July 14, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Two years after leaving as principal of DeKalb County High School to take a teaching job at Gordonsville High School, Randy Jennings, a veteran educator of 28 years has returned to the DeKalb County School District.
Jennings, former SES, DMS, and DCHS Principal, has been hired by Director of Schools Patrick Cripps to succeed Dr. Kathy Bryant who has stepped down as Supervisor of Instruction for Grades 6-12. Jennings will be working in the central office.
Two years ago, Jennings became a classroom teacher at Gordonsville High School and this past year, Jennings served as principal at Smith County Middle School and was an assistant coach of the Gordonsville high school Tigerette girls fast pitch softball team. Later in the season, Jennings was named interim head coach and guided the softball team to a state tournament championship.
Jennings, a 1989 graduate of DCHS, was a gifted high school baseball player and furthered his talents and education at Motlow State Community College where he earned an associate degree. From there he attended and played baseball at Cumberland University before transferring to MTSU for his bachelor’s degree. Jennings then went to Tennessee Tech where he earned his master’s and Education Specialist Degree.
DeKalb West School was where Jennings landed his first teaching job in 1995, taking over from eighth grade educator and boys and girls basketball Coach Danny Parkerson, who had been promoted to principal. After a couple of years there, Jennings moved to Watertown High School where he taught and coached baseball and girls basketball for three years. In 2000, Jennings returned to the DeKalb County School District to take on his first principal assignment at Smithville Elementary School. Five years later, Jennings made the move to DeKalb Middle School where he served as principal for twelve years before succeeding Dr. Kathy Bryant as principal at DCHS in 2017 after she joined the central office staff.
During Thursday night’s Board of Education, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps gave the following monthly update on personnel moves:
Employed:
Eli Cross, teacher at DCHS
Diana Yvonne Hale, school secretary at DCHS
Samantha West, Speech/Language Pathologist at DeKalb West and Northside Elementary School
Trey Jones, Northside Elementary
Randy Jennings, Central Office
Samantha Antoniak, DeKalb West School
Ashley Nokes, DeKalb West School
Erin Turner, DeKalb Middle School
Transfers:
Galen Brown, DeKalb West School to DeKalb Middle School
Lorie Isabell, DCHS to Northside Elemetary
Kelsey Cornelius, Smithville Elementary to Northside Elementary
Amy Fricks, DeKalb Middle School/DeKalb West School to DCHS
Ginda Kilgore, DeKalb Middle School to Central Office
Anita Puckett, DCHS to SES Principal
Angela Johnson, DMS to NES Principal
Levaughnda Midgett, SES to DMS
Shelia McMillen, DWS to Central Office
Rayanna Chapman, SES to DWS
Teresa Jones, teacher to Assistant Principal at DMS
Edward Dillard, SES to DCHS
Resignations/Retirements:
Ashley Cantrell, teacher at NES
Linda Parris, teacher at DCHS
Roger Sharp, part time computer tech