School board approves finalists for Hartselle superintendent job
The Hartselle Board of Education approved three finalists for the district’s superintendent position. Drs. Tony Dowdy, Rachel Poovey and Holly Sutherland were approved by a 4-1 vote at a board meeting Tuesday night.
Board member Daxton Maze, who requested at a work session held May 29 that the finalist pool be expanded from three to five candidates, was the sole nay vote.
Board attorney Woody Sanderson described the applicant pool for Hartselle’s next superintendent as “well-qualified with a wide range of experience,” noting that nearly all were Alabama residents with relevant public school backgrounds. The finalists were chosen from a pool of 16 applicants.
Sanderson reviewed all applications and made them available for individual board member review. “Each of you spent several hours at my office reviewing all of the applications and then advising me of your individual rankings,” he said to the board on Tuesday.
Finalists were selected based on a scoring system derived from those rankings, he said. “The top three candidates scored significantly higher, with broader interest from members of the board,” and were “the only candidates who received a ranking from all five board members.” Sanderson emphasized the process was “designed to assure that the candidates selected… not only met all of the qualifying criteria… but also have the broadest level of interest from members of the board.”
About the candidates
Dowdy currently serves as deputy superintendent of Calhoun County Schools, a role he has held since 2023. Before that, he spent 25 years with Pell City Schools, including 10 years as a math teacher at Pell City High School. During his time there, he also served as an assistant football coach, assistant baseball coach, junior varsity baseball coach and head baseball coach. Dowdy later became assistant principal and principal of Pell City High School, serving in those roles for a combined six years. He then worked for four years as coordinator of instructional support services before retiring in 2019. He returned to education to take his current role in Calhoun County.
Dowdy
Dowdy earned his master’s, educational specialist and doctoral degrees in educational administration from the University of Alabama. He also served as a platoon sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves from 1990-96.
Poovey is assistant superintendent of teaching and learning at Trussville City Schools, a position she has held since 2021. She previously spent 26 years at Decatur City Schools in various roles, including developmental services coordinator, elementary supervisor, middle and elementary school principal, assistant principal and special education teacher.
Poovey
Poovey holds a bachelor’s degree in early childhood special education from the University of Alabama. She earned a master’s degree in intellectual disabilities and an educational specialist degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Alabama.
Dr. Holly Sutherland has served as superintendent of Haleyville City Schools since 2017. Before taking that position, she spent three years as principal of Haleyville High School. She also served in Hoover City Schools as 12th-grade principal for six years and assistant principal for two years. Sutherland began her career as an elementary teacher in Hoover and Auburn, teaching for six years.
Sutherland
She earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in elementary education from Auburn University, an educational specialist degree in educational leadership from UAB and a doctorate in educational leadership from Samford University.
Before the vote, board member Daxton Maze voiced his dissent.
“With all due respect to Mr. Sanderson and his process in helping with this, the board process has played itself out and I think that’s what you see here with these finalists that are being recommended,” Maze said. “I think we’re charged and tasked with trying to hire the best superintendent for the school system. I think there are great potential superintendents (on) this list. In good conscience … I can’t say that we, in my opinion, have all the most qualified people in the pool — those that would be the best fit for Hartselle.”
Board president James Joy said he believes the process worked the way it was designed.
“…We have three candidates out of that applicant field, five people independently looked at it, reviewed it, came up with our choice, and now it’s time to vote on it and move forward with our best foot forward, and hopefully everybody will act that way,” Joy said.
The finalists will sit for public interviews tentatively scheduled for next week beginning with Sutherland on May 12, Poovey on May 14 and Dowdy on May 15. The public interviews will be held at 5 p.m. at the central office and will each be followed by a reception at the Burleson Fine Arts Center.
Prior to the interviews, each candidate will be hosted by the central office staff for lunch and a visit with district principals.
Concluding the meeting, board member Randy Sparkman addressed recent questions surrounding the timing of the superintendent search and the upcoming municipal election.
“There’s a board election coming up, so we talked to many of you … about the reasonable question, ‘Should this school board go on and select a superintendent now, given the timing?’” Sparkman said.
“The thought is to take a swing, take a shot, and see who the candidates are and give you all a chance to interact. It’s hard to do it in one day, but you’ll draw some conclusions about what we think and who the candidate is. We will try to be judicious about it and if there’s a candidate that is right and can help us move forward, we will do that and if we don’t, we won’t. There’s nothing that says we have to do anything … we’re just going to do the best we can do for these kids.
“It’s important to have a leader who is in sync and who can stabilize where we are before school starts in August,” Sparkman said.
