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The Coweta County School Board approved several major administrative appointments at its April 16 regular meeting, upon recommendations by Superintendent Blake Bass.  Rick Waggoner was named as the principal of East Coweta High School, starting in July, 2008, and Clint Wade was named the new Indians Football head coach by the Board. Katie Garrett was named as the new principal of Grantville Elementary School, and Christi Hildebrand was named School Improvement and Testing Coordinator for the school system. All will begin their new duties officially on July 1, 2008, though Wade will begin leadership of the Indians immediately. Rick Waggoner – who is currently the principal at Arnall Middle School – will become East Coweta High’s new principal for the 2008-09 school year. Principal Derek Pitts is transferring to become the principal of the Middle School Alternative School program, and will create and lead the new program for the Coweta County School System. The program will be geared toward meeting the specific educational needs of middle school students in the alternative education program, which currently serves mostly high-school-aged students at present. Waggoner has 37 years of experience in education and school administration, and has served as Arnall’s Principal since 2005. He earned his B.S in Math and Physics Education from Marshall University in Huntington, W.V, and earned a Masters in Public Administration and an Educational Specialist in Administration, also from Marshall, and his Doctorate from Clayton College of Natural Health. Waggoner began teaching in 1972 at Fairland High School in Ohio, and later served as principal of South Point Middle school and then Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent of Schools in South Point, Ohio. Upon retirement from the South Point school system, he began serving as a Coweta County assistant principal in 2001, at Madras Middle school. East Coweta High School assistant head and defensive coordinator Coach Clint Wade was also named to succeed Danny Cronic as the head coach of the ECHS Indians’ football program. Wade has served for 22 years in the Coweta County School System, including 16 seasons with the Indians and Cronic. He served earlier under Newnan High School Head Coach Max Bass for four years, and under Coach Dan Pitts at Mary Parsons before that. Wade’s late father Don Wade was head coach for Tennessee Tech, and a former Clemson player and coach. Wade began his career under his father’s tutelage before moving to Mary Parsons and then Coweta County. Wade assumes the position from Dr. Danny Cronic, who has retired this year after 18 seasons of building and leading the strong and well-respected ECHS athletic program, and who recommended Wade for the position to Superintendent Blake Bass and the school’s head coach search committee.  The Board of Education also approved Katie Garrett – a 14–year educator – to succeed Carol Criswell as the Grantville Elementary School Principal. Criswell has served as the school’s principal since the newest Grantville School opened in August, 2004, and is retiring after a career in education. Garrett came to Coweta County Schools in 1994, as a 2nd Grade Teacher at Newnan Crossing Elementary, and moved to Elm Street Elementary as a teacher after 8 years. Garrett was first named as an assistant principal in 2001 to administer the Maggie Brown Pre-K center, when that school was opened to serve 4-year-old children in the Jefferson Parkway, Atkinson and Elm Street Elementary School districts. She began teaching again at Elm Street after opening Maggie Brown, and was named an Instructional Support Specialist in 2004 and assistant principal of Elm Street Elementary School in 2005. Garrett earned her B.A. from the University of Georgia in Home Economics, and her Masters in Early Childhood Education from the State University of West Georgia in 1998. She has received training in school leadership, and is currently completing Educational Specialist degree in Educational Leadership from Samford University.  Christi Hildebrand – who is currently serving as the Evans Middle School Improvement Specialist – was also approved by the Board to serve as the Coordinator of Testing and School Improvement for the Coweta County School System. She will assume the key duties of retiring Testing Director Connie Davis, the long-time Coweta County teacher and school system administrator who is leaving at the end of the 2007-08 school year. Hildebrand began teaching in Florida schools in 1998, at Manhattan Westshore Elementary, and later as a 1st grade teacher at Philip Shore Magnet School and a Technology Resource Teacher at Dunbar Technology Magnet School. She also served as National Staff Development Consultant for International Learning Systems. Hildebrand came to Coweta County’s Smokey Road Middle School as a Title I Coordinator and was named as an assistant principal at Lee Middle School in 2006 before moving to become Evan’s School Improvement Specialist last year. Hildebrand earned her B.S. in Elementary Education from the University of South Florida in 1998, and her Masters of Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University in 2001. |