As a high schooler, Timothy Guiney was a timid teen whose passion for literature and basketball drove his work ethic. For the past 12 years, Guiney’s off sense of humor and ability to bond with students over common interests have endeared him to his colleagues and the students they serve in Clayton County.

“The students love him,” said Melody Powell, a literature teacher at Adamson Middle School where Guiney served as principal. “He has a sense of humor that kind of takes a minute to catch on but usually once you get it he’s hilarious. He bonds really well with the student body. He kind of gets with their interests, and he’ll get interested in some of their hobbies and activities and [he is] overall respected in the school.”

On July 1, Guiney will be ready to begin his tenure as principal of Grady High School. He replaces Vincent Murray, who has served as Grady’s principal for the last 23 years.

Since his selection was finalized at an APS Board of Education meeting on June 2, Guiney has been working steadily behind the scenes in preparation for the change to come. Mario Herrera, a literature teacher and debate coach at Grady who served on the community panel to help in the lengthy selection process, says that he has high expectations for Guiney.

“I was unsure when he walked in, just like I was with most candidates,” Herrera said of Guiney. “But then he started to talk and I liked his sense of humor. I liked his approach to this idea of ‘team and school culture.’ I thought he was very forthcoming with his answers, he had thought about things, and prepared for the interview, he knew about Grady, and he spoke very respectfully of Dr. Murray. He was impressive.”

Guiney was principal of Adamson for four years before accepting the position at Grady. He has served as an educator in Clayton also as a teacher and an assistant principal.

“I really appreciate all that Dr. Murray has done for Grady, and I am hopeful and confident that the new principal will be able to build on those successes in the future,” District 3 board member Matt Westmoreland said at the board meeting on June 2.

“I think he’s going to create his own [legacy], based upon what we have now,” Herrera said.

Who is Mr. Guiney?

Guiney grew up just outside of New York City in a suburban town called Valley Stream as the youngest of four children. After graduating from high school at Southold High School, he came down South to attend college at University of North Carolina Wilmington. After receiving his bachelors of arts in English, he worked as a restaurant manager and later for an insurance company in Savannah.

“Once I got out in the business world I realized that I really had a passion for literature and language and I also felt like I had a passion for helping kids,” Guiney said. “I thought teaching would be a good fit so I actually went back [to school]. I had a BA in English already so it just took me about a year.”

In 2002, Guiney received his teaching certificate from Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah. Later that year, he moved to Clayton to take a position as a language arts teacher at Morrow High School in the Clayton County School System. In 2007, midway through his fifth year at Marrow, Guiney received a promotion to assistant principal at Adamson Middle School also in Clayton County. Later in 2010, he was made principal of Adamson.

Under his leadership, Adamson was named a Title I School of Distinction twice. In 2013, the school was named a Title I Reward School for High Progress. The same year, Guiney was named Clayton County Principal of the Year. According to Guiney, his real accomplishment at Adamson was gained through helping others develop their own leadership capacities.

“In my four years as principal I have had two of my teachers become guidance counselors, I have had one of my assistant principals become a principal and I have had three of my teachers become assistant principals as well,” Guiney said. “That’s not really a tangible accomplishment, but I think [it’s] important trying to help other people.”

Melody Powell, a literature teacher at Adamson, believes that Guiney’s ability to listen, his honesty and preparedness make him a great principal.

“He’s a great listener, he jumps in with his professional guidance as needed and – when it comes down to leadership – he can be authoritative, but at the same time it’s more a partnership, everybody’s on the same team,” Powell said. “He makes you feel very comfortable with his leadership style. …  He doesn’t beat around the bush. He doesn’t have a problem having those difficult conversations.”

Mary Dewberry, vice president of the Adamson PTA and the parent of an eighth-grader there, agrees.

“Well as far as a leader, his strongest [aspect] I can say was his ability to try to work with everyone,” Dewberry said. “He’s a man that, I feel, that doesn’t like confrontation, so he’s tried to resolve whatever he can to satisfy everyone. … He was very cooperative, he was very compassionate. He’s a fair principal and he was very respectful.”

Although Guiney has received high marks from many of his colleagues, the school’s College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) scores are below average. The recently implemented program scores Georgia schools on a scale of 1-100 for their school year performance. In 2012, Adamson received a 71.2 slightly below the 73.8 average score of middle schools in the state of Georgia. For 2013, however, Adamson’s score dropped five points to a 66.2 which was more than eight points behind the average.

“We saw where we had seen some gains 2011-12, we kind of stayed a little bit static and regressed in a couple of areas in 12-13,” Guiney said. “For 2013-14, which was the most recent year I think will have a strong increase from that because we went up 10 percent in social studies as a school. We went up about five percent  in science and three percent in language arts and we stayed about the same in math. …  So we had to make some adjustments to our instruction and our planning. But our most recent results were much improved in that regards.”

According to Guiney, the school was also able to hire an instructional facilitator to help with classroom planning and data analysis for the 2012-14 school year. Powell says there were challenges with test score that improvement in the school, but that Guiney faced them head on.

“I would say the biggest challenge [Guiney faced] was ensuring that adequate remediation was taking place in order to get the students a little bit more prepared,” Powell said. “Although it was a challenge, I do have to say he did step up; it took a lot of work on his part.”

The school’s performance on End of Course Tests (EOCTs), however, have steadily improved over the past seven years. The school increased from a 86 percent in 2005 to a 96 percent in 2012. Overall, CRCT scores have also increased during Guiney’s time at Adamson.

According to Powell, Guiney puts emphasis on effort and every day underscored the importance of hard work to the students in the school. Through the morning announcements and tidbits in the halls, he communicated this message daily to his students and teachers at Adamson.

“He often stressed greatness, putting forth your best effort and definitely trying because you never know how great you can be if you don’t try,” Powell said.

Through his own education, Guiney puts his self improvement motto into play. While working as an educator, Guiney got his master’s degree in educational leadership in 2005 and an education specialist degree in 2010 from University of West Georgia. Currently, Guiney is a doctoral student at the University of West Georgia. Once he is finished with the program he will have earned a doctorate degree in school improvement with an area of concentration in educational leadership.

Guiney says that his high school English teacher first sparked his interest in language, which later led him to pursue a career in education.

“I had this teacher for 10th and 11th grade and he really impacted me,” Guniey said. “He really encouraged my writing at that time. Prior to that I didn’t know really, I hadn’t had a lot of experience as a writer, but he helped me to kind of find my voice a little bit and to really enjoy literature and writing.”

Guiney is married to his wife Andrea of almost 10 years with two kids; Sean a rising third-grader and Lauren a rising first-grader.

“I really love kids, I enjoy working with students and I enjoy working with middle school students, and previously I really enjoyed interacting with high school students as well,” Guiney said. “So, from a family perspective and from a parental involvement perspective, I understand parents and I understand that sometimes that when parents are bringing me concerns, they are bringing the concern because they care about their children, and they want to see the best for their kids, so that’s never something that’s personal with me because I know that I do the same thing to advocate for my children when I need to.”

Aside from teaching, Guiney’s interests include watching sports and reading.

“I am, having grown up in New York, a Mets fan, a Jets fan, and a Knicks fan,” Guiney said. “Which has been a very difficult reality for me because all of my teams lose very frequently and I’ve moved to Atlanta where, for instance, the Braves thrash my New York Mets quite frequently and so that’s a challenge. So I am a New York sports fan, but I am a transplanted Southerner, so I love Atlanta, I love living down South–but I still have those New York sports allegiances, which have not paid any dividends for me in a long, long time.”

Selection of Mr. Guiney

This past March APS announced the removal of 19 school principals, including Grady’s own Dr. Murray. The APS Board of Education finalized all recommendations made by the incoming superintendent, Meria Carstarphen, for Guiney and the other principal hires at the June 2 board meeting. The process leading up to the decision, however, was lengthy.

“We’ve put in new principals for a lot of different reasons,” Outgoing superintendent Erroll Davis told the Southerner after his last board meeting on June 2. “Again it’s unique to each school, but our expectations are the same: to take those schools to another level of performance and excellence.”

APS posted the Grady principal job on its website on March 5, and the posting elicited 155 applications.

Candidates were weeded out through an initial review of resumes, which reduced the applicant number to 42 candidates. After, the selection process consisted of four “tiers” each of which narrowed down the application pool. The first tier was a writing prompt, the second tier was an initial interview, the third tier was a community interview, and the fourth tier was an interview with Superintendent Carstarphen.

“I would say that it, [the selection process], was very rigorous,” Guiney said. “But I don’t think it was overwhelming; it was just a matter of being prepared for that process. …  I feel like it was a very thorough and rigorous process, but I think it was a good process in order to make sure that, basically, they were getting a very good candidate.”

The community interview took place on May 21. The panel interviewed six prospective Grady principals and consisted of a total 13 people: three Grady students, two Grady teachers, the principal of Maynard Jackson, and seven parents and community members.

“We had more student participation for Grady than for any other school in APS,” David White said. “We had three students on the panel. Most schools had one, my other two each had two, and for Grady we actually had three.”

The panel was chosen by White, who interviewed prospective participants who were recommended to him.

“I got to voice out my own opinions about what I think Grady needs,” Uzuki Kakinuma, rising junior at Grady who was part of the panel, said. “And after seeing all the candidates, I got to talk about what I liked and disliked about each candidate. I really [liked that] the students played a vital role in the process as our opinions were not silenced, and most of our comments were recorded for reference.”

Members of the panel were given score sheets in which they ranked each candidate on a scale of one to five for their answers to the same 12 questions. The candidates with the top three overall scores were then interviewed by Carstarphen for the fourth tier.

“After the community meeting panel, tier 3 day,” White said. “When we debriefed at the end of the day he [Guiney] was the top candidate and the top three candidates and myself went the next day to meet with our new superintendent, Dr. Carstarphen, and she asked them a series of different questions, she asked each of the three a series of questions.”

From a first impression standpoint, White found Guiney admirable.

“I don’t want to speculate too much, I can only speak for my opinion, but I find him to be very gracious and humble,” White said. “But also quite confident and competent. I think it’s a really appealing mixture, I think he’s very able to do the work and is humbled by the opportunity to serve at Grady.”

Going Forward

When school starts Aug. 4, Guiney will have already settled into the shoes that he has been preparing to fill since he was appointed in June.

“The next day [after the fourth-tier interview], I had a phone conversation with him and [talked to him about] how to prepare for the next steps and what he might expect in the days to come,” White told The Southerner on June 4. “I’ve had a couple of phone conversations with him since the tier three day and then that one bit of face time when we met with Dr. Carstarphen. I will meet with him soon to begin crafting so more detailed entry plans with him.”

Guiney’s transition this coming school year will not only be from the tweens of middle school to the teenage angst of high school, but also from Clayton County school district to APS. In addition, Guiney states that Grady has a higher level of parent and community involvement and that there is a big demographic difference between the two schools.

According to Guiney’s 2013 executive summary, 70 percent of Adamson’s students receive free and reduced lunch benefits and 97 percent of the students enrolled are minorities. Grady’s demographics in both categories are much lower. According to US News and World Reports, 49 percent of Grady’s students receive free and reduced lunch and 74 percent of the students enrolled at the school are minorities.

“Though those aspects are different, I feel that based upon being able to communicate, treating everybody with respect, being somebody who carefully considers decisions, I believe those things will help me be successful, even though the setting is somewhat different,” Guiney said. “I’m excited about coming to Grady. I’m excited to have the opportunity to work among high school kids, and it really is a lot of positive energy. … Grady is a great school, I think any school has areas that can be improved, and I look forward to being a part of that process at Grady.”

In addition to these changes, Guiney is also preparing for the implementation the Georgia Milestones Test, a new testing system in Georgia which will replace the EOCT.

“It’s important to practice before you essentially play the game or take the test,” Guiney said. “So I think that will be really a big component that will drive what we do at Grady but will also drive really many schools throughout the state. To really make an effective transition we have to realize that if the test is going to be different, than we have to begin to teach somewhat differently as well.”

From a test taking standpoint, both Adamson and Grady, and their respective school districts, are comparable. Each school and corresponding district’s CCRPI scores are within a point of one another. Adamson with a 66.2 and Clayton County a 65.5; Grady with a 66.8 and APS a 65.3. All involved, however, are roughly 10 points behind Georgia’s 75.8 average.

Guiney has already reviewed Grady’s CCRPI numbers, and sees them an indicators of where Grady might improve in the future.

“It looks like there will have to be some improvement in science as well as math,” Guiney said. “And even though in some cases math achievement is at or near the state average at Grady, really throughout the state of Georgia we have to look at those things.”

Change, according to Guiney, will be made cautiously.

“I have already begun to review some of the concerns that the community has had.” Guiney said. “So I think there will be things that we will look at. We won’t make changes just for the sake of making changes when things are working. But I do feel like what I will want to do is make sure I am conversing with all students, parents, staff before we begin to make any changes to make sure we are getting everyone involved in that decision making as well.”

Herrera recognizes that the challenges Guiney will face will be hard to overcome, but is confident that Guiney is the man for the job.

“I think that whoever steps in right now into that principal’s office is going to have a difficult time,” Herrera said. “We are a community that has many ideas that don’t always parallel each other, and there are some clashing thoughts in the community. I don’t think the transition is going to be any worse than for anyone else stepping into it. He taught in high school; I like the fact that he was a high school teacher, and I think that bringing things together is kind of the best of both worlds.”

According to Herrera, Guiney’s ability to listen will help in his transition.

“I also took away the impression, and this was with every candidate, that they felt the most important thing they could do is listen,” Herrera said. “I think that’s a really good and proper way to understand this creature we call Grady.”

The Grady community has high hopes that as Guiney steps up to the plate as principal, he will help the school reach the success it strives for.

“Grady is an amazing school that provides a really awesome experience for the kids that go there,” Westmoreland said. “It is filled with passionate, dedicated faculty members, and I think it’s a school with a number of opportunities and significant challenges. I think, and hope, that he will approach those head on and provide many good solutions after getting to know the kids and the teachers and the parents and make the school even stronger than it is.”

Guiney also remains optimistic in wake of the adjustment to come.

“I expect to have a great year,” Guiney said. “I expect it to be very very busy. Anytime you are transitioning into a new position it requires a lot of work so I expect to work hard and be tired at times, but I expect great relationships with community members, with parents, with students, with staff, and I expect to work together as well look at what can be done. Although Grady is already a very good school, look what we can do move in a positive direction and be even better in the years to come.”

Jenni Rogan contributed to the reporting of this story.