New Principal Decided

Superintendant+Dr.+Wright+and+Mr.+King+celebrate+his+announcement+as+new+principal.

©The Talon News | Andrew Fritz

Superintendant Dr. Wright and Mr. King celebrate his announcement as new principal.

Jaclyn Harris, Writing Editor/ Print Editor

With the new school year soon to begin, the race to find a new principal following Dr. Hill’s decision to step down has finally come to an end. As of August 7th, John King has been voted in as the new principal the high school.

Prior to the announcement of his new position, King has spent 11 years on staff.

“My first seven years [at Argyle] I was a computer/business education teacher and head boys basketball coach,” King said. “Halfway through my seventh year, we lost an assistant principal and I was asked by Mr. Butts to come on board and finish the year out. That summer of 2014, Mr. Butts asked me to come on full time.”

The process of finding a new principal is no small task, often requiring countless hours of work and commitment.

“It [finding a new principal] is a three-tier process,” superintendent Dr. Telena Wright said. “The first step of course was posting the job… we had over 50 applications. After reviewing all the applications, we invited 10 people to submit a video, after reviewing those  videos, a committee held a panel interview for those six candidates and then we narrowed it down to three and the three finalists did a production scenario-type interview.”

The appointment raises questions among students and community members alike pertaining to possible changes to policies and procedure.

“I know the kids are really concerned about mega lunch, and we’ll keep mega lunch,” King said. “There won’t be substantial changes in the first year.”

The appointment of King as principal is not only the end of an era for the high school, but the beginning of a new one as well.

“I really want our teachers and our students to become more of a family,” King said. “I want us to work on relationships; I want us to be invested in each other’s lives. That would be a high priority to me, and that’s on both sides. That’s the teachers, that’s the students, that’s students taking care of teachers, thats students taking care of each other and that’s teachers taking care of students.”