The Gwinnett County (Georgia) Board of Education has fired former Kent School District Superintendent Calvin Watts as its superintendent.
The board voted 3-2 on Friday, Jan. 31 to terminate Watts’ contract before its scheduled end on June 30, 2026, according to several media reports out of Georgia. Gwinnett County Public Schools is the largest school district in Georgia. The district has more than 182,000 students and 142 schools, according to its website.
The district hired Watts in July 2021. He left Kent after six years as superintendent. The Kent School District has more than 25,000 students at 44 schools, according to its website.
The Gwinnett County board voted 4-1 in 2023 to renew Watts’ contract for two years despite ongoing concerns about school safety, according to fox5atlanta.com. Many parents who attended that meeting told FOX 5 they were disappointed at the decision after an increase in violence on school grounds during Watts’s tenure and a deadly shooting involving a Norcross High School student just a mile from that campus in 2022.
Watts replaced J. Alvin Wilbanks, who led the district for 25 years.
Watts came to Kent to be superintendent in 2015 after working as an assistant superintendent for Gwinnett County Public Schools following other various roles during his 13 years with that district.
Prior to leaving for Georgia, it took two controversial 3-2 votes in 2020 and 2021 by the Kent School Board for Watts to keep his job. Each vote extended his contract. Watts left with two years remaining on his contract.
Gwinnett County Public Schools hired Watts at more than $413,000 a year as superintendent, according to ajc.com. That includes base salary ($380,972) and transportation and expense allowances. Watts had an annual salary of $279,500 with Kent.
The Kent School Board hired Israel Vela to replace Watts. The board in September 2024 voted 4-0 to extend Vela’s contract to June 30, 2027. Board member Donald Cook abstained. Vela’s annual salary remained at $355,000 with his new contract. But he will receive 6.5% of his salary each year to put into a tax sheltered annuity, an amount worth $23,075 per year in deferred compensation.
The board hired Vela as interim superintendent in 2021 and then chose him as superintendent in 2022 on a 3-2 vote. Vela previously worked as the district’s chief school operations and academic support officer.
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