During a called meeting Thursday, Sept. 1, the Clarke County Board of Education approved three Clarke County School District leadership hires.

The board officially approved the appointment of Dr. Robbie Hooker as the district’s new Superintendent. Dr. Hooker, who was named the sole finalist for the position last month, has been Superintendent of Social Circle City Schools since 2019. He is scheduled to begin work at CCSD on Monday, Oct. 10, at which time retiring Superintendent Dr. Xernona Thomas will shift into an advisory role through the end of her contract on Dec. 31. 

Dr. Hooker returns to CCSD after having previously taught at Coile Middle School and served as principal of Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School from 2003-2008 and Clarke Central High School from 2008-2016. 

In other business during Thursday’s called meeting, the Board:

• approved the hire of Shurod Swift as the district’s new Director of Transportation. Mr. Swift comes to CCSD with a combined 20 years of school bus driving and transportation leadership experience and has previously worked for Rockdale County Public Schools, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Woodward Academy, Forsyth County Public Schools, and Atlanta Public Schools.
• approved the hire of Kim Mattox as the new Assistant Director of Classic City High School and the CCSD Learning Center. Ms. Mattox has over 25 years of experience in education and has worked as an instructional coach at Coile Middle School since 2020. She was also previously an academic enrichment coach at Gaines Elementary School, held similar roles at Cousins Middle School in Covington and Prince Avenue Christian School, and was a homeschool teacher for 10 years.