Former KSU football coach will be superintendent in Marion County

By Shawntaye Hopkins - shopkins@herald-leader.com

A former Kentucky State University football coach who is in a superintendent training program with Burgin Independent Schools has been selected as the superintendent of Marion County Schools.

Donald W. Smith will start in his new role in Marion County on July 1, administrative assistant Pam Spalding said. He is the first black man to serve in that position, she said.

The current superintendent, Roger Marcum, is leaving to become vice president of St. Catharine College in Springfield. His contract ends June 30.

Smith has been working with Burgin Independent Schools as a participant in the 2008-09 Minority Superintendent Internship Program, which was established in 2003 to train and support minorities who are interested in becoming school superintendents, according to the Kentucky Department of Education Web site.

Smith was fired from KSU in 2003.

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