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School hires new assistant principal
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December 16, 2011
Krista James, Layout Editor
New school years bring new challenges for students, faculty and staff. This school year happened to bring the cumbersome process of hiring a new assistant principal.
Cindy Hanson is now the new assistant principal residing over the special services department, the school improvement plan and the Language Arts senate of the school. While Hanson is new to Sparkman High School, she has been in the Madison County district for 19 years, teaching English for 15 years at Bob Jones and being assistant principal at Madison County High School for four and a half years.
“I chose to move to Sparkman because it’s home for me. I grew up on Jeff Road, and I know some of the teachers here. I also was able to have to opportunity to work with special education,” Hanson said.
With Sparkman being closer to home, the commute to work is much shorter and less of a headache than the one Hanson had to go through to get to Madison County High School each morning and afternoon.
“It takes me about 15 minutes to get to work in the mornings, and I don’t have to fight the Madison traffic on my way home. It is much easier than driving across the county,” Hanson said.
While Hanson knows a handful of the faculty and staff by name coming in, there are more than a handful or two that introduced themselves to her as a warm welcoming into the family.
“Some of the guidance aids have introduced themselves to me, and they have been very friendly,” Hanson said.
At Madison County High School the way of communication for administrators is through cell phones that have built-in walkie-talkies. At Sparkman High School, the way of communication is through the walkie-talkie itself, without the cell phone part.
“My biggest challenge so far has been carrying around this walkie-talkie. It’s big and bulky, but it gets the job done,” Hanson said.
The process for finding an administrator can sometimes be a 40-day period. The announcement for a school in need of an administrator goes online state wide, and then people will apply for the job and their information goes on this website as well. Schools look at the applications, and from there, they narrow the options down to who fits best at their school based on the information given.
“Most times it takes about 20 days for the announcements to make their way to people who are interested, and then it takes three weeks minimum for applications to start trickling in. After applications come in, the announcement closes,” Principal Manuel Wallace said.
Hanson’s resume consists of a variety of schools, both private and public in different districts. More schools mean more years of experience, and more experience helped make Wallace’s decision an easier one.
“Diversity is strength here at Sparkman High School and we felt that Mrs. Hanson could help strengthen us in that aspect because of the different schools she has been to and the different people she has worked with,” Wallace said.
Being visible in the hallways, helping anyone who needs it, both students and teachers and attending all student events are three of the many ways Hanson plans to support not only the special services department, but also the student body and faculty as a whole.
“I plan to support all student populations, faculty and staff, and I plan to serve in anyway I can because I believe in servant leadership, and I was brought here to help,” Hanson said.
