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Just a few weeks ago, AISD Superintendent Dr. Ray Lea was left with the daunting task of finding principals for four campuses.
Three longtime principals had retired and a fourth asked to be reassigned to a new position. Lea was scrambling for replacemements.
Consider the mission accomplished. The school board voted Tuesday night to approve contracts for all four positions. “We’re excited,” Lea said. “We feel like we’ve got a good group that can work together as a team. They’re certainly committed to excellence.”
The new principal at Azle Junior High, Scot McPherson, has been principal at Class 2A Paradise High School for the past three years. He replaces Stacy Summerhill, who is the new principal at Silver Creek Elementary – replacing principal Jackie Spitzer, who retired. Rowena “Ro” McKinney, a longtime Azle educator and coach, replaces Darcy Simmons as principal at Azle Elementary after Simmons resigned to take a job as the district’s educational diagnostician. Amy Rollman is officially the new principal at Eagle Heights Elementary, replacing Paula Eagleton, who also retired. AJHS goes with McPherson New Azle Junior High boss McPherson, 46, has 21 years experience in education, including five years teaching and coaching at Springtown High School from 1991 through 1996. Before serving as principal at Paradise High School, he was principal at the junior high there, where he also coached baseball and football. He said he hopes his wife, Melissa, a teacher in Kennedale ISD, can join him in Azle one day. His son, Logan, will be a 7th grader at AJHS this fall. “I’m really excited,” he said. “I look forward to the challenge. I’ve got some high expectations for our students and staff, but they’re attainable goals. We’re going to excel – in and out of the classroom.” Summerhill to Silver Creek Summerhill, principal at Azle Junior High for the past four years, jumped at the chance to move “down” and take over for Spitzer. The 18-year educator said that although she feels good about her time at AJHS, she relishes the idea of working with younger students again. Silver Creek is home to students in grades K-4. “I’m excited,” she said. “I pursued this. I was ready to do something different.” Summerhill said she looks forward to joining a staff that achieved the state’s “Exemplary” rating last year and could achieve it again this year. “They’re doing something right,” she said. “They’ve got a great staff.” McKinney takes Rock reins McKinney, entering her 30th year as an Azle ISD educator, said she will feel at home at Azle Elementary – the “Rock School” and the oldest campus in the district, which houses fifth and sixth graders. She spent 23 years at Liberty Elementary where she taught physical education and later served as an administrative assistant under two principals. She has spent the past six years as an assistant principal at Azle High School – where she served as softball coach when the school started its program while still working at Liberty. McKinney, who took the Lady Hornets to a state tournament, said coming to Azle Elementary is “my dream job.” It’s where her dad, O.L. McKinney, went to school in the 1950s. “We have a great staff and a pretty good facility,” McKinney said. The job also gets McKinney back working with elementary-age children – an age group she particularly enjoys. “I relate (well) to high school kids, too,” she said. “But the younger children are special.” As with any child, McKinney said it’s important they feel they can “come to me with a problem and I’ll help them with it.” McKinney said she’s thrilled to continue her career in Azle. She’s had opportunities to go elsewhere and make more money, but her Azle roots kept her “home.” “This is a great district – a great community,” she said. “I think the quality of education we have here is excellent.” Rollman a natural for EH Rollman, the new principal at Eagle Heights, is hardly a new face there, having served as interim principal most of last year. But the 1993 Azle High School graduate has been with Azle ISD since August 1998, when she began teaching language arts at Azle Elementary. In August 2007 she took the job as assistant principal at both Eagle Heights and Silver Creek – splitting her time between campuses. In March 2009 she was named acting interim principal at Eagle Heights when Eagleton’s husband, Russell, was seriously injured in an accident. While Eagleton was away, Rollman ran the campus. Now that Eagleton has retired, the job is a natural fit for Rollman, who said she is “excited” about landing the principal’s job full-time. She said her goals are simple: help better educate the students and support the staff. “This is a great opportunity to do just that,” she said. New face at AEP, too A fifth principal’s position was filled without any fanfare. Sonny Hill, former assistant principal at Azle Elementary, has been assigned to a newly created instructional leader position at AISD’s Alternative Education Program (AEP) after Marianne Armstrong, former principal, retired. Hill will be over AEP’s Phoenix campus. An instructional leader for a separate AEP campus for junior high students – to be located on the Azle Junior High campus – has not yet been named. AEP, formerly all housed at the Phoenix campus, will be split this year. |
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