Julie Hannah is candidate for county superintendent post

It was a job interview, to be sure, and a very public one at that.

But Dr. Julie Hannah’s appearance before the Jefferson County Board of Education last Thursday was as much homecoming as it was job interview.

Hannah is one of five people being considered to replace Dr. Phil Hammonds, who will retire as superintendent when his contract expires in February.

Hannah may have an inside track for the job, considering she served as an interim deputy superintendent until she took a position with the Alabama Department of Education on March 1. She is now the director of student learning. Of the five candidates for Hammonds’ job, Hannah is the only one with local ties.

Even though the job is in Montgomery, she commutes daily from her home in Gardendale, where she grew up. Her résumé includes five years as principal at Gardendale Elementary, and both her children attended Gardendale High. Her son Tyler was a standout baseball player for the Rockets, and later at Troy University.

Ironically, the JefCoEd top job is not one that Hannah sought out. She said she is very happy in her current position, the commute notwithstanding.

“I love this system. It’s been a part of my life, and a part of my career. I want to serve Jefferson County wherever I am,” Hannah said in her closing statement of her official interview.

“I applied for the job, obviously, but I’m not looking for a job now, but I did it for these people. It’s because of my deep, long relationship with them and Jefferson County. There are a lot of young, new teachers and administrators who are ready to take this to the next level, and I’d love to go there with them.”

One thing that Hannah would face as superintendent is the situation with Fultondale High School, its aging physical plant and its recent growth.

“Anyone who goes in that facility knows that, compared to the other new facilities, it’s not comparable,” Hannah said. “At some point, we the citizens and we the school district are going to have to decide what to do. Fultondale is a fast-growing city, and they’re bursting at the seams at the elementary school, and those kids will be moving up to the high school.”

Among the other candidates in the running are Stephen Nowling, superintendent in Lee County; Alan Dale Robbins, retired associate superintendent from Gwinnett County, Ga.; Brett Stanton, superintendent in Haralson County, Ga.; and Karyle Green, superintendent of East Allen County schools in Indiana.

The board will meet in regular session on Thursday, and then has called a special session for Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. A spokesman for the board said that it is likely the board will choose the new superintendent at that Friday meeting.