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Cedar Hill School Chief Targets Exemplary Ranking

February 19, 2007

By KATHY A. GOOLSBY / The Dallas Morning News

On his first day as Cedar Hill’s new superintendent, Horace Williams made one thing clear: He does not have an open-door policy.

“I try to give respect to whatever I’m working on and the people I’m with,” said Mr. Williams, 46, who started his new job on Feb. 1. “If someone just walks in, I don’t want to not give them my full attention. I do have a schedule, and I do work.”

School board members are not bothered by his appointments-only requirement.

“People hear that he doesn’t have an open-door policy and they think it means, ‘I don’t want to listen to you,’ ” said school trustee Amy Allen. “But what it means is he’s not sitting in his office waiting for people to come in and tell him things. He’s out there getting things done.”

Mr. Williams replaced Jim Gibson, who left in June after five years to become superintendent of the Montgomery school district near Houston.

The new chief of the Cedar Hill school district has already met with district employees at every level, from the janitorial staff to the principals. Some were group meetings, and others were one-on-one sessions.

“He’s already met with every principal individually to discuss concerns and visions,” said DelSenna Frazier, Ninth-Grade Center principal. “He really absorbed what was said, took notes and really listened. I think that’s a great way to get started.”

Mr. Williams, who grew up in Kilgore, previously was superintendent of Diboll ISD in East Texas. Ms. Allen said she and another board member made a trip to Diboll during the board’s superintendent search, opting to spend their time at the local feed store rather than the administration building.

They were looking for real people to talk about the Diboll district’s leader.

“I’m from East Texas, so I know how this works,” Ms. Allen said. “We just talked to people coming in about Horace, and they loved him. I was just shocked because this was pretty much an all-white town, and he’s African-American.”

Ms. Allen said the only negative comment they heard in Diboll was from a parent who didn’t like having to make an appointment to talk to the superintendent.

Prior to his yearlong stint in Diboll, Mr. Williams was superintendent of the low-performing Roosevelt Union Free School District in Roosevelt, N.Y.

The district was under partial state control when Mr. Williams started that job in September 2000, according to a story in The New York Times . School board members tried to oust him the following year, saying he was too closely aligned with state officials.

In 2002, the New York state legislature removed the elected school board and appointed new trustees. Mr. Williams, however, remained. According to the story, the district was making progress in its recovery when Mr. Williams, who was earning $156,000 plus $32,000 in benefits, announced he would leave when his contract expired in 2004.

He said this week that he left that job because “I was burned out. After having passed a $208 million bond, which took a year and a half of my life, I was tired.”

He said he then spent 18 months “doing absolutely nothing but being a dad.” Mr. Williams declined to discuss his family other than to say he has a child who is a sophomore at Texas A&M University and no children in the Cedar Hill school district. He prefers to keep his personal and professional life separate, he said.

“Whenever someone asks about my family, I tell them, ‘It’s a moot point. You have a superintendent, and that’s what matters,’ ” Mr. Williams said.

Mr. Williams, who is making $180,000 plus insurance and mileage benefits as the Cedar Hill superintendent, said he was attracted to the district because of its size. Cedar Hill has 7,800 students, compared with 1,800 in Diboll.

He also is encouraged by the support he sees not only in the district, but also the community.

“People always want their school district to succeed, but in Cedar Hill the question is being asked, ‘What can I do to help?’ ” Mr. Williams said. “And there are good things already taking place here, like the Education Foundation, the many volunteers and the work the Chamber of Commerce does in adopting schools.”

Ms. Allen said the board was impressed with Mr. Williams’ work in previous districts, his quiet manner and the professional way he presents himself.

Mr. Williams also shares the board’s vision of improving the district’s acceptable rating, Ms. Allen said. When board members mentioned their desire to reach a recommended rating, she said Mr. Williams immediately interjected, “No, exemplary.”

“We need someone who believes it can happen, someone coming in from the outside with new ideas and thinking,” Ms. Allen said. “He doesn’t believe in doing anything halfway. He’s totally going for the best.”

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