DOUGLAS, Ga.— Coffee County Schools opened the new school year with a back-to-school convocation, where three newly appointed district leaders outlined their goals for literacy, school safety, community engagement and teacher support.

New superintendent brings 25 years of Coffee County experience

Lee Mobley, who was named superintendent one month ago, said his tenure in Coffee County spans 25 of his 28 years in education. Mobley said he entered the role with a clear sense of purpose — and humility.

“The first call was, I hope I can do this job to the level our community deserves,” Mobley said. “I can bring heart and I can bring passion, but the most important thing is to bring people to the table — the right people to the table that care about this community.”

Mobley said the district’s faculty and staff already bring that commitment.

“Most of the people that surround me are a lot better educators than I am,” he said. “I’m just honored to be able to work alongside them in Coffee County to impact our community.”

Mobley described his leadership style as one focused on clearing the path for teachers rather than directing from above.

“My primary goal is to be the head cheerleader, head supporter for all of our people who are boots on the ground,” Mobley said. “I see my role as removing obstacles and building bridges for our teachers to do what they do best. But also, I serve as a bridge to the community.”

Literacy, safety and mental health top the academic agenda

Mobley said literacy is the district’s primary academic focus — and that priority extends beyond the classroom to the youngest children in the community.

“Literacy is a primary focus, both with our students and early literacy with our children, our birth to four in our community,” he said. “We know that literacy is the key to success in life.”

Mobley said school safety is also a priority, adding that the district has been in communication with outside partners to add security layers to its buildings.

“We’re working on any layer of safety that we can add and make our schools more secure for our students so they feel safe,” Mobley said. “We know when students feel safe, they can learn. Any and every layer of security that we can consider, we are.”

Beyond academics and safety, Mobley said the mental health of both students and staff is central to the district’s goals.

“Our goal is literacy, but safety, social-emotional learning, our mental health of our students and our staff is key,” he said. “But academic success is our goal. And we will accomplish that.”

New teachers celebrated at convocation

Mobley said new teachers were recognized during the convocation, drawing applause from the rest of the faculty and staff.

“When I asked them to stand and be recognized, the rest of our team just applauded and celebrated our new teachers,” he said. “Coaching our new teachers, our new employees to take the next generation of this work into the future — we just strongly believe that they hold the magic to make a difference with our kids.”

Mobley said investing in new educators is part of a broader strategy to build leadership across the district.

“We want to invest in our leaders and our teachers to lead better, to lead more intentional, and to lead with more urgency,” he said.

Superintendent calls for community unity

On community relations, Mobley said he wants to unify residents around a shared goal.

“I don’t want our community to be unhappy and not have the answers to the questions they have,” he said. “Where there’s division, we want to create a glue that will bring us together. I think we can do that if we all come to the same table. We have a common goal — when our kids are successful, we all look good.”

Mobley said parents can expect open, two-way communication from the district this year.

“Communication is key both ways,” he said. “We want to make sure that our message is getting out to our parents and we equip them with the tools they need so that they can help their kids be successful. But also, we want to keep an open line so that when our parents have questions or concerns, they’re free to come to us.”

Mobley said his path to education was not one he originally planned.

“This is a calling for me. I didn’t intend to be an educator. I didn’t love school,” he said. “But when I worked with a handful of adults, teachers who poured into my life and spoke into my life, they put me in a position to see kids when the light bulb went on. And when I saw that, that changed. In a kid, I wanted to be a part of it.”

Mobley closed his remarks with a simple message for the district: “One Coffee, one team.”

Assistant superintendent focused on instruction and teacher support

Allyson Speight, the new Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, said her role centers on ensuring teachers have the resources needed to deliver quality instruction in every classroom every day.

“I am one of the people who serve in the area of making sure that our school system has great instruction, making sure that our teachers are supported, have everything that we need to bring excellence in every classroom every day,” Speight said.

Speight said she plans to bring structure and consistency to that work.

“I hope to bring structure. I hope to bring support,” she said. “I hope to bring a level of excellence to continue to move our students and our classrooms forward, and our families are supported because of the work that I do.”

Speight said her motivation comes from a belief that the community deserves the district’s best effort every day.

“I care about our school system because I feel like our families and our community deserves the best of us every single day,” she said. “If we have the right mindset and we understand the importance of what we bring to the table every single day in supporting our students, we can build a stronger community together.”

Speight’s career rooted in Coffee County classrooms

Speight’s career in Coffee County Schools began at Satilla Elementary before Indian Creek Elementary opened. She taught first grade at Indian Creek for five years, then became assistant principal at West Coffee Middle School. She later served as principal at Broxton Mary Hayes Elementary and director of assessment and accountability at the district office before her current appointment.

Speight said teachers are central to the district’s success and often go unrecognized for the work they do.

“I think teachers are just superheroes — hidden heroes that people don’t, a lot of times, give enough credit to,” she said. “They’re in the trenches doing the hard work every single day. They love our kids. We love our community. And we want to do the things, the right things to serve our community.”

Speight said teachers routinely go beyond their scheduled hours for students.

“Teachers are a lot of times working early, staying late to make sure students are loved, they’re supported, they’re giving everything they need to become successful young people in our community,” she said.

Speight said her own path to education was shaped by her mother, who was also an educator.

“I was actually a teacher’s kid who did not want to be a teacher because I had to stay after school every day,” she said. “But I learned so much from my mom about passion for learning and teaching. And I think that was just a great motivation for me to follow in some of those great footsteps and continue to serve our community.”

Speight said parents can expect the district to remain accessible and responsive.

“I hope parents know that we are open and that we’re here to listen and that we’re here to support,” she said. “Their children are important to them, but they’re also important to us.”

Assistant superintendent of operations prioritizes visibility and relationships

Grady Hart, the new Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Facilities, oversees maintenance, school safety, transportation, school nurses and district policy for Coffee County Schools.

“My main role is I’m over all the operations for the school system,” Hart said. “That includes maintenance, school safety, transportation, school nurses, going over the school policy for the school system to make sure that all our parents in the community have that policy so they understand what’s going on within the school system.”

Hart said his focus will be on being present — in school buildings and in the community.

“I’m very intentional about building relationships with teachers, but most of all with the students, so they can see me being visible to them,” Hart said. “I want to be more visible so that everybody know that I’m there if they need me at all times.”

Hart said he also plans to attend community events and maintain an open-door policy for parents with questions about district operations.

“I want everybody to understand that we have an open-door policy,” he said. “If they have any issues with those different things of operations, we can talk to them at all times to make sure that they feel comfortable coming and talking to us.”

Hart credits Coffee County for his career growth

Hart said teachers are the backbone of the school system and reflect the diversity of the communities that make up Coffee County.

“Teachers are very, very important. They are pretty much the boots on the ground,” Hart said. “One thing about Coffee is everybody’s from different cities in the Coffee County school system. So everybody have their own history from Broxton to Ambrose, in the Satilla area — and West Green as well, and Douglas. But the teachers are very important because they are the backbone of the school system.”

Hart’s path to the role included student teaching at Doherty High School under supervising teacher Donald Poole. He then returned to his hometown and taught middle grades math and PE at Gerald Tripp Middle School for six to seven years. Coffee County gave him his first administrative opportunity as a seventh-grade assistant principal at Coffee Middle School.

Hart later served as assistant principal at Toombs County High School before Coffee County hired him back as assistant principal and school-wide assistant athletic director — a role he held for five years before his current appointment.

“Being an assistant-wide assistant athletic director really gave me that operational piece that I needed to get this role,” Hart said. “Now being assistant superintendent, it just comes full circle.”

Hart said the outpouring of community support when his appointment was announced was something he did not expect.

“It was very, very important to me to have that support from everybody in this community, because I’m not originally from here,” he said. “Being here, I feel like I was born and raised from here — just seeing that support when that post had went out, and all the phone calls I received from people who I didn’t know. They embraced me, my family as well, and just being a part of this community and this school system just means so much to me.”

Hart said Coffee County’s belief in him made his career possible.

“I wouldn’t have the opportunity if the Coffee County School System didn’t believe in me,” he said. “The people here are great, and I love being here.”

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