School officials are expected to name Fairview principal tonight

By Lynn Hotaling and Carey Phillips

Local school officials may name a principal for the county's second-largest school tonight (Thursday) during a 7 p.m. called meeting.

School board members are expected to choose a principal for Fairview Elementary, which has a K-8 enrollment of some 700 students, said Superintendent Mack McCary. The process was accelerated at the request of the interview team; board members initially planned to select a principal during their June 23 regular meeting, McCary said.

"(The interview team) asked if it could be sooner," the superintendent said.

Sue Nations, the school's top administrator since 1995, will leave her post July 1 to become assistant superintendent.

An interview team made up of three Fairview faculty members, two parents and one member of the school staff questioned candidates May 27, McCary said. That group's role is not to choose a principal but to determine the type of leadership best suited to Fairview and present the superintendent with a slate of qualified candidates, McCary said.

"They've done that, and now it's up to the board and me," McCary said Tuesday.

McCary declined comment on both the number and identities of the candidates for the principal's job, citing a pledge of confidentiality made by the interview team.

It's important to keep candidates' names confidential in order to ensure that qualified applicants do not hesitate to apply for school system vacancies, he said.

Though McCary did not comment, several sources indicate three local candidates are in the running for Fairview's top job: Fairview Assistant Principal Dennis Proffitt; Fairview curriculum coordinator Nathan Frizzell; and former Scotts Creek teacher Beth Tyson, now acting head of the elementary and middle grade education department at Western Carolina University.

Back to Archive: 06/12/03.