About

Superintendent

In his 29th year in education, Dr. Terry Oatts is in his fifth year as Superintendent of Rockdale County Public Schools. Prior to his tenure as Superintendent, Dr. Oatts served as Assistant Superintendent of Student Achievement in Fayette County Public Schools from 2014-2018. During his tenure in Fayette County, Dr. Oatts led the district’s development of a new 5-Year Strategic Plan and took the lead in the development of the district’s Strategic Waiver application which was successfully approved by the State Board of Education. Additionally, Dr. Oatts, a state credentialed TKES/LKES Trainer, facilitated Fayette’s transition to the Teacher Leader Effectiveness evaluation system. During his Fayette County tenure, the graduation rate exceeded 90% and the district’s CCRPI increased significantly.

Dr. Oatts, a 2016 graduate of the American Association of School Administrators’ (AASA) inaugural cohort of the National Aspiring Superintendents Academy in Alexandria, Virginia and a participant in Harvard Graduate School of Education’s 2017 National Institute for Urban School Leaders in Cambridge, Massachusetts, previously served on the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) National Advisory Board. Dr. Oatts is also a 2014 graduate of the Georgia School Superintendents Association’s (GSSA) District Office Professional Development Program, and he is also a 2019 graduate of GSSA’s 13th Cohort of the Superintendent Professional Development Program (SPDP). Dr. Oatts previously served as District 12 Director for the Georgia Association of Curriculum and Instructional Supervisors (GACIS) having represented the eight Griffin RESA districts, and he is currently serving a third term on the Georgia Cognia (formerly AdvancED) State Advisory Committee. Dr. Oatts currently serves on numerous advisory committees including the GSBA Superintendents’ Advisory Council, and he serves as the Metro RESA Board of Control Vice-Chair as well as the Georgia School Superintendents Association Legislative Committee Representative for Metro RESA.

Prior to his district office tenure, Dr. Oatts spent the better part of a decade as a Title I elementary school Principal, middle school Principal, and high school Principal in neighboring Henry County. During his principal tenure, Dr. Oatts received many accolades including but not limited to his elementary school being recognized as a Distinguished Title I School, establishing the first high school credit-bearing world language middle grades program, increasing his graduation rate by nearly 10 points in two years, and obtaining U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools (Bronze) and Washington Post Most Challenging High Schools recognition. Prior to his principal tenure, Dr. Oatts spent nearly seven years as a high school assistant principal in Glynn and Gwinnett Counties at a non-Title and Title I high school respectively. Prior to his administrative tenure, Dr. Oatts spent five years as an elementary special education teacher-assistant, middle school counselor, and Title I elementary school counselor. From 1997-2018, Dr. Oatts taught graduate studies within the College of Education at both traditional and proprietary institutions of higher learning across the state including his alma mater, Georgia Southern University, and at Troy University, Argosy University, Mercer University, and Piedmont University.

Dr. Oatts holds a B.S. degree in Communication Arts and three graduate degrees in education all from Georgia Southern University. His doctoral degree is in Curriculum Studies with an emphasis in Educational Leadership. Dr. Oatts has authored several publications including two books, one on the achievement gap and one on the educational philosophy of W.E.B. Du Bois. The latter research was cited in the Journal of American History in 2004. Dr. Oatts also co-authored a widely disseminated article in 1999 in the journal "Education" on the diagnostic disparities between ADHD and Conduct Disorder involving African American adolescent males. Dr. Oatts is married to a middle grades administrator, and they have two high school-aged children – Landon and Teryn – and an adult son, Dorren.