New Principal Comes aboard on eve of consolidated school opening

With the news two weeks ago that Robert York, the Michigan man hired to become the new principal over the consolidated school, would not be accepting the job, clouds started to darken for the Franklin County School District less than three weeks from the start of school.

But with the arrival Monday of a new principal, a seasoned veteran from a school district outside Huntsville, AL, the silver lining started to emerge.

Freddie Hargett, 61, assumed the post Monday, and he hit the ground running, meeting with all the staff this week and sounding an optimistic note as teachers, students and parents get ready for the opening of the new consolidated school in Eastpoint.

"The three deans have done a fantastic job in setting the stage for everything to occur," he said. "We're still progressing. I think everything will be good and ready to go.

"We all have to feel like we're stakeholders, students and staff," he said. "That's not my school. That's our school."

Superintended Jo Ann Gander said she turned to the veteran teacher and administrator because he has been in administration for 18 years. "He had applied as an ESE teacher, and when the position opened for principal, I called him and asked him to consider that and he said he sure would," said Gander. "He just seems to be a perfect fit. He's knowledgeable, he's energetic and one of the teachers described him as personable."

In June, Hargett retired as principal of Madison County High School in Alabama after 16 years with the school system. "He's laid very solid groundwork for his successor," said that district's superintendent Terry Davis on that occasion.

Madison County High School had 700 students when Hargett retired, about 260 more than when he started.

Hargett had served as an assistant principal at Hazel Green, Buckhorn and New Hope High Schools, in all, spending spent 16 years with the district, including the last five as principal of Madison County High School in Gurley.

"I've worked with Mr. Hargett ever since he came into the school system," said Jim Nash, director of personnel. "He's a true professional and Madison County Schools will miss him."

Hargett said he and his wife are working on selling their home in Alabama so she can move down here with him.
In 1970 he earned a bachelor's in education from the University of North Alabama, and later a master's in 1975 from the University of Alabama. He later took advanced education and administration courses at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Alabama A & M University in Huntsville.

A native of Russellville, where there were 32 in his graduating class, Hargett's career has included stints as a licensed funeral director and embalmer, and seven years with Southern Rural health Care, where he helped bring health care into rural school districts.

"I enjoy working with students," he said. "I enjoy fixing the problems they have, or might have, and making success stories out of them.

"I encourage them to develop their potential," he said. "Education is the route they need to take, as statistics show the more education a person has, the more income they make.

"We're preparing students now for jobs that don't even exist yet," he added.