Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JULY 18-24, 2018 UCW 9 The No. 2 man with the state's largest public-school system is now No. 1 with the fifth largest school system. Dr. Marvin Connelly Jr. was formally sworn in as superin- tendent of Cumberland County Schools last week. Connelly was named to the position by the county school board back in April, succeed- ing former superintendent Dr. Frank Till, who resigned in June 2017. Associate Superintendent Tim Kinlaw was the system's caretaker over the last year and plans to retire. Connelly's salary is $220,000. Connelly said he was at- tracted to Cumberland County because of the success and op- portunities in the school system, which he said has a good reputation. "I think the experience I have had is a good match for what Cumberland was looking for in a leader," he said. Carrie Sutton, chairwoman of the board of education, said the board is honored, proud and grateful to begin a new journey with Connelly. Connelly was a military intelligence officer in the 82nd Airborne Division and served in the first Gulf War with a unit stationed in Germany. After his service in the Army, Connelly became a teacher's assistant and then a teacher in special education classes. He then became an assistant principal and principal before becoming an assistant super- intendent and chief of staff for Wake County Public Schools. He holds a bachelor's and two master's degrees from North Carolina State Univer- sity and a doctorate in edu- cational leadership from East Carolina University. Connelly is a North Carolina native. He has begun a whirl- wind tour of all the county's schools. "We'll be ... out in the com- munity, listening to the citizenry, meeting with schools, visiting all schools," he said. He's also taking time to meet members of the staff of the school system. Connelly is talking to everyone about some strategic goals that he would like the school system to work toward over the next five years. Cumberland County has 87 schools and enrolls about 50,000 students. It's one-third the size of Wake County schools. In his Ph.D. dissertation presented to the faculty of the Department of Educational Leadership at East Carolina University in July 2012, Connelly wrote about partnerships among schools and faith- based organizations. He said in part that "as school system leaders seek to expand partnerships with community and faith-based organizations, it is essential that student achievement be the focus of the partnerships." He asserted that such partnerships should focus on mentoring as compared to partnerships that fo- cus on tutoring. He concluded that "to be success- ful, partnerships among schools and faith-based organizations should focus on student academic and behavioral outcomes." He echoed those thoughts in his acceptance speech last April, saying, "Together with the stu- dents, parents, teachers, system leaders, community partners and the board, we will establish a strategic plan to attain new levels of excellence for all of the students in the Cumberland County Schools." Cumberland County welcomes new school superintendent by JEFF THOMPSON NEWS JEFF THOMPSON, Senior News Reporter. COMMENTS? news@upandcomingweekly. com. 910-484-6200. Dr. Marvin Connelly Jr. was for- mally sworn in as superintendent of Cumberland County Schools last week.