Clarke County School District’s Board of Education approved Marie Yuran as Clarke Central High School Principal on Sept. 1. Despite the leadership change, 60 percent of students cannot identify the CCHS principal by name. “It is a bit shocking, but there was never a formal time after I was officially named (principal) (that I introduced myself) in front of the student body as a whole,” Yuran said. “That wasn’t a part of our process.” Photo by Julie Alpaugh.
By Ana Aldridge – Print News Editor
Marie Yuran was named principal of Clarke Central High School on Sept. 1. However, many students remain unaware of this position change months into the school year.
“Dr. Hooker left?”
“We have a new principal?”
“Wait, it’s a woman?”
These questions can be heard in classrooms and hallways daily at Clarke Central High School, where many students are not yet aware of the appointment of a new principal.
Former Clarke Central High School principal of eight years Dr. Robbie P. Hooker announced his resignation on May 19. The subsequent process of selecting a new principal took place through August and early September.
“She’s the one who’s leading the school and who students should
be following.”
– Junior Edgar Flores
The task of finding a new principal was divided into two search committees: Tier One and Tier Two. Tier One’s committee consisted of a Parent Teacher Student Organization member, a school council member, two booster club members and four faculty members. The Tier Two principal search committee was made up of Clarke County School District Superintendent of Schools Dr. Philip Lanoue and the Executive Cabinet.
CCHS then-Associate Principal Marie Yuran was recommended to the CCSD Board of Education (BOE) by the Tier Two principal search committee on the morning of Sept. 1. The BOE approved Tier Two’s recommendation and named Yuran principal of CCHS the same day. The announcement was made to students through the school intercom during morning announcements on Sept. 2.
However, the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine News staff polled a total of 779 CCHS students on Oct. 14 and Oct. 17, and found that 60.2% of students polled could not name the principal.
Yuran, while surprised by the poll’s results, believes that this may be because she did not have an opportunity to personally introduce herself to the student body.
“It is a bit shocking, but there was never a formal time after I was officially named (principal) (that I introduced myself) in front of the student body as a whole,” Yuran said. “That wasn’t a part of our process.”
Yuran says that if she were named principal at the start of the school year, like Cedar Shoals High School Principal DeAnne Varitek was, it is likely that more attention would have been brought to the position change at CCHS.
“It’s real simple when you can start at the beginning of the year. When the principal was named at (CSHS), her name was on the front page of the paper. (When I was selected), we were in the middle of the school year, other things were going on at that time, so I just don’t think it got the same kind of publicity,” Yuran said.
Yuran says that from what she has witnessed, she is better known amongst upperclassmen than underclassmen, who are new to CCHS.
“I can understand why freshmen might not be as connected, because Mr. Thomas does so much with the freshman academy. I think certainly underclassmen don’t see the connection that you need with building-level leaders because they’re maybe not as involved in certain things,” Yuran said.
According to sophomore Tyaenna Barnett, who was unaware of the position change, some students are not interested in knowing who their principal is.
“Not everybody be paying attention,” Barnett said. “Some people really don’t care who the principal is. Like, not everybody’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, there (is) our principal right there.’ Not everybody’s gonna be lookin’ out for the principal or anything.”
Junior Edgar Flores, who was able to name Yuran, believes that it is important for students to know who their principal is. Flores says the administrative team should hold class assemblies for students to meet Yuran.
“(Students need to know who the principal is) because she’s the one that’s in charge. She’s the one who’s leading the school and who students should be following,” Flores said. “I think (administration) needs to have an assembly where they bring us all in and (Yuran) says ‘Look, I’m your new principal.’”
Yuran says that though an assembly is not currently feasible, CCHS administration is filming a video on Nov. 8. that will be shown to students during advisement and may help students become more familiar with Yuran and the rest of the administrative team.
“We’re going to be putting together a video that teachers will be able to share out with all the students at some point over the next couple of weeks, and you’ll see all of our faces on there, so that might help with some of that, Yuran said. “We’ll introduce ourselves, ‘I’m Marie Yuran, the principal,’ and then we’ll all have our own talking points. That should kind of meet the need of the whole assembly, hopefully.”
