Terry Spicer happy with transition to Elba superintendent

ELBA - New Elba City School Superintendent Terry Spicer flashed a smile as the first school board meeting of his tenure concluded Thursday night.

By all indications, it’s been smooth sailing so far for Spicer in his first weeks as Elba’s education head.

“We’ve had a great transition from Mr. (Danny) Weeks to myself,” said Spicer, who was named Elba superintendent three weeks ago and officially began serving in the role on Oct. 1. “The teachers are doing well, and it's been a good transition for myself and, I think, for everyone. Mr. Weeks left things in pretty good shape.”

He’s already being put to work by the board, which voted Thursday to give him authority to look for an architect to fix an air conditioning problem at the gym.

He has also already addressed a problem with faulty restroom exhaust fans in the elementary school.

Still, he says he hasn’t been surprised by anything yet.

“I Really haven't run up against anything I wasn't familiar with from prior service in two-year system,” Spicer said. “I just have to get accustomed to how the financial process is a little different than two-year process, but it helps knowing the people and being familiar with them.”

Working with the board, faculty and students will be key for Spicer’s vision of the school system.

“The main thing is we want to seek out opportunities for our children and make sure they have opportunities for educational experiences, the same that everybody else has access to. We want to provide good education in a safe environment for them,” Spicer said. “We are going to evaluate some things. We’re a small system, and we want to make sure we’re doing everything as smoothly as we can. We’re taking it slow and easy, but we do have some changes to implement. Considering we are in proration, we will not be able to progress as quickly, but we will certainly be developing a plan and trying to cover those things that we can as we move through.”

That 7.5 percent proration will impede some of the progress Spicer hoped to achieve early in his tenure.

However, one of his first acts as superintendent was telling the teachers proration is his problem, not theirs.

“I don’t want to talk about proration in front of our students, and I wanted (the teachers) to know it’s not a problem they can solve,” he said. “I don’t want it to be an issue in the classrooms and affect their performance.”

Spicer also contacted Elba-based Mosley Studio to make a video for Elba students showcasing the town, its people and the school they represent.

“When I was hired, I was talking to my son, and he said lots of people that go to school here don't realize who they represent,” Spicer said. “It’s not just themselves. They represent the city, the businesses and everyone else. We wanted to convey that to our kids and our faculty and staff. It has really worked well. I can see a little different attitude from all of our students, including the band and athletes.”