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SMES principal to retire

By Lynn Hotaling
Dowell Dowell Local school officials learned March 25 that Jackson County will lose a veteran administrator.

Tom Dowell, principal at Smokey Mountain Elementary since 1999, will retire at the end of this school year, Superintendent Mack McCary said.

Dowell's departure will leave the school system with "big shoes to fill," said McCary, who described Dowell as a "fine fellow - not only in his professional life but also through his service in the National Guard."

"Tom is a wonderful, wonderful guy," said Fairview Principal Sue Nations, who worked with Dowell at both Smoky Mountain High and Fairview. "He has a great sense of humor, and hešs extremely organized. Tom has a great relationship with the kids and is not afraid to try new things."

An assistant principal for most of his tenure with local schools, Dowell began his education career as a teacher at Waynesville Middle School in 1968 and later was a counselor at Haywood County's Tuscola High.

Dowell came to Jackson County in 1987 as assistant principal at Camp Lab (now Cullowhee Valley). He moved to Smoky Mountain High in 1988 when Cullowhee High and Sylva-Webster were consolidated to form SMHS. Dowell became assistant principal at Fairview in 1994 and held that position until he took the reins at SMES in 1999.

A member of the National Guard, Dowell was called to active duty for seven months during 1990-91 as part of Operation Desert Storm.

Dowell earned a bachelor's degree from Florida State University in 1968, a masteršs from Western Carolina University in 1970 and a doctorate from FSU in 1980.

During his 15 years with local schools, Dowell has always worked with high-caliber educators, he said.

"At every school I've been really impressed with the quality of the faculty members," Dowell said. "Folks here are lucky to have such quality teachers."

Dowell and his wife, Judy, assistant to WCU Chancellor John Bardo, have two grown sons, Darren and Damon.

Superintendent McCary said he has met with the SMES school improvement team and has started the process to find a replacement for Dowell.

"I think that school will be an attractive spot," McCary said. "I hope our problem will be in choosing from a lot of strong candidates."

McCary indicated the search effort for Dowellšs replacement will be similar to the one last year that resulted in bringing first-year Principal Theresa Peters to Cullowhee Valley.

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