Congratulations to Dr. Amy Griffin for her selection by the Cumberland County School Board as the new Superintendent of Schools.

Kudos also to the School Board for the wisdom of its decision and heartiest congrats to the school system-students and teachers-for the good fortune of being the beneficiary of such an excellent choice.

Dr. Griffin had been Acting-Superintendent, of course, and brings eight years of experience in the Cumberland school system to the top post to which she has ascended, with 21 years of overall experience in public education.

There is no doubt that Dr. Griffin will be able to see the whole picture because she brings a deep reservoir of firsthand knowledge regarding education's many layers. She is not an administrator. She is an educator who is now superintendent of a school system and has been an elementary school teacher, reading specialist, pre-kindergarten/even start coordinator, elementary school principal, special education director, director of grants and staff development, director of instruction, assistant superintendent of instruction, acting-superintendent and now superintendent.

She has climbed the whole mountain, without taking short-cuts, and her perspective from the peak, as superintendent, is landscaped with her own footsteps through the many corridors and challenges of education. She knows the lay of the land. The compass is in her head.

Some of Dr. Griffin's most ardent supporters were upset that Cumberland did not simply bypass the search process and immediately name her superintendent when the position became open. Their loyalty is appreciated and their ability to assess talent is obvious to everyone. But Dr. Griffin's satisfaction in becoming superintendent will be all that it should be because she came out on top from a pool of applicants following a search. She earned it and everybody knows she earned it. Nobody can say it was simply given to her to make the process easier.

According to Cumberland County School Board Chairperson, Dr. Christine Ross, Dr. Griffin “outshined” all of the applicants for the position. “We had a good applicant pool and Dr. Griffin was the best we could find,” she said.

Undoubtedly.

With her experience in Cumberland, the only “learning curve” Dr. Griffin faces is the one she will hit for a home run, scoring educational victories for the home team.

-JKW-