Gulf Shores offers school superintendent job to Dr. Matt Akin, head of Huntsville School District

Gulf Shores offers school superintendent job to Dr. Matt Akin, head of Huntsville School District
By John Mullen
Mayor Robert Craft thought it was a slam dunk.
After more than an hour and a half of questions from Gulf Shores City School Board members on April 12, Craft rose from his seat in the audience to express his praise for the candidate, Dr. Matt Akin.
“I think he’s perfect for our community,” Craft said. “Not only in his experience and background but he’s going to get under the hood and work. He’s going to be a working part of the team. It was an impressive event and not just the answers but the questions and the management of the board and the board’s obvious awareness of the process and procedures and needs of our community.”
During the April 16 city council work session school board President Kevin Corcoran told the council his board had taken steps to offer the job to Akin. Board attorney Nash Campbell was authorized to negotiate terms with Akin.
Also, during the work session, the city announced it was seeking a vendor for cool treats at its sports venue concession stands and plans for the Fourth of July fireworks show.
“Dr. Akin’s employment will only be official upon the execution of a mutually acceptable employment contract,” Corcoran said. “We are most impressed with his passion for wanting to be here and be part of a one-high-school system once again. We’re moving forward with this opportunity and hope negotiations go well.”
Akin previously served 14 years as superintendent of Piedmont City Schools, a small system in Calhoun County. In the past year he was superintendent of Huntsville City Schools which has a total of 36 schools compared to Piedmont’s three.
“I applaud him for realizing it’s not a good fit and to not to just stick out a three-year contract when it’s not a place that’s a good fit for him,” Corcoran said. “I don’t take his one-year stint as a negative and I’m impressed he was willing to withstand public scrutiny and say this was not a good fit.”
Akin was at the top of each board member’s list of five culled from 27 applications. Other applicants declined to go public with their interest in the job because by state law superintendent interviews are conducted in public.
“Quite frankly they want to know if they are a finalist before they agree to an interview because they don’t want their board back home to be upset with them if they are not going to be in contention,” Corcoran said.
Corcoran said it is not unusual for systems to hire a superintendent after interviewing only one candidate and cited several recent hirings where there was only one interview.
Concessions Vendor
City concession stands do a brisk business with college, high school and city youth events at the Sportsplex and other ballparks around town. What’s lacking, Director of Recreation Grant Brown said, are cool treats for players and fans alike to enjoy.
“What we have at track meets and baseball and softball tournaments we have all summer, they concession stands are very busy,” Brown said. “We have limited products that we sell along with hamburgers and hotdogs and a few healthy snacks. We tried to do snow cones in house but it was hard for us to do a good job with them.”
Brown said the city is seeking a vendor to handle the cool treats for them at the parks under a franchise agreement. The city would receive 15 percent of the sales from the franchisee.
“We are looking for snow cones, ice cream or Italian ice as an alternative for our guests and patrons at the park,” Brown said. “They would not be competing with anything the city would be selling but accessories to that.”
Other City Council Business
• OK’d an assembly permit for the city’s annual Fourth of July Fireworks. The show will be fired from the Gulf State Park Pier and a total cost of about $34,000. The city will pay $8,000 to the state park and $26,000 to Pyro Shows for the event. Pyro Shows is signed through 2021 to handle the city’s fireworks show.
• Agreed to sell two surplus buses to ARC of Baldwin County. Since the buses were bought with an 80/20 matching grant through the Alabama Department of Transportation the city will receive 20 percent of the sale price, or about $4,000 for the combined sale of the 2007 model buses.
• Granted a franchise to the Flora-Bama to operate its charter bus in Gulf Shores. The Flora-Bama group recently bought the Sawgrass Landing commercial strip and is putting in a restaurant, ice cream shop and retail store. They want to extend operations to include groups staying in Gulf Shores.
• Agreed to a change in the planned unit development Adventura on County Road 6. The developer wants to change the number of lots being built in each phase but will still have a total of 404 lots in the project.
• Proclaimed May as Bike Month in Gulf Shores. City Planner Andy Bauer said several events were planned including bike to school day on May 9, bike to work day on May 18 and bike to work week May 14-18.
• Agreed to a three-year contract with Express Press to provide apparel for the city store.
• OK’d a liquor license for Seaside Liquors 3 for a store at 3735 Gulf Shores Parkway.

•••••••••

Akin has been an educator for 25 years

Dr. Matt Akin, has been an educator for over twenty-five years. He was superintendent of Piedmont City Schools from June, 2003 to March, 2017 and began serving as Superintendent of Huntsville City Schools in March, 2017.
Akin has a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Samford University, a Master of Arts degree in Administration Certification, and a Master of Arts degree in Mathematics from the University of Alabama.
During Akin’s tenure as superintendent, Piedmont City Schools was recognized nationally for its innovative practices in education. U.S. News & World Report named Piedmont High School one of America’s Best High Schools for ten consecutive years, from 2007 – 2016. It was also named as the second Most Connected High School in the country by U.S. News & World Report and an Apple Distinguished School by Apple Computer.
The U.S. Department of Education recognized Piedmont High School with the prestigious Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award. In addition, Piedmont Elementary School and Piedmont High School were recognized as CLAS Banner Schools during Akin’s tenure. In 2014, Piedmont Middle School was one of two schools in the Southeast that were recognized as a Verizon Innovative Learning School.
Akin was named one of ten national Tech Savvy Superintendents in 2011 by e-School News and was also listed as one of Twenty to Watch in Educational Technology by the National Association of School Boards. Most recently, in 2016, he was named by EdWeek as a national Leader to Learn From.
(Source: huntsvillecityschools.org)