News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Dekalb County High School Principal Randy Jennings has stepped down after 26 years in education.
Director of schools Patrick Cripps said he and Jennings go back together as administrators for over a decade. Cripps said Jennings was someone he could count on to bounce ideas and provide a steady force in the system.
“You don’t replace Randy Jennings,” Cripps said. “You just try to find someone that’s going to be a fit for that school. Randy is somebody that was always rock solid and level headed and you could turn the school loose and he ran it.”
Cripps said to be school administration you have to have a thick skin, and that trait in Jennings served the system well during the pandemic. He said it was a taxing year for a taxing job, and Jennings knew how to navigate all of it to serve the students and faculty of Dekalb Schools.
“Just knowing that Randy was there and was heading that school, it was a comfort level for me,” Cripps said. “To know that he always had the best interest of the faculty and staff and the students at hand. He loved them and it’s important you have people in place thats ingrained in the community.”
Cripps said the system has begun interviewing candidates for the position, but this is not something he will rush. Cripps said they need a principal who will be a culture fit and ingrain themselves in the community.
He said they are not looking for candidates who see Dekalb County High School as just another step to a different job.
“I think that you’ve got to have somebody that loves the community, that loves students,” Cripps said. “You need to be able to walk your talk. So you’ve got to lead by example and don’t be afraid to do something that you ask somebody else to do.”
Cripps said they will look for a principal who wants to keep improving ACT scores, with a vision to prepare kids for their next steps in life after high school. He said the thing that makes an administrator special is they cannot specialize in just one field, they have to lead on all fronts to take the school into the future.
