Muscogee County AD hired as Harris County High School's principal

The director of athletics for the Muscogee County School District is the new principal of Harris County High School.

Todd Stanfill will replace the retiring Roger Couch when the second semester starts in January. The Harris County School Board unanimously approved superintendent Jimmy Martin's recommendation to hire Stanfill during its meeting Thursday night.

Stanfill has been Muscogee County's athletics director since January 2014. He was assistant principal at Central High School for 1½ years and spent 10 years at Brookstone School, where he was assistant headmaster and athletics director. His other previous positions include: headmaster at Tiftarea Academy in Tifton, Ga., 1999-2003; assistant superintendent for human resources, principal, assistant principal and athletics director at Ben Hill County Schools in Fitzgerald, Ga., 1995-99; and physical education teacher and coach at Boston Elementary School in Woodstock, Ga., 1993-95.

Stanfill earned a bachelor's degree in health and physical education from the University of Tennessee-Martin in 1991, a master's degree in education administration from the University of West Georgia in 1995 and a specialist's degree in education administration from Albany State University in 1997.

Martin explained in a phone interview why Stanfill was the clear choice out of the 20 applicants and three interviews.

"He has a variety of experiences," the superintendent said. "He came highly recommended by all the people we've spoken with. They had nothing but good things to say about him."

Harris County School Board chairman Steve Goodnoe said in a phone interview he hadn't met Stanfill until Thursday night's meeting. But after reading his qualifications and speaking with him there, Goodnoe said, "We feel he's going to be a great asset to our high school."

After the meeting, Stanfill said in a phone interview his career move has everything to do with the place he's going to and nothing to do with the place he's leaving.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed the job in Muscogee County," he said. "The people have been fantastic, from the superintendent all the way down to the middle school folks. There aren't any issues. But the one thing that's been eating at me is that I miss being in a school environment. It's different when you're not totally connected to a school. So when this situation came up, I thought I would be a good fit because of my background. I just was hopeful they would give me a chance, and I'm thankful they did."

Martin lauded Couch for the 15 years he has led Harris County High School.

"I just can't say enough about the job he's done," the superintendent said. "He's a student-centered principal, and he truly cares about the students."

Goodnoe also praised Couch for his management skills, leadership and service to the district.

"A lot of the students respect him," Goodnoe said. "He's a great individual."

Harris County's 2015 graduation rate of 89.9 percent is 11.1 percentage points better than the state average and 5.3 percentage points better than Muscogee County's.

"Our high school is just a beacon in the region," Martin said. "That's because we have great students and great teachers and we've had a great principal. And I feel we'll have another great principal too."

Stanfill promises to be a collaborative and inclusive leader.

"The beautiful thing about Harris County is that it's already a good school," he said. "It's not like you have to go in and redesign it. You just have to take what's there, get everybody on board and make it better."

Muscogee County superintendent David Lewis said in a phone interview that Stanfill "has done a fine job for us. I've been very pleased in terms of the restructuring and organizing of athletics throughout our district. I've appreciated his focus on having quality facilities and assisting our coaches on improving their programs as well."

As for hiring a new athletics director, Lewis said, "it would be premature" to discuss beyond the typical procedure of advertising the job opening and accepting applications. Asked whether he might eliminate the position to save money, Lewis said the district's size necessitates a system-wide AD. Stanfill's salary for this fiscal year is $83,333.

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 9:33 PM with the headline "Muscogee County AD hired as Harris County High School's principal ."