Hixson High, Red Bank High, Lookout Valley Middle/High, Dalewood Middle and Apison Elementary are among the Hamilton County public schools that will see changes in leadership this fall.
Longtime Hixson High Principal Lee Sims will retire at the end of this academic year and be replaced by Lee Ziegler, now principal at Daisy Elementary.
Ziegler has served at Daisy Elementary since 2018 and in that time the school has improved from a Level 1 to a Level 5 school and been named a Reward School by the Tennessee Department of Education.
Throughout his career, Ziegler has taught and coached at the middle and high school levels, worked as a math instructional coach and taught in North Carolina.
Apison Elementary School Principal Ron Hughes is also retiring at the end of this school year and will be replaced by current Apison assistant principal Callie Stewart.
“Stewart is an accomplished, experienced administrator having served at Hillcrest, Woodmore, Hixson and Apison elementary schools in Hamilton County as an assistant principal,” according to a news release.
Stewart is a graduate of the Public Education Foundation’s Principal Leadership Academy and has worked for Hamilton County Schools since 1999.
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New principals named for five Hamilton County schools
Chris Tillett, current principal at Allen Elementary School, will take over as Red Bank High School’s new principal, filling the vacancy left when former principal Elaine Harper was named executive director of the North River Learning Community earlier this year.
Tillett has worked as a principal since 2004, first in Huntington County, Indiana, before moving to Hamilton County Schools.
During his time at Allen Elementary, the school has been named a Reward School and achieved Level 5 growth across all content areas, according to the state department of education. He was also named the Tennessee PTA Principal of the Year for 2018-19 school year, according to a news release.
Rashaad Williams, now an assistant principal at Hixson High School, will take on the role of principal at Dalewood Middle, replacing current principal Arielle Garcia Hayes.
Williams has served at Hixson for three years and is also the lead administrator for the Future Ready Institutes at Hixson High.
Before his time at Hixson, Williams spent two years at Tyner Academy as dean of students working with curriculum and instruction, student discipline, school safety and the Freshman Academy at Tyner. He also served as the school’s head track and field coach.
Current Lookout Valley Middle/High Assistant Principal Lee Ann McBryar will take over as principal of the school, where she has worked since 2015. McBryar has previously taught at Red Bank and Central high schools as well as worked as a graduation coach at Central High.
These five principal assignments join changes announced earlier this spring including the naming of Ethan Hildreth as principal of the new East Hamilton Middle School set to open this fall and longtime Orchard Elementary School Principal LaFrederick Thirkill’s move to Washington Alternative School. Vonetta Maston, now principal of Hillcrest Elementary, will replace Thirkill.
A new principal is expected to be named for East Brainerd Elementary School after the retirement of Marthel Young at the end of the year. East Brainerd’s future is unclear after the school was severely damaged during the April 12 tornado that struck Chattanooga and the surrounding region.
Contact Meghan Mangrum at mmangrum@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.
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