photo by David Snow

DHS principal candidate Dr. Walter Davie shakes hands with Demopolis school board member Bobby Armstead at the completion of his interview on Thursday.

Board begins interviews for DHS principal

By David Snow (Contact) | Demopolis Times

Published Saturday, June 27, 2009

DEMOPOLIS — The Demopolis City Schools board began its interviews Thursday with the four candidates for the Demopolis High School principal position.

The board interviewed former Thomasville High School principal Leon Clark and Davis-Edmonds Middle School principal Dr. Walter Davie on Thursday and Demopolis Middle School principal Clarence Jackson Jr. on Friday. The board will conclude its interviews with Woodlawn High School principal Janice Drake sometime in the next week.

Interim superintendent Dr. Neil P. Hyche led the interviews.

Clark, who served as principal at Thomasville High from 2002 to 2006 and at Valley High School for the 2006-07 school year, is a native of Taylorsville, Miss. His wife, Susan, is a speech pathologist at Beulah Elementary School in Valley. They have two children, Lindsay Kay and Reggie.

Clark left the education field in 2007 to help his mother close out the family’s jewelry business that she took over following Clark’s father’s death.

Asked about discipline, Clark — who was known as “Sarge” at Thomasville High School — talked about his background in that area.

“It’s a battle to get kids to understand that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things,” he said. “You’ve got to constantly be on top of them to make sure that they do these things. It’s not that I’m riding them; it’s just the fact that kids these days need that reminder.”

Davie is the only candidate with a doctorate, earning his doctor of education degree from Alabama in 2005.

He has been the principal at Davis-Emerson Middle School in Tuscaloosa since July 2006, and has been employed in the Tuscaloosa County Schools system since January 1990, except for a two-year period when he served as the program director for the Black Warrior Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

He was a teacher at Crestmont Elementary from 1990 to 1995 and again from 1999 to 2000. He was the assistant principal at Matthews Elementary from 1995 to 1997 and the principal at Cottondale Elementary from 2000 to 2005. He was the director of federal programs for the school system for the 2005-06 school year.

“I think technology is important in our schools,” Davie said. “I think it can increase our access to learning. I think that, as students learn and get more involved in technology in those areas, more doors are going to be opened up.

“There are so many careers and opportunities they’re going to have that aren’t even invented yet for them to go into, and they’ve got to have that interest in lifelong learning. They’ve got to have that ability to seek out those resources and how to do that research, and I think technology brings a lot to that.”

Demopolis Middle School principal Clarence Jackson interviewed with the board on Friday.

With plans to complete his doctorate degree within the next 18 months, Jackson stated that the quality that made him the best qualified candidate was his knowledge of the community.

"The experience I've acquired by being here has helped me," Jackson said. "Looking back, the community, this board, and people I've worked with have shaped me into who I am now.

“We have a diverse community in Demopolis, and you have to have skills to work with those issues."

Jackson reiterated the importance of including teachers and staff in communicating and developing policy.

"I like a lot of one-on-one,” he said. “What works for me are small groups that represent the larger group."

Jackson also discussed the importance of delegating tasks and allowing room for creativity.

"I try to empower teachers to do things and then let them become owners," he said.

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