Williamon County Schools announced that Franklin High Assistant Principal Dr. Niki Patton will be the new principal at Independence High School on Tuesday.
It also said that Dr. Todd Campbell resigned earlier this month, according to its Web site.
The decision to replace him would have necessarily been made some time ago, given the lengthy hiring and background check process called for by WCS policy for hiring administrators.
The details of his departure are unclear, as the school district made no announcement or statement prior to the announcement of Patton’s hiring, outside of a tweet by superintendent Dr. Mike Looney on Tuesday morning. A request for comment from Looney was not answered, and communications director Carol Birdsong, according to an automatic e-mail reply, is out of the office until June 13.
Looking forward to announcing the new principals for Allendale Elementary School and Independence High School today.
— Dr. Mike Looney (@wcsDirofSchools) May 31, 2016
The 2015 Middle Tennessee Principal of the Year award winner was arrested and charged with a 2nd DUI in October. As the court case has drawn out, WCS has remained mostly mute, issuing a statement after the October arrest and hewing to it in repeated requests for further comment.
Looney would not comment until the case is adjudicated he said:
“Dr. Campbell’s first DUI charge happened before I arrived in 2009. The Board does not have a policy requiring discipline of employees for being convicted of DUI. However, I have communicated to Dr. Campbell my expectations and will decide on the appropriate course of action when his case is adjudicated.
In the process of reporting on Campbell’s court case- he had two scheduled hearings continued and next appears in court on June 28, having not yet entered a plea- several people reached out to the Williamson Source who claimed personal knowledge of his checkered past.
More than one person, who the Williamson Source did not name because of safety concerns, described hearing Campbell say he had two DUIs in his home state of Kentucky that had been expunged from his record. These would be in addition to his 2009 conviction of DUI and the current charges he faces.
The witnesses also described multiple occasions when they watched Campbell drink for several hours then drive, usually at a restaurant or bar.
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