District.
Other posts he has held include assistant project director of the Georgia Department of Human resources, project evaluater and technical trainer at JSU, computer professor and academic technology contact at Piney Woods School in Mississippi and a computer science instructor at Coahoma Community College from 1990-97.
Ellis was one of 19 candidates for the McComb superintendent post to fill the job being left by retiring superintendent Therese Palmertree. He was among the seven finalists chosen by the school board.
Richardson said the process was exhausting because the board had a lot of good candidates.
“It was hard, and to get it down to seven was a difficult process,” she said. “We felt he was the strongest candidate to lead us forward. I’m very excited to work with him and see his ideas for the district. All of us took it very, very seriously. We have a good, strong team in place.”
Outgoing school board chairman Maurice Chester said he’s confident the board made the right choice.
“I honestly believe he’ll make a good fit. He seems to be a man of great energy,” Chester said. “What stood out I guess was his honesty and his belief in his track record that he already has.”
“I used his résumé to make my determination, but meeting him in person tells you a lot about an individual,” Chester said. “He told it like it was, and I can believe a man who does that.”
The vote was unanimous for Ellis. Trustee Susan Hedges was absent, but she had already indicated Ellis was her choice.
“He’s willing to be committed to the district, and that’s one thing we definitely need,” Chester said, adding that he’s glad the process is over.
But work still needs to be done building bridges outside the district.
“One of the main things I hope for is just support from parents and the community,” Chester said. “That’s what’s going to make the school really grow, to get behind what we’re trying to do here and push it forward.”
