DEMOPOLIS-The search is over. Friday morning the Demopolis City School Board voted to hire Dr. Isaac Pugh Espy Jr. as the new principal of Demopolis High School. Espy come to Demopolis from the Fayette County School system where he served as principal of Hubbertville High School.

Demopolis City School Superintendent Wesley Hill said they were very happy with their decision and felt fortunate to have gotten someone of Espy’s caliber.

“We feel very, very fortunate to be able to get a guy like Dr. Espy,” Hill said. “We had 10 people who were very good applicants for the position and we had a lot of good candidates to fall back on if he had not accepted.”

There was a great deal of competition for the position. Hill said several schools had openings and there was a higher number of school leaders on the market.

“This is a year that there are a lot of openings around the state,” Hill said. “We had a lot of contacts out there and a lot of people to interview and we felt very fortunate about that.”

Espy has a strong academic background, but it was his personality that helped put him above the pack. Hill said Espy and the school board hit it off right away making him an easy choice.

“He connected with the school board,” Hill said. “They interviewed him and his personality was great. He connected with them and he had both a good academic background and a good reputation with academics. He also had dealt with coaches and been an athletic director.”

Espy will be officially hired on the first day of July. Hill said he was in the process of making arrangements to move to Demopolis.

“He is making arrangements to come over,” Hill said. “He will be officially hired on July 1 and should probably be able to get right on the job by then.”

Espy will spend the month of July working with retiring principal Ronald Roberts. Hill said Espy’s hiring ended a grueling three weeks of research and interviews. Hill said it a lot of work, but was well worth it.

“We have worked about 20 days and nights to get ready for the interviews and get them in here and we are tickled to death how things worked out,” Hill said. “He has a strong background and has been in both large and small schools in his career.”

Espy has 19 years if experience in education. He most recently spent 7 years at the helm of Hubbertville after a three-year stint with the Scottsboro School System. In Scottsboro Espy served as Director of Athletics, Assistant Principal and a mathematics instructor at Scottsboro High School.

From 1987-1995 Espy was with the Tuscaloosa City School System where he served as an athletics director from 1994 to 1995, mathematics instructor at Central High School East and a Saturday School Director from 1993 to 1995. He also served as an interim Assistant Principal at Central High School’s Summer School in 1991.

Espy began his educational career during the 1986-1987 school year as a mathematics instructor and coach at West End Christian Academy.

Espy has nine Alabama varsity state championships won as a head coach or under his leadership as director of athletics on the 5A and 6A level.

Espy is also an active marathon runner as well as heavily involved in the Boy Scouts of America.

Espy is married to Elizabeth R. Espy and has three children Emily, Collins and Liz Anne.

Espy could not be reached at presstime.