The Georgia Post Correction: A Message from the Superintendent

October 20, 2026

Dear Crawford County Community,

I am writing in response to an article published in Issue 42 of The Georgia Post on Thursday, October 15, 2026, titled “New evaluation instrument to assess supt. performance.” I appreciate the Post’s coverage of the Board’s work and its interest in sharing the goals that will guide the superintendent’s evaluation. However, the article contains two statements that are not accurate, and I want to make sure our community has the correct information.

Where the evaluation instrument came from

The article states that the new evaluation instrument comes from the Georgia School Board Association. That is not correct. On September 24, Middle Georgia RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency) provided the Board with a two-and-a-half-hour training on developing a superintendent evaluation instrument. Then, on October 7, the Board met with me in a work session to develop and customize an instrument specifically for Crawford County, aligned with the superintendent’s current job description and system strategic plan. During that work session, the Board and I worked together to set the goals that will be used in the assessment.

This work was something I had requested for at least two years. The evaluation instrument the Board had been using dated back to 2002, did not properly align with the current job description, and did not include any goals for the superintendent to be evaluated against. I am grateful to the Board for taking on this work. A clear, current instrument with defined goals benefits our students, our staff, and our community, because it sets measurable expectations and holds the district’s leadership accountable for meeting them.

The evaluation is not connected to the audit

The article also states that the new instrument comes “following the audit Crawford County received.” That wording gives the impression that the evaluation instrument was created because of the audit. It was not. The two are entirely unrelated.

In fact, the auditors have not yet released the audit report. An exit interview has taken place, but no final report has been issued as of today. When the report is released, it will be shared with the community as required.

Our commitment to accurate information

This is the second time in recent weeks that I have needed to clarify information published about our school system. Our staff is always glad to answer reporters’ questions, provide public records, and confirm facts before publication. We ask only that information about our district be reported accurately, so that our community can rely on what it reads.

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of the Crawford County School System and our students.

Sincerely,

Anthony Aikens

Superintendent, Crawford County School System