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Meet CCHS' new principal
By RICHARD HARRIS
(From the
August 16, 2006 issue)
If you visit Chattahoochee County Middle-High School to see the new principal, Dr. Jimmy Martin, odds are that you won’t find him in his office. That’s because he prefers to spend much of his time interacting with the rest of the faculty and staff, as well as students.
“I believe the way to be most effective is to not sit behind a desk all day,” he said. “I like to be up and throughout the school. … I like to build teams to reach goals, and you can’t do that from behind a desk.”
Principal Martin has a “team builder” style and while he is the schools top administrator, he said he believes in “collaborative leadership” among administrators. He also notes that it’s not only the advice of fellow administrators that he’s willing to listen to.
“The best ideas don’t always come from an administrator,” he said, adding, “good ideas are good ideas.”
Martin comes to Chattahoochee County from Central Middle School in Coosa County, Alabama, where he served as principal for two years. His professional experience also includes: principal of Thomasville Middle School (Alabama), band teacher at Faith Middle School (Fort Benning), and band director at Beauregard High School (Lee County).
He is excited about his new job in Cusseta for several reasons.
“I knew this is a growing school system in a growing community, and that is exciting,” he said. “Also, with the school being new and still not yet serving all grade levels, it was an opportunity to lead a new school basically from the ground up. That was a big drawing card.”
He has also worked in both middle schools and high schools, so the blended middle/high was attractive to him, because he has enjoyed both. As a native of nearby Smiths Station, Alabama, it also gave him an opportunity to get closer to home.
One of his first major goals is to make sure the school does a good job with this year’s junior class, which will become the school’s first graduating class next year.
“We want to make sure we have them prepared for the graduation test and provide them with everything they need,” he said.
He also noted that he believes it is important that the school is expanding its vocational program and other “offerings” to prepare all students for life after high school.
“We want to have our students ready to make the transition into the future, whether it’s college, the military, technical college, or something else,” said Martin. “We do not want students to graduate from this high school and not have the tools they need.”
He said everyone from the local school board on down seems to share that opinion, which is another reason he wanted to be a part of the school system.
“Our superintendent (Dalton Oliver) says our goal is to meet the students’ needs,” he said. “Everybody here has been very nice and they are willing to take risks to make things happen for the students. They really want our kids to succeed.”
He has also been impressed with the level of support the community seems eager to give to the school system.
“This is a good school and there are a lot of good people here,” Martin said. “We need to celebrate that as a community.”
Dr. Martin has an Edd. (doctorate) degree in educational leadership from Auburn University, as well as a master’s degree in education administration from Troy State. His bachelor’s degree (music education) was also earned at Auburn.
Dr. Martin’s wife, Kerrie, is a teacher at St. Anne’s (a K-8 school in Columbus). They have two children: James, 12, and Kayla, 2. When asked if he has any hobbies, Martin chuckled and said, “I’m a poor golfer.” He also enjoys watching sports.