He started as a physical education teacher and worked his way all the way up to head of the Madison County School District.

Michael Williams, who graduated from Madison County High School, is in his first school year as superintendent. After working in the Banks County School System for 20 years, he returned to Madison County four years ago.

“Madison County’s my home,” Williams said. “That’s where I grew up. I wanted to come back and bring my family.”

Williams has three children in the county’s education system and said things are off to a smooth start.    
In a system with seven schools and approximately 5,000 students, all faculty members make an impact. As a former teacher, Williams said he knows the importance of every member in the school system, no matter the role. 

“The superintendent’s just one piece of the organization,” Williams said. “It takes everybody. It takes your bus drivers, your cafeteria workers, your custodial staff. Everybody really just pitched in and did their job.” 

Williams said things are going well and pointed out the new school facilities and increasing enrollment numbers. However, there have been some financial matters dealing with millage rates and property values have been a challenge.

“We did not roll our millage rate back, so that was a little bit of a challenge in getting people to understand how much money it takes for the school system to operate,” Williams said. 

Now in a central office job, Williams said he misses being with kids everyday in the classrooms, but he’s working on being more involved as an administrator.

“That’s been one of our goals, is to make ourselves available in the schools more than we have in the previous years,” Williams said. “To be more visible, to be more of a support, to be more of service to our staff, as well as our students.” 

By Ross Crowell