May 18, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
The departure of Principal Randy Jennings and Assistant Principal David Gash is creating two vacancies among the administration staff at DeKalb County High School which will have to be filled soon.
Director of Schools Patrick Cripps, who gets to hire their successors, is currently conducting interviews and plans to fill the positions within a month.
Although all jobs in the school system are important, Director Cripps said the high school principal position comes with more responsibilities than most and the person hired must be a good fit for the school.
“Working at the high school as an administrator is a different animal. It is time demanding during the day and after school too with ballgames, banquets, and many other events. There is something going on all the time which takes the principal away from his or her family. The principal is always on call, “ said Director Cripps.
“Its important we find someone who is a visionary. One who is bought into DeKalb County High School and not a fly by night waiting for the next best thing (job) to come along. One who thinks outside the box and is not content with the status quo. But at the same time, he or she (new principal) can’t make wholesale changes all at once. My advice would be for the next principal to pick one thing to work on for improvement and make sure it works well,” he said.
As for Jennings and Gash, Director Cripps said they will be hard to replace and he will miss them.
“We’re losing two good administrators. We were lucky to have them. Both Randy and David are good Christian men and family centered. They were always dedicated to their jobs because they love kids and in this business that is what it is all about. I appreciate everything they have done for this school system and I wish them nothing but the best”.
Cripps said his friendship with Jennings goes back to when they were just kids in Little League.
“The first time I met Randy he was 12 years old and I was 10 and in my first at bat he beamed me and it sent me to the emergency room. They thought it broke my arm. Still today I give him a hard time about that. Our lives have run parallel for a long time. We played high school ball together and he was like a big brother. When we became adults we both got into education as a career at the same time. We always had a bond. These days I guess you could say we are the ‘old dogs’ of the county as far as our years in administration. We have always been able to bounce ideas off each other. He is just a solid level headed guy and he will be sorely missed. After 21 years in administration at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, his experience will be hard to replace,” said Director Cripps.
Whoever succeeds Gash as Assistant Principal will also have big shoes to fill.
“I first got to work with David when I was Assistant Principal at the high school and he was a guidance counselor. David later moved up to Assistant Principal over discipline and I went on to become Principal before being named Director. When you work with someone as closely as we worked together it becomes more than just co-workers. David is a very special person to me. He is solid. David had a tough job. Decisions about discipline will usually make somebody mad but he always went by the facts he had in front of him and acted according to what he thought was right. With David it was always about counseling and teaching kids right from wrong. He was a steady force and he will be greatly missed,” said Director Cripps.