Trussville City Schools has a new Superintendent

By Crystal McGough, Associate Editor

TRUSSVILLE – The Trussville City Board of Education held a called board meeting Thursday, March 23, where they interviewed Vestavia Hills City Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Patrick Martin for the TCS superintendent position.

Dr. Patrick Martin

“When we began this process, we had one and only one goal – we’ve never wavered in that – and that was to get the best fit for Trussville City Schools,” Board President Kathy Brown said. “We hired AASB (Alabama Association of School Boards) to do our search; this board could have never done what AASB did for us. They vetted applicants, they provided surveys for our parents, our teachers, our community, and did all the advertisement. After that process, they gave us five candidates; they were all highly qualified and extremely successful in their education careers. Also, during this time, we have also received names of potential candidates who did not apply because of the public process. So, as we moved two candidates forward for further conversation, we researched into these other candidates also, with their resumes, recommendations, reviews, and we began to have conversations with Dr. Martin. After that, he emerged as a very viable candidate for our superintendent.”

One of several parts of Martin’s interview that seemed to impress the board was a story he shared about how he handled a situation involving sick children on a field trip.

“They share with me that we have a field trip in Orlando with two charter buses full of students and we had five of those students become very, very ill,” he said. “Now, the bus was scheduled to leave within the half hour. Our policy is, if you cannot make it back, it’s the responsibility of the parent to go and pick those students up. Well, I’m not going to ask a parent to drive to Orlando at 9:30 at night to go pick up those students. Instead, there were about three or four of us on a call and I said we can either continue to talk about this for the next couple of hours, or I have my CDL (Commercial Driver’s License); I can get in a Class A bus and I can go and get them. That’s what we do as educators, and it’s not just the superintendent. It’s the superintendent to the leadership team to the principals to the teacher. … That’s just something that we do as educators because we love kids.”

Martin said he would describe his leadership style as executive, while also saying he believes in pouring into and loving on his staff.

“I think that the superintendent who comes here to Trussville, you are the CEO of a $60 Million organization and so you need to treat that position with the same reverence as you would treat a CEO,” he said. “With that said, I think if you ask any of the directors, any of the principals in Vestavia Hills – you have to love your people – and I think all of those individuals would say that Dr. Martin loves us as an employee. He pours into us; he supports us; he gives us the ability to do our jobs. I think that’s the most important thing that I can do for those individuals is give them the confidence to do their work. … So, I think there’s a good give-and-take of being the CEO but also loving on your people. I think what that does is that establishes a very positive culture.”

Board Member Mark Sims said one of his goals in choosing a new superintendent is to have an “engaged, connected staff that feels loved and appreciated by their leader.”

“I was very impressed,” Sims said. “I have always felt like bringing more of a business leadership environment would be the secret to a very successful school system. The leadership thoughts and processes impressed me in the first interview. The power of connection, that story about driving and getting the sick kids; it’s just exceptional. And the philosophy on academic achievement … I just wanted to smile at times because the answer about just how you lead and encourage people was world class.”

After the interview and some deliberation, the board voted unanimously to hire Dr. Martin as the new Superintendent of Trussville City Schools.

“This process moved very quickly and we’re very excited to be moving our family to Trussville,” Martin said. “This is a family move for us. We have made tremendous lifelong friends in Vestavia and looking to do that here in Trussville.”

While the process seemed to move quickly for Martin, Board Vice President Kim DeShazo said it has been a long process for the Board of Education.

“This is now our sixth interview in the last couple of weeks and we have used the word ‘fit’ from the beginning; we’ve all said that we truly do want to find the best fit for Trussville,” DeShazo said. “I’m so thankful that we went through the process that we did. To think back three months ago when we had the board training on how to do this – how to conduct a superintendent search – and AASB was so kind to spend a couple hours with us talking about it … and then they went and did community surveys and compiled that data and gave us the data to show what our community wanted in characteristics in our  next superintendent. … I truly feel that (Martin) is the best fit for Trussville.”

Board Member Sherrye Tolbert said she agreed with all of DeShazo’s comments.

“He seemed to be connected with his school and he seems that he will be connected with the school system here, which is important,” Tolbert said. “He’s willing to be involved in the community and being involved in the community is so important.”

During the interview, Board Member Dr. Steve Ward asked Martin if he had a “fire in the belly,” in regards to his passion for pursuing greatness in the school system. Martin replied that he did.

“Going through this process and all the candidates we’ve seen, I believe Dr. Martin showed me that he’s got those qualities,” Ward said. “It’s undefinable sometimes; it’s just that passion about him. I think he is the person that we need in Trussville.”

Martin’s previous employment includes: