Bulloch County Schools will have new principals at eight schools beginning July 1, but all are familiar faces in the district. Five assistant principals are being promoted to lead their existing schools.
The assignments recommended by Superintendent Charles Wilson to the Board of Education on separate personnel actions on March 25, April 15 and April 29, consisted of filling six principal vacancies and the transfer of two existing administrators to new posts. The district will also create two new administrator roles to lead the school system’s Virtual Learning Program, one for K-5 and one for 6-12.
The adjustments are the result of an annual spring review that seeks to match school needs with existing leadership capacity plus faculty contract recommendations for the new school year. While some personnel actions did require an open session vote by the Board of Education, some are inter-district transfers of existing personnel that are at the superintendent’s discretion.
The school district publicly posted positions in March and April for open assistant principal, principal, and other district leadership jobs. These garnered a diverse group of applicants from inside the school district, across the state, and outside Georgia. Interviews are still in progress for multiple assistant principals roles due to vacancies that resulted from either promotions or relocations.
Wilson has communicated with all administrators, and principals have notified their employees as actions were approved by either the Board or the superintendent.
The Board voted 6-0 at its April 29 work session to approve three principal positions. Board members Mike Sparks and Glen Wommack were not present. For the other positions that required a Board vote, the Board unanimously approved personnel actions at its March 25 work session, and the April 15 personnel actions were approved in a 7-0 vote, with one member, April Newkirk, not present.
Principal contracts are scheduled to be renewed by May 15, but no further changes are planned by the superintendent. Principals and assistant principals will continue to serve in their current roles through June 30. No lead principal changes are planned for Brooklet Elementary, Mill Creek Elementary, Portal Elementary, Portal Middle High, Sallie Zetterower Elementary, Southeast Bulloch Middle, and Stilson Elementary. The school district’s new fiscal year begins July 1.
2021 – 2022 Principal Assignments
- Julia P. Bryant Elementary – Stephanie Compton. Compton applied for the publicly posted position and was later recommended to be approved as part of the April 15 personnel actions presented to the Board. Compton is being promoted from her previous role as the school’s assistant principal. She will fill the school’s principal vacancy that occurred when current principal Pam Goodman applied for and was approved as the district’s new Virtual Learning Program director for grades K-5 for the new school year.
- Langston Chapel Elementary – Dr. Nate Pennington. Superintendent Charles Wilson transferred Pennington from his current role as principal of Nevils Elementary to replace LCES Principal Keith Wright. Wright will be transferred to be the principal of Statesboro High School.
- Langston Chapel Middle – Kelia Frances. Frances applied for the publicly posted position and was recommended to be approved as part of the April 15 personnel actions presented to the Board. Frances is being promoted from her previous role as the school’s assistant principal. She will fill the school’s principal vacancy that occurred after the resignation of Dr. Eric Carlyle at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Dr. Todd Veland, a school improvement director for the school system, served as the school’s interim principal for 2020-2021.
- Mattie Lively Elementary – Aldric Dekle. Dekle applied for the publicly posted position and was later recommended to be approved as part of the April 15 personnel actions presented to and voted on by the Board. Dekle is being promoted from his previous roles as the school’s assistant principal and interim co-principal. He served as co-principal along with Farrah Reddick during this year’s second semester, in order to fill the vacancy that occurred after Dr. Laurie Mascolo stepped down during the first semester to accept a special education coordinator position at Langston Chapel Elementary.
- Nevils Elementary – Robert Lindsey. Lindsey applied for the publicly posted position and was later recommended to be approved as part of the April 29 personnel actions presented to and voted on by the Board. Lindsey is being promoted and transferred from his previous role as the school’s assistant principal.
- Southeast Bulloch High – Dr. Julie Mizell. Mizell, who is the current principal at William James Middle School, applied for the publicly posted position and was later recommended to be approved as part of the April 29 personnel actions presented to and voted on by the Board. Mizell will fill the school’s principal vacancy that occurred after Superintendent Wilson performed an inter-district transfer of the school’s current principal, Stephen Hoyle, to an assistant principal position at Langston Chapel Elementary.
- Statesboro High School – Keith Wright. Wright, who is the current principal at Langston Chapel Elementary, was transferred by Superintendent Wilson to be the school’s new principal. Wright will fill the principal vacancy that occurred after SHS’s current principal, Chad Prosser, requested to be transferred to another leadership position in the district at the end of this school year. Prosser was approved at the April 15 Board meeting to be a school improvement director with the district’s Central Office for the new year.
- William James Middle – Scott Chapman. Chapman applied for the publicly posted position and was later recommended to be approved as part of the April 29 personnel actions presented to and voted on by the Board. Chapman is being promoted from his previous role as the school’s assistant principal. Chapman will fill the principal vacancy that occurred after the current principal, Julie Mizell, applied for and was approved as the principal at SEBHS for next school year.
- Virtual Learning Program Director K-5 – Pam Goodman. Goodman, the current principal of JPBES, applied for this new publicly posted position. Superintendent Wilson made an inter-district transfer as part of the March 25 personnel actions to take effect July 1.
- Virtual Learning Program Director 6-12 – The interview process is complete for this position; however, a recommendation to the Board for personnel action has not yet occurred.
