Dan Anthony Sims was the board’s lone pick for the district’s top leadership position, the Bibb County Board of Education announced at the end of a meeting Thursday evening. State law requires the name of the finalist to be made public at least 14 days ahead of the official vote to officially name a new superintendent.

The board voted 6-2 to begin negotiations with Sims with board members Daryl Morton and Lisa Garrett voting against the motion.

The announcement marked the end of a five monthslong search and selection process to find a replacement for Superintendent Curtis Jones, who is set to retire June 30.

It also followed comments from five of six public speakers who pleaded with the board to pick an internal candidate.

Sims, 50, is an Atlanta native and former longtime employee of Fulton County Schools. Sims started his career in education as a math teacher and worked up to the position of assistant principal and later principal of Tri-Cities High School in East Point.

Sims has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, master’s degree in education and doctorate degree in education from Georgia State University. He also has a certification from the University of Southern California’s Urban Superintendents Academy, according to a Linkedin account in his name.

Sims’ salary as associate superintendent for Atlanta Public Schools was $167,534.95 in fiscal year 2022, according to the state’s public salary database, open.ga.gov. He started the position in July 2016 and, according to the Linkedin account, “led the District to a 12% increase in the graduation rate over the past 5 years with an all-time high 83% graduation rate for school year 2021.”

To contact Civic Journalism Fellow Laura Corley, email [email protected] or call 478-301-5777.