Billy Edwards, left, the new superintendent of Mayfield Independent, has been with the district for 20 years. Submitted photo
Billy Edwards has spent 20 of his 21 years in education at the Mayfield Independent school district in Graves County. A district, Edwards says, has been through its fair share of trials and tribulations over the years.
“This community and school district support one another every day,” he said. “I see staff and our community members, just everybody coming together and helping one another through a tough time and continuing to do that today.”
Edwards said he has seen firsthand his team of educators and administrators work as a team for their families and students through the pandemic, a deadly tornado in December 2021 and other crisis situations.
“We went through a lot together,” he said, explaining the tragedies the district has gone through are “like those watershed moments that built us up as a team to get us going back in the right direction.”
For the past eight years, Edwards has spent his time at the high school as a principal. He said with prayers and the support from his family and colleagues, he decided to accept the position as superintendent.
“I’d grown close with everybody at the high school, and we put some good systems in place,” Edwards explained. “I’m blessed to still get to work in my district, which I’ve been in the whole time.”
Edwards said in his message to the district that college and career readiness to prepare students for their future will be a top priority.
“Our goal of college and career readiness for all starts at our elementary school and follows our students through their high school years. Our school district offers top-notch professionals in all our departments who will always do what is best for our students and we pride ourselves with open lines of communication,” he said.
Edwards said there are many systems in place that he has seen during his time at the district that are working, and he hopes to make those even better. For his first year as superintendent, he plans to learn all the ins and outs of these systems.
“We’ve got a lot of systems that are not broken and things that are working very well,” he said. “I want to continue and make sure those high expectations are still in place and carry on the good things that we have going on, while also taking time to analyze and look at the data to see how we can make them better.”
Edwards said it has been important to his family to be involved in their community both in and out of the classroom. Edwards has coached various sports within the district, including basketball and football, and he said his wife is an educator and his daughter is enrolled in the school district. Edwards mentioned the importance his family places on education in his letter to his district.
“My daughters proudly attend our school system, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. My family is proud to be a part of this community, and I am blessed to be a leader within the district,” said Edwards.
Edwards said he is excited for this new leadership role and to collaborate with community partners to create the best opportunities for his students. And to gain more insight, he will spend the next few months learning and listening so he can make the best decisions for students and staff.
“I want to make sure I am supporting all our staff members because I am blessed. I truly believe we have got the best staff, students and community in the state,” said Edwards. “I appreciate that they’ve embraced my family as a part of this community.”
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