MOULTRIE — Dan Chappuis, principal of Colquitt County High School, was unanimously voted to be the next Colquitt County school superintendent at the Board of Education’s meeting Monday night.

Colquitt County Board of Education Selection Committee Chairman Mary Beth Watson said in a press release from the board, “Mr. Chappuis has been an excellent leader at the high school. He has an aptitude for assessing needs and implementing changes to quickly improve culture, climate, and academic outcomes. His ‘plus one’ initiative not only provided paths and opportunities for students but it involved many new stakeholders in high school initiatives. I am excited to see how he expands that vision at the system level.”

Chappuis is replacing Superintendent Ben Wiggins, who is retiring, and he is expected to take over duties on May 1.

Chappuis has been the principal of Colquitt County High School since May 2021 and one of his first duties as superintendent will be to find a new principal for the school.

In a press release from the board of education, he said, “It is of the utmost importance to keep things moving forward. Strong leadership is key to maintaining student achievement and student/staff morale. I have the unique perspective of knowing exactly what is involved in this position. We will do what is best for Colquitt County High School students and staff when selecting their next leader.”

After he was voted superintendent at the school board’s meeting, Chappuis thanked the board for the opportunity and said that he was very humbled by the opportunity.

“I can’t wait to get started and serve the students, parents, teachers and community of Colquitt County,” he said.

He went on to say that with all the variables out there that they couldn’t control, he could assure them that there were two things that they could control.

“One that is always in our control is how hard we work and so we will come to work everyday. and I’ll work with everybody around us to assure that our students get that top quality education that they deserve so we propel them into their preferred future,” he said. “The other one is: We’re in the people business. and so one thing I can tell you is we will always, above everything, treat people the right way. and we’ll value people and add value to people as we move forward.”

He introduced his wife, Katie, and daughter, who were in attendance, saying that his daughter was also an educator. He has an adult son, Logan, as well.

“We couldn’t be more excited to become a part of the Colquitt County community. In my time, I’ve never been around a community that supports the achievements of young people like Colquitt County,” Chappuis finished.

In other business:

The board of education voted unanimously to appoint Hayden Willis as the new chair of the board and Mary Beth Watson as the new vice chair.

Bill McCalley was unanimously approved by the board to continue his job as attorney for the Colquitt County Board of Education. He told the board that he would be starting his 16th year as the attorney for the board and that he really enjoys working for the school system.

The board voted unanimously to approve the additional cost of the governor’s state-wide retention supplement. In December, Gov. Brian Kemp included a $1,000 retention supplement in the state’s FY24 budget for K-12 teachers and school support staff. However, the Colquitt County School System has more teachers and staff than the state’s supplement accounts for and the total cost for the supplement was not covered by the funds distributed by the Georgia Department of Education to the school system.

Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Jones said, “We’ve worked real hard in the finance department to have a fund balance to be able to do things like this. So, we’re at a point where we can.”

“We would like to say that we’re very appreciative of Governor Kemp for seeing the need to pay that supplement to our employees, to our teachers,” Wiggins said.

He also said that he thought there were some very good signs in this legislative session of the state that more good things will be coming to public schools in Georgia in terms of funding.

“We very much appreciate that $1,000 supplement,” he said.