Former Onslow Teacher Comes Home
By Joe Miller, The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C.
Feb. 8–A former Onslow County student, teacher and administrator will return to take over a high-ranking position in the district.
On Wednesday, Onslow County Schools announced Barry Collins will become the new assistant superintendent for personnel replacing Barbara Newman, who retired last fall.
“I just feel like I’m coming back home,” he said.
Collins, 41, now works as director of human resources and testing for Jones County Schools. Prior to that, he served as principal at Maysville Elementary School and was named Principal of the Year for Jones County in 2003 and 2004.
Collins’ responsibility will in a way increase eleven-fold. He is leaving a district of only 300 employees and coming to the largest non-military employer in Onslow County with about 3,400 on the payroll. But, he’s not worried.
“Going to Onslow, I’ve got a great group there to work with in terms of the staffing in the human resources department,” he said.
Collins earned degrees in education from both UNC-Wilmington and East Carolina University.
Collins graduated from White Oak High School in 1984. He worked as a teacher at Northwoods Park Middle School and assistant principal at Swansboro Middle School.
His wife, Denise, teaches first grade at Summersill Elementary School, and he has three children who attend school at Summersill and Trexler Middle School.
This is the third high level administrative position filled in Onslow County Schools in three months. Last month, Kathy Spencer became the new superintendent. Lesley Eason then replaced Spencer as assistant superintendent of instructional services and continuous improvement efforts.
“It looks like a good team to work with,” Collins said. “There’s a lot of mixed emotions leaving Jones County because this is a good county … but this is just a good move for me.”
Collins will earn $85,589.92 per year. His first day is still uncertain, but the target date is about March 1.
After a closed session Tuesday night, the Onslow County Board of Education voted to offer Collins the job and Leigh Bizzell, teacher and chairwoman of the science department at Dixon High School, the job of new assistant principal at the school.
However, board members declined to release the names at that time until the final contracts were signed. The district released the names Wednesday morning.
When the board voted to hire Spencer as superintendent back in November, they disclosed her name at the time of the vote.
N.C. Press Association attorney Amanda Martin said failing to release the name Tuesday night violated the N.C. Open Meetings Law.
The law permits boards to hold closed sessions to discuss the qualifications of a prospective employee, but a vote to hire someone must be conducted in an open session, which the board did do.
“Implied in that is that the vote will be of some meaning to the public, and withholding the name certainly defeats that,” Martin said.
Earl Taylor, director of public information for Onslow County Schools, didn’t directly address questions about the matter, referring questions to Alex Erwin, the board’s attorney.
Contact staff writer Joe Miller at jmiller@freedomenc.com or at 353-1171, Ext. 236
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C.
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