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After gaining experience in Rutherford County as a school administrator, Dr. Cary Holman is coming back to Franklin County.

The School Board selected Holman, who has been the LaVergne Middle School principal since 2010, in a 5-3 vote Monday over current Franklin County High School Principal Dr. Roger Alsup to become the School System’s new director. Holman will replace Stanley Bean who is retiring at the end of the current academic year.

In addition to being LaVergne Middle School the past 13 years, Holman was also a principal at Central Middle School in Murfreesboro, and he taught at the Homer Pittard Campus School in Murfreesboro.

He was also Clark Memorial Elementary School’s principal from August 2001 to May 2003 and will now be returning to Franklin County as the School System’s director.

The School Board made its decision after two voting rounds where each member initially selected two candidates from a three-candidate field.

The third candidate was Dr. Chris Treadway — the Poplar Grove Middle School principal in the Franklin Special School District in the city of Franklin.

In the first voting round, Board Members Linda Jones, Caycee Roberts, Sara Liechty and Sarah Marhevsky selected Holman as their first choice with Alsup as second.

Erik Cole selected Treadway first and Holman second while Chair CleiJo Walker’s choices were Holman and Treadway. Lance Williams selected Alsup and Treadway while Sandy Schultz selected Alsup and Holman.

The votes included 7 for Holman, 6 for Alsup and 3 for Treadway, opening up the second round with Treadway eliminated from the field.

In the second round, Roberts, Jones, Marhevsky, Cole and Walker supported Holman while Leichty, Williams and Schultz supported Alsup.

Holman, who was in the audience, addressed the board.

“I stand before you very humbled,” he said, adding that he looks forward to being the School System’s director.

Holman stressed that he is striving for unity and working together for the benefit of the entire School System.

“Our children deserve the very best,” he said, referring to the educational opportunities he plans to provide and support under his leadership.

The board also approved to enter into contract negotiations with Holman.

Williams estimated the annual director’s salary could be somewhere between $140,000 and $145,000.

Holman was asked by the board what his current salary is, and he replied $128,000.

Williams provided salaries from other school districts, including Coffee County at $118,000, Fayetteville at $122,000, Tullahoma at $177,000 and Williamson County at $302,000 as some of the ranges.

When Holman was interviewed by the board for the position on Feb. 21, he thanked the members for their time and said the energy he brings to his profession is something that people normally can’t pick up on by just looking at his resume.

Holman went on to further describe himself as having a very positive energy level and that he does not believe in problems but instead views obstacles as opportunities.

Holman was also posed with the question, “What will you do to create an atmosphere in the schools that will lead to educational excellence for all students?”

Holman said he wanted to emphasize the word “all” in the question and expanded by saying listening, leading and modeling were important to him in a leadership role. He went on to cite the need for providing social, economic and educational well-being for all children while following state standards and creating a school environment that is conducive to the student’s needs.

The board went on to ask Holman to briefly describe some of his personal strengths that he might bring to the position if hired as Franklin County’s director of schools.

Communication, being relationship-driven and his experience were some of qualities that Holman mentioned about himself.

He went on to further describe his experiences, ranging from being a student in Franklin County to a teacher and principal within the county as well as his time as a principal in Rutherford County and working at the university level.

Next, the board moved into the criteria-related portion of the interview.

The first criteria-related question asked of Dr. Holman consisted of providing examples in which he had changed his mind and taken a different course of action as a result of listening to the input of others.

Two examples were given by Holman on the topic, beginning with the statement, “You have to be open to voice.”

The first example given was during his time as a principal when his teachers wanted to explore mini schools/academies. He provided examples of valuing teacher voices and empowerment as well as noting that not every decision should be left solely up to the principal alone.

He went on to another example of listening to the input of others as being his principal evaluations.

Questions pertaining to examples that demonstrate the candidate’s ability to build confidence in the schools were addressed.

Holman expressed the importance of presenting institutional information in a manner that can be easily interpreted by parents which, in turn, promotes understanding and confidence in how schools operate.

He also noted the importance of school sports and clubs and their role in nurturing the social and emotional well-being of the students.

Holman spoke on leading by example when it came to school-activity involvement and cited his own sponsoring of his school’s cooking club.

A question regarding the expectation of the director of schools to be a visible figure in the community was brought up.

When asked how Dr. Holman would accomplish community visibility if hired for the director position, he confidently replied: “You have a candidate before you that you won’t have to ask to show up. I will beat you to it.”

He went on to describe his views on visibility and that, as director of schools, being active and visible should be an unwritten expectation and that the position represents the face of the district while working directly with the board.

Holman was asked to describe how he would ensure academic success in the Franklin County School District.

He went on to say that he believes that communicating with the board on data and speaking with principals on executing that data is important. He also said that children are more than numbers, and students of various categories and demographics deserve attention.

Importance was placed on goal-setting and achieving accomplishments as well as developing a good working relationship among students, parents, staff, the community and the School Board.

When questioned about working with the board and good decision-making, Holman said he recognizes that it isn’t a one-man show and that the school director and the board work as a partnership.

Impartial decision-making and judgement as well as maintaining a well-informed relationship among the school board members was highlighted. Effectively working with the County Commission on school budgeting and allocating resources was also addressed.

Cason Orr, student representative, directly asked Dr. Holman, “What are your plans for continuing and increasing communication between the school board, staff and faculty, the public and the student body?”

Orr then remarked that he would like to emphasize the student-body portion of the question.

“Students have my heart,” Holman said, adding that he would want to develop roundtable discussions, teacher advisory councils, parent councils and student advisory councils which would allow for more communication.

As the interview concluded, a board member asked to hear the vision Holman has for Franklin County Schools.

“My vision is to empower, encourage and accelerate where we currently are,” he said.