New administrative changes are coming to Fulton High School this fall - changes that most students will find familiar.
Former FHS Assistant Principal Chris Mincher will assume the role of principal, taking over for former principal Jason Whitt.
Mincher served as assistant principal for three years - one of which he spent while serving in Afghanistan.
Mincher said he's looking forward to learning a different aspect of administration and education.
"I've seen it (the aspect) in the classroom, I've seen it from the assistant principal but now it's a whole new role - a whole new perspective on how that works - so learning that side of the job," Mincher said.
He said he's excited but also nervous to take on more responsibilities and face new challenges the position will bring.
"Before (as vice principal) was primarily the discipline and the attendance, just assisting him (Whitt) in what he needed. Now it's everything: the curriculum, the teachers - I mean it's a lot different scope," Mincher said.
Despite the administrative transition, Mincher said he plans to continue to focus on what's already been happening at the high school.
"We're just continuing the pattern of growth with graduation rates, helping our dropout rate, lowering our "Fs', increasing our positive discipline referrals and decreasing our negative discipline referrals," Mincher said.
He said he wants to continue having specific interventions for students who are struggling and are at risk of dropping out of school. Mincher said the faculty is well-qualified to address and alleviate the issue.
"We have teachers that have specific backgrounds, connections, relationships they can build with those students to keep them in school and if they're here in the building, we can provide them with all the support they need to be successful," Mincher said. "So now we have them wanting to come to school and we're going to partner them up with teachers that can help them - whether it's grades; whether it's behavior; whether it's things at home - to keep them here, pass the classes and graduate."
He said students and administration should not expect any big changes to programs for the upcoming school year and at most, changes will involve "minor tweaking of programs" currently in place.
While efforts to help struggling students have been effective, Mincher said the administration needs to reassess how the intervention is currently set up so students who are excelling in classes receive the same amount of assistance in pursuing more academic opportunities.
"A lot of emphasis is on those kids that are struggling - and not those ones that need to be pushed a little bit - so maybe looking at some teachers who can push them, some classes, some extra things we can put in the schedule to help them out so they (the upper level students) don't feel like they're kind of being passed over," Mincher said.
Mincher said that he enjoyed working with Whitt because he motivated students to want to attend classes and excel academically. He said he will greatly miss Whitt's fun-loving, friendly personality, his knowledge about education, school programs and especially how he went out of his way to help struggling students get back on track with their studies.
"You'd go to him with a question, he'd have an answer right away," Mincher said. "I mean, he knew what to do to help specific students he knew were struggling. I learned from him quite a bit."
He said he will also miss Whitt because he created an upbeat learning atmosphere for students.