Veteran administrator interim principal while search continues
West Fannin Elementary School (WFES) Assistant Principal Debbie Decubellis will now serve as interim principal at Fannin County High School (FCHS) while the search for the school’s next principal continues in order to get more interested applicants.
“Mrs. Decubellis is a career educator with more than 23 years of leadership experience at the elementary, middle, high school, and district levels,” Superintendent Dr. Michael Gwatney said. “As the assistant principal of West Fannin Elementary, Mrs. Decubellis proved herself as the embodiment of a servant leader: She is committed to the success of everyone around her. Her enthusiasm and positive nature are inspiring and will serve her and FCHS well as she focuses on building relationships among the students, faculty, staff, and the community in preparation for the next principal.”
The Fannin County Board of Education voted, August 18, to fill Decubellis’ position at West Fannin with Milly Rice.
“Mrs. Rice has more than 25 years of experience as an educator, and she has proudly served the WFES community for approximately 20 years,” Gwatney said. “Mrs. Rice’s determination, competence, and willingness to serve will make her an excellent fit for the leadership team at WFES with Principal Alison Danner.”
The application window for the high school’s principal position closed July 31, and the school system’s central office staff reviewed the 17 received submissions.
“In addition to the qualifications set by the district, my leadership team and I used the guidance that Mrs. Rigdon received from the SGT to rank the submissions,” Gwatney said. “From the beginning of this process, there was concern, as there were only 17 applications received by the deadline, and many of the applicants did not meet the criteria suggested by the FCHS SGT. In addition, two applicants dropped out, which left only 15 to consider from those who met the July 31 deadline.”
Gwatney assembled a panel including Assistant Superintendents Robert Ensley, Darren Danner and Sarah Rigdon to conduct interviews with the top applicants.
“The goal, as with every other principal application process completed in the FCSS since 2016, has been to send a slate of three viable candidates for the SGT to choose a finalist for me to then recommend to our Board of Education,” Gwatney said. “Though I had been hopeful that the panel and I would be able to identify three viable, eligible, and highly-qualified candidates to move to the second round of interviews with the FCHS SGT, we made the difficult realization that this is simply not possible at this time. Some applicants did not meet the baseline parameters of the FCSS and/or the FCHS SGT.
“Some applicants are also currently under contract with another school district, and it is not guaranteed that they could be released at this time. The timing of this opening, combined with the effects of a COVID-19 pandemic, make this anything but an ideal time to find a permanent replacement for Mr.Cioffi.”
The application period for the FCHS’ principal position has re-opened and will remain open until the system feels the applicant pool is large enough.
“Though the selection process will not move forward now, the district is committed to fulfilling the spirit and intent of the principal selection process outlined in our Charter,” Gwatney said. “To do this with fidelity, the FCSS will re-open the application window and continue to accept submissions until it is determined that a more appropriate number are received. It is my understanding that over 90 applications were received when Mr. Cioffi applied; I am optimistic that revisiting this process next semester, during a more traditional timeframe to find a principal candidate, will yield better results.”