After less than one year on the job, Athens High School Principal Tod Nix is being reassigned.
AISD Assistant Superintendent Mike Green confirmed Nix will be reassigned to the Administration Building starting next week.
“On Monday, April 2, he’s going to be reassigned to the position of district director of technology,” Green said. “We’ll be posting the position of high school principal at that time.”
When asked Wednesday night why Nix was being reassigned, Athens ISD Superintendent Fred Hayes declined to comment specifically.
“Some of it is personnel issues,” Hayes said. “The best interest of our district is on our minds.”
As the technology coordinator, Hayes said, Nix will oversee the work performed by AISD Technology Coordinator Leslie Garakani.
“Mr. Nix is still an administrator in that field,” Hayes said. “He will have oversight over all the district technology.”
Hayes said Margaret Johns, dean of instruction at Athens High School, will serve as interim principal at the high school until a permanent hire is made.
Nix was hired with the district on July 27, 2006, and started work Aug. 1. His two-year employment contract with AISD runs through June 2008.
The contract stipulates he may be reassigned by the superintendent, but that his salary may not be decreased. Green said Nix’s contract, along with the contracts of most district administrators, will likely be up for renewal in February 2008.
When contacted about Nix’s reassignment, AISD school board members said the transfer had been discussed for several weeks. They said one factor in the decision was some AHS students’ performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).
The Texas Education Agency rates school districts from “exemplary” to “unacceptable” based on student performance on the TAKS. Athens High School received an “academically acceptable” rating in 2006.
The first portion of this year’s test, writing, was taken by AHS students on Feb. 20. Trustee Peggy Rhodes said the high school’s preliminary TAKS scores came in earlier this month.
She said a number of Hispanic students did not perform well on the test.
“I know that there’s a problem that the seniors needed remediation for,” she said. “A number are in danger of not passing.”
She said there are probably at least 20 students in danger of failing, a number she described as “pretty high.”
AISD School Board President David Freeman said he had been discussing Nix with Hayes, but that he had not been informed of Nix’s upcoming reassignment.
“I didn’t know there was actually going to be a transference,” Freeman said. “Basically, (Hayes) just runs it by the board.”
Freeman confirmed the AHS Hispanic subgroup’s test scores were lower than expected.
“(The scores are) low enough that we’re concerned about our accountability rating,” Freeman said. “(AISD Secondary Curriculum Director) Mrs. (Karen) McAtee is probably going to be looking at something that can be done to improve those scores.”
Rhodes and Freeman declined to provide the students’ exact scores. Rhodes said AISD expects to receive preliminary writing scores for the other campuses early next month.
Nix could not be reached for comment. An Athens High School official said Nix would be out of state until Friday.
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e-mail dgordon@athensreview.com
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