Assistant principals hired by BOE

Published 3:00 am Thursday, June 18, 2015

Three assistant principals were among the hires made by the Troy City School Board of Education this week.

The board Wednesday hired system veteran Emma Fluker as vice principal at Troy Elementary School and newcomers Tonya Keene and Brock Kelley as vice principals at Charles Henderson High School.

“I think we had some top-quality candidates,” said Superintendent Dr. Lee Hicks. “Our interview committee was pleased with the candidates and excited about the recommendations.”

Sign up for our daily email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

Fluker is an 11-year veteran of TCS, teaching kindergarten at Troy Elementary School. Fluker earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Troy University and holds certification as an education specialist and in instructional leadership.

“We’re very glad to give Emma this opportunity,” Hicks said. “She has gained a lot of leadership experience while at TES.”

Keene comes to CHHS from South Smiths Station Elementary School in Lee County, where she served as assistant principal for two years. She has worked in the Lee County system since 2002 as a classroom teacher, elementary instructional coach and as the system-wide instructional coach for K-12.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at Auburn University and holds a master’s from Auburn and master’s of instructional leadership from Troy.

“She brings a wide background of experience, including her work as an instructional coach and her work in curriculum development and data analysis,” Hicks said. “We’re excited to bring her to CHHS and the interview committee is already exploring ways to use her skills across the system.”

Kelley comes to CHHS from Enterprise City Schools, where he worked as a behavior specialist and special education teacher. He also was a varsity baseball coach; ALABCA North Coach and a JV head coach for the Enterprise system. He played baseball at Troy University and was an assistant varsity coach at CHHS in 2011.

Kelley holds both a bachelor and master’s degrees from Troy University and an instructional leadership endorsement from Auburn University.

“Mr. Kelley is filling a position that we had left unfilled last year. We were able to utilize additional dollars and federal dollars to bring in a third administrator, which we need because of the numbers at the high school,” Hicks said. “He brings a good deal of experience in special education and as a behavioral specialist. And Mrs. Armstrong, who oversees our special education programs, thought highly of him.”

In addition to the principal hires, the board approved the hire of:

• Wini Dunn, science teacher at CHHS. Dunn is returning to CHHS.

• Chuck Dunn, PE teacher and defensive coordinator for the CHHS football team.

• Reginald Jackson, driver’s ed teacher at CHHS.

• Cokey Keene, CHHS special education teacher.

• Whitney Davis, CHMS science teacher.

• Will Garner, CHMS PE teacher and head football coach.

The board also approved the transfer of Dollie Miller Jones from counselor at Charles Henderson Middle School to counselor at CHHS.

Hicks said the district had received a resignation notice from Adam Helms, defensive coordinator for CHHS, but the board had not yet taken action on the notice. Helms has been named defensive coordinator at Andalusia High School.

Hicks said he had not received resignation notices from any other athletic department staff, including baseball coach Derek Irons, who announced last week he is leaving to take the head coaching job at Oak Mountain in Shelby County.

“As we get those notices we’ll be advertising for the positions and work to fill them,” Hicks said. “We’ll be focused on keeping the level of quality and championship focus in our system.”

In other business this week, the board:

• Re-elected Wally Lowery president and Eva Green, vice president.

• Met for a state-mandated training session, which included a goal-setting exercise for the upcoming year.

• Approved an amendment to the FYE2015 budget, reallocating additional federal funds received from one-time grants and reassigning some salaries to state-funded foundation units from the locally funded units. CFO Mickey Daughtry told board members the district continues to have a balanced budget and will not dip into reserves during the fiscal year.

• Awarded food service and pest control bids.