These schools will have new principals and assistants if Muscogee County board approves

Mark Rice
·4 min read

Two schools will have a new principal, and two more will have a new assistant principal, if the Muscogee County School District Board approves the superintendent’s recommendations at this month’s meeting.

Superintendent David Lewis wants the board to vote June 26 on the following leadership appointments:

  • Alison Waldrop to be principal of Fox Elementary School

  • James Maye Jr. to be principal of Waddell Elementary School

  • Draveious Hurston-White to be assistant principal of Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School

  • Sironda Peters to be assistant principal of Wesley Heights Elementary School

The agenda doesn’t explain why the people in those positions are leaving, and the Ledger-Enquirer didn’t reach Lewis or Fox principal Yvette Scarborough for comment before publication, but Waddell principal Tonya Douglass told the L-E she is retiring.

“I’m looking forward to enjoying my family,” Douglass said. “I’m looking forward to having my entire weekends belong to me and not be responsible for almost 500 kids and like 70 grown people.”

Douglass has been an educator for 28 years in Georgia, including 26 in MCSD. She became principal of Downtown Elementary Magnet Academy in 2009 and principal of Waddell in 2015.

Here is background information about the recommended leaders, based on the agenda and their attached resumes.

Alison Waldrop

Waldrop was the academic dean at Fox this past school year. She previously worked for 34 years at Alabama schools in the Columbus area:

  • Third-grade and first-grade teacher at Ladonia Elementary School, 1988-98

  • First-grade teacher at Sherwood Elementary School, 1998-2002

  • First-grade teacher at Lakewood Elementary School, 2002-08

  • Instructional coach at Phenix City Elementary School, 2008-13

  • Assistant principal at South Girard School, 2013-16

  • Principal at Oliver Elementary School, 2016-18

  • Principal at Russell County Middle School, 2018-22.

Waldrop earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Troy State University in 1988 and a master’s degree in education leadership from Troy-Phenix City in 2007.

James Maye Jr.

Maye, an educator for 10 years in MCSD, has been assistant principal of Midland Middle School since 2019.

He started his career in 2013 at Hannan Magnet Academy, teaching third grade and fifth grade. In 2019, he moved to Midland, where he was an English teacher the first semester, then was promoted to assistant principal that December.

Maye earned all four of his college degrees from Columbus State University: bachelor’s (2012) and master’s (2016) degrees in early childhood education, specialist’s degree in education leadership (2018) and doctorate (2019) in curriculum and instruction.

Draveious Hurston-White

Hurston-White, dean of Eddy Middle School, has worked in MCSD since 2003. His previous positions are:

  • Special-education teacher’s aide at Blackmon Road Middle School and Shaw High School

  • Unspecified positions at St. Elmo Center for the Gifted and AIM Alternative Education Center

  • Teacher at South Columbus Elementary School, Wesley Heights Elementary School, Fort Middle School, Baker Middle School and Rainey-McCullers School of the Arts.

Hurston-White earned an associate’s degree in early childhood education from West Georgia Technical College in 2002, a bachelor’s degree in middle grades education from Columbus State University in 2009, a master’s degree in secondary English education from CSU in 2011, a specialist’s degree in middle grades education from CSU in 2012 and a doctorate in religious education curriculum from Bethany Divinity College and Seminary in 2014.

Sironda Peters

Peters has been an educator for 14 years in MCSD, including the past four years as academic coach at Key.

After working as a registered respiratory therapist at West Georgia Medical Center in LaGrange from 1995-2006, Peters became a prekindergarten teacher in 2009 at Generations Knowledge & Care Center in Columbus.

Later that year, Peters joined MCSD and taught third grade for 10 years at Key before being promoted to academic coach.

Peters earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of West Georgia in 1991, then the following from Columbus State University: an associate’s degree in respiratory therapy in 1995, post-baccalaureate teacher certification in early childhood education in 2008, a master’s degree in early childhood education in 2014 and a master’s degree add-on certification in educational leadership in 2019.