Georgia’s largest school district recently swore in a new superintendent.
The Gwinnett County Public Schools recently bid farewell to Alvin Wilbanks, who led the district for 25 years, and has been credited for a lot of its success. His departure was controversial; the board decided to usher in new superintendent Calvin Watts — a year before Wilbanks’ contract ended.
That decision added to existing tensions on the school board and in the community over a range of issues. Most recently, Watts led the Kent school district near Seattle. Before that, he was a Gwinnett administrator for 13 years.
Watts joined WABE’s “All Things Considered” to ask about his priorities for the district. Watts is also the first Black superintendent to lead the district — where he says for every 10 students, 8 are students of color.
Even though Watts is a somewhat familiar face, he is also facing backlash from some community members and parents who have threatened to sue the district over its face mask mandate. A GoFundMe created to stop the district from requiring face masks has raised more than $21,000 to cover legal fees. People in and out of Gwinnett County have donated.
