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County schools see staff shuffle |
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Friday, 26 June 2009 |
By SHEA STASKOWSKI
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After 11 years as the assistant superintendent of the Oktibbeha County School District, Beverly Kemp is retiring, leaving Supt. James Covington with some important decisions to make.
Instead of looking outside of his district, Covington said he felt it was best to look for Kemp’s replacement out of his current pool of employees. Kemp has been the assistant superintendent for elementary education and federal programs.
After weighing all his options, Covington said he decided to offer the assistant supt. position to Dr. Gale Cook, the current principal of West Oktibbeha County Elementary, which in leaves her position available.
Covington then decided to move Andrea Temple, current East Oktibbeha County High School principal, to West Elementary to fill Cook’s position.
Broderwick Cochran, current East Elementary’s principal (and former West High assistant principal), will move to East High to replace Temple — leaving East Elementary without a principal for the time being.
“I took a look at current administrations and tried to match strengths with strengths... I tried to place them where they can best serve,” Covington said about the principal shuffling. “I think the Oktibbeha County School District will blossom as a result of these changes.”
Covington said he was surprised at the response to fill the principal position at East Elementary. The response was so overwhelming that after a little over two weeks, he closed the application process Thursday afternoon.
Covington said he invited four candidates for interviews and hopes to have a recommendation for the school board by next week, which will result in a special school board meeting.
In addition to a new principal, the district is also adding an art teacher to its staff that will serve both East and West elementary schools. This is the first time the district has every had a full-time art teacher.
Though the elementary teachers use every opportunity to incorporate art into their lessons, Covington said he is excited about having a teacher who specializes in the subject on his staff.
This was the first year for the OCSD to offer a pre-kindergarten class at one of their elementary schools.
West Elementary had 20 4-year-olds in the class this year and the program was so successful that they decided to extend the pre-K class to East Elementary as well.
“The earlier children being school, the more successful they’ll be,” he said.
Covington originally started the program because pre-K-aged students in the Maben Sturgis area had to travel to Eupora to get any formal teaching, and he was concerned about the distance. West Elementary also had enough space to accommodate the new class of students. It really “took off” so we decided to offer it at East Elementary as well, Covington said. “The program was so successful that the majority of [the students] are ready for first grade instead of kindergarten,” he added about their reading level.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 27 June 2009 )
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