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Reopening plan announced
By Kevin C. Hall
[email protected]
MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County School Superintendent
Doug Howell announced plans to
retire at the end of the upcoming school year during
a Monday evening Board of Education meeting.
The 30-minute meeting was carried live on Facebook,
and a video remains on the school system’s
Facebook page. The bulk of the meeting
was discussion about plans to reopen the schools
in August. The schools were closed in March due
to the coronavirus pandemic, and many questions
remain about what sort of health environment
will be in place when the new school year is
scheduled to start.
After that discussion and other business, Chairman
Robbie Pitts closed the meeting for an executive
session for the purpose of the
superintendent’s annual review. After the vote to
go into executive session, the video ended.
Following that closed meeting, a second video
began with Pitts calling the meeting back into session.
He said Howell had presented the board
with a letter during the executive session, and
Pitts read it aloud.
“It is with much gratitude that I notify you of my intention
to retire from the Colquitt County School
System effective July 1st, 2021,” the letter read.
“My last day on the job will be June 30th, 2021.”
He thanked the board for the privilege of serving
as superintendent.
“I am most grateful and humble to have been in a
position to positively impact thousands of students
and families over the last 35 years,” Howell
wrote. “Any success that I might have enjoyed
was the direct result of the hard work, expertise
and professionalism of the many Colquitt County
teachers, administrators and staff members that I
have worked with along the way.”
Howell was praised by Pitts and by board members
Mary Beth Watson and Trudie Hill.
“It was a great comfort to know that things would
always be done the right way,” said Watson, who
was board chairman when Howell was hired as
superintendent.
Howell was himself a graduate of the Colquitt
County School System. After years in business,
he became an elementary school teacher and
worked his way up. In addition to time as an assistant
principal, he served as principal of Hamilton
Elementary School, 1995-1999; Odom
Elementary, 1999-2006; and Williams Middle
School, 2006-2014.
In 2014 he became director of student services,
and in July 2016 he was named as interim superintendent
upon the departure of Superintendent
Samuel DePaul. About six weeks later, he was
hired as superintendent on a permanent basis.
In addition to his backgrounds in business and
education, Howell is a retired lieutenant colonel in
the US Air Force Reserve.MOULTRIE, Ga. — On
Wednesday, the Colquitt County School System
released its plan to reopen schools.
Barring changes forced by the coronavirus, the
system is planning for teacher pre-planning to
begin Aug. 3 and for students to begin classes on
Aug. 10.
The plan calls for online learning options, but it
doesn’t mention staggered start times, which
some systems have looked at as a way to keep
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